diamonds and pearls

Honestly... what looks nicer??? I adore diamonds and pearls!!! They just look soooooo nice together!!! (This is when my girly side comes out!)

This is an 18" strand of cultured fresh water pearls. I made the clasp out of 14K GREEN gold (it works well with people that wear either yellow or white gold) and a 1/4 carat bezel set diamond.

button, button, who's got the button???

Am I the only person that remembers that game from kindergarden?

Anyhoo... I have been pulling together a few different new pieces for the gallery at North Bennet Street School for the open house next weekend.

These are sterling silver cuff links. I like cuff links... I think they are one of the few acceptable forms of 'man jewelry.' And because lots of guys that I know think they are too 'Hip' for them... I decided to make a pair that were subtle. So these are sterling silver little high domed buttons with 22K gold twisted wire to look like threads.

holy schnikies...

Had to share this one...
the WORLD JEWELRY CENTER in Las Vegas. They call it the 'New Global Marketplace for Gems and Jewelry' AKA a honkin' big jewelers building.

stacking rings

So, these are 14k matt gold with diamonds, rubies and and pink (with a smidgen of orange) sapphires. When all 3 rings are worn together, the placement of the stones form a special image... but I won't tell!!!

hammer of death!

This F***ing piece of S*** *&^% %&*^)( #$%^% *&&^% #$%^& HAMMER!!! I F***ing hate this **&^%$ if MONKEY $%^&^%!!!!!!!

Uggg... now that I have got that out. I was hammer setting some stones. Basically, you tap the hammer setting tool with the hammer... not too difficult! Right??? And it's light tapping... TAPPA TAPPA TAPPA... TAP TAP TAPPAROO! BUT NO! WHAT HAPPENS YOU ASK...

THE #$%^&*&^%$%^#$% HAMMER BROKE IN HALF AND BOUNCED BACK AND HIT ME IN THE HEAD! i got a bumpus on the nogginus! BASTARD!

Old Lady Earrings...

I finally finished the old lady earrings. I don't know what to say about them... other then the fact that they look like they belong to an old lady!!!

holiday postcard!

Well, to kick off my holiday season... and hopefully get my orders rolling in a little earlier... I decided to send out a reminder postcard. My buddy Paul, O'Hearn Graphic Designs, designed my card for me.

If you're looking for a graphic designer, he's for hire! To take a sneak-peek at my card, click here... or here... or even here if you really like!!!

POWERPUFF!!!

Okay... I think we all forget to look around. We have our daily chores... on our missions... and we all forget that there is a world around us.

So, today... running to a meeting... happened to look up. And there it was! A large man with a PINK POWERPUFF BACKPACK ON! It was soooo random... and hilarious... and adorable! And it reminded me that I need to look around a little more sometimes.

my uber clean shop!!!

For those of you who haven't seen my shop yet... HERE IT IS!!! I basically decided that I would scrub it down and get it all organized so I could start my fall work in an insanely clean home!!!


This sign has been above the staircase to the basement since before I was born... hehehehe...


This is a photo of my bench (which is a used double watch makers bench... I LOVE IT!!!) There's also my polishing area, and all of my random little tools all around...


And if you were wondering... yes, there is a tiara on the eagle on the wall. The eagle is from my great uncle's foundry and the tiara is a part I cut off of my sisters...


This is my sink area... I have all the basic cleaning stuff... pickle pot, tumbler, ultrasonic... all the normal stuff...


This is my clean bench I work at. I have my rolling mill and wax lathe there... and it's where I do most of my wax working...


Here's my photo box area. You can also see my tree trunk with the teenie tiny anvil in the lower corner.


And just for fun... here is my little line of vespa magnets that travel along my light :)

Sooooo... this is my shop!!! This is where your pretty little jewels come from.

super scooter!

i pulled a few stills from a great dive of my scooper scooter! he is truly amazing!!!

inspirations!!!

i've been in france... in need of inspiration (along with a vacation, wine, and lots and lots of food.) i thought i would share a few of the close ups i was photographing. all i can say is how amazing the craftsmanship and the detail work is. amazing.

this is just a small sampling...

it's been a long weekend...

uck! this weekend i set around 100 stones... that's all i can see when i shut my eyes! but here is the finished sterling silver bracelet with flush set diamonds, blue and purple sapphires. i also made 3 pendants to match, but those were in yellow gold with diamonds, rubies and and pink-orange sapphires.

my eyes are so exhausted... i am having a spasm in my eye lid! need sleep. nappy-wappy here i come!!!

finished!

here is the finished engagment ring. it's platinum with a 2.75 carat radiant square blue spinel. i think i'd take it if somebody gave it to me :)

bucket o wieners...

i realized that i haven't shared any photos of my boys lately. ahhhhh... wieners!

creative stone setting :)

sooooo.... i'm setting stones in this bracelet, and i don't really have a good way to hold it. whenever you set a stone, you need to have it firmly held in or on something so you can have the leverage to move the metal over it.

if i were making this bracelet in gold, i would set each individual section then solder the links holding them together. but because this is a silver version, and everytime you add heat to silver it oxidizes, leaving a purple film in the metal. when you have that purple spot, the only way to remove it is by emery... which, by doing that, you have to start the entire finishing process over.

soooo... thank god for the starbucks thermos! it is the perfect size! i wrapped a towel around it... and a bunch of elastics... laid the bracelet over it and held it on with more elastics.... E VOILA!!! i have a great bracelet stone setting mandrel!

if you haven't seen this bracelet before... here is a gold version of it. it has vs diamonds, rubies and natural pink orange sapphires.

secret stacking rings

This is a design for a client. A set of 3 stackable rings... but there is a special little secret to the pattern. I won't tell!

cleaning up my bench...

i decided to spend this icky rainy day by cleaning up all the little projects that i've started and put aside. this is one of them... a sterling silver wide domed ring with flush set diamonds and purple sapphires.

couldn't pass 'em up!

i couldn't pass these up. you're probably wondering what these are... well, they are diamonds. loose, rough, natural colored, straight out of the ground. the top row are quarter carats... the next section are 10 pointers and the baggie has the 5 pointers.

i wish i could get the colors right in the picture... there are are couple yellows and green blues... a bunch of silvery grays... a pile of cognac colored... a few orange ones too. i'm still playing around with some ideas of what to do with them. but remember... start thinking about christmas gifts!!!

think of the crazy rings and earrings and the little shaker pendants with these!!! OOOOOOOOO! think of all the options!!!

gift for my mommy

so i decided to make a pendant for my mom. she's been pissed at a great deal lately... i have no clue what i did... but it's easier to make her a piece than try to figure out what i did :)

the disk in the middle is a late 18th century chinese counting chip (kinda like a poker chip)... it is made out of mother of pearl (sea shell) and has hand carved (scrimshaw) floral pattern on it. i made a 14k yellow gold bezel around it.

cute... isn't it!

One step closer...

One step closer. I put the window in the head of the ring (so it will let some light into the stone) and off to the caster it went! And when I get it back all I have to do is clean it up and set the stone (easier said than done!) But I think it will be a very cool looking engagement ring. And I love it when clients says things like... 'this looks amazingly excellent!' Now that's a good response :)