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!