How to Compliment a Calla Lily, Part 2

It's another followup! Remember my posting on How to Compliment a Calla Lily? Well, after some tweaking, we found the perfect solution!

We played around with different ideas, most had something wrapping around the band to mimic the engagement ring. But nothing quite felt right. Finally I decided to toss something out there that I wasn't quite sold on... thought it may be too out of the box. My concern was that the client would feel the ring was 'dated' in a few years. I just don't want a client to get sick of their ring.

I informed the client of my concern and he said he understood... but he understands forever, he has tattoos.

So I shared some new ideas...



And within minutes I got a response that they loved the completely open wrap band. The finish would be similar to my twig bracelet...



So here is the final piece in palladium...

Old, worn & comfortable, Part 2

Remember my Old, worn & comfortable posting? Well, I thought I would share the final result!

I love this ring because while it has a flat surface (like a signet ring) there are no sharp edges. Just soft and smooth high polished palladium. I wish it was my size, because I would totally wear it!

So, here it is... SMOOTH!

Feelin' Lucky?

...you've got to ask yourself one question: Do I feel lucky? Well, do ya, punk?

I had a client come to me looking for a clover wedding band. And not just any clover, a 4 leaf clover. Now, I must admit, when asked I thought it sounded a little odd. There are so many different Celtic designs I could do... why just simply a 4 leaf clover. But after I worked on the design of the clover itself everything started to fall into place.

The ring is 18K Palladium White gold with 5 clovers evenly spaced on the ring.



So yes... I hope the client feels lucky.

Love is Love!

Green Spot Studio is now an approved vendor of So Your Engayged! Yay!

So Your Engayged is a wedding resource for same sex and allied couples. Like I always say, Love is Love! And I couldn't be more thrilled to be recognized by this wonderful resource.

My vendor listing also has a very kind recommendation from a fabulous couple of mine, Leise and Stephanie. You may remember their complimentary engagement rings...



So, click on the link and take a look. But I also added a quick screen shot of my page.

Making love happen...

Wedding band season came a little early this year. But I'm not complaining! Love is love and I love helping make love happen... or something like that.

Anyway, I have a few fun wedding band projects at the moment which I would love to share with you, but alas, Sal stole my camera for a business trip. So I attempted to take a iPhone photo to show you just a few of the pieces that are on my bench, but the macro on it sucks.

Whatever, I'll post the photo anyway just so you know I'm not being a slacker ;)

Just call me Godmother...

My sister asked me to be Godmother to my nephew, Logan. How could I say no? While I am not a practicing Catholic (to put it lightly) I could not pass up being 'The Godmother.'

When is the Christening, you may ask? Eh... Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Wednesday. Okay, fine, it's Sunday. And I had to make something special for my Godson... so I teamed up with a dear friend and talented woodworker, Steve Hanlon, to make a nice hanging cross. While this didn't quite utilize his amazing skills, it is still a beautiful piece!




The base of the cross is 7"x 4" and made from Rose Wood. Then I made a second Sterling Silver cross (5"x 3") and added a cut out swirly vine pattern and affixed it to the front. It is simple, but I think quite attractive.

Now, I haven't really been Catholic in years (Just when I thought I was out, the pull me back in!) but I am thrilled to do this for my nephew. And while I may not be the best spiritual guide in his Catholic upbringing, I promise to always have his back if he has to go to the mattresses ;)

Okay! No more! Just couldn't help myself!

Tweet

Okay... I finally gave into Twitter. I have had an account for a while, but never really did much with it. But not longer... I will give it an honest shot!

So if you want a whole lot of Tracey, jewelry and her general insanity, come find me... @GreenSpotStudio

See you there!

Moldy Monday!

I decided to start off my Monday with a crafty little experiment.

Usually, when I make engagement rings (especially odd shaped rings) I ask the client if they want me to make a mold. This is in case they want a wedding band that fits right up to it and don't want to hand the engagement ring back over to me for a couple of weeks.

To make a mold normally means that I take it to a casters, have either a rubber mold or a RTV (room temperature vulcanized) silicone mold, then have waxes injected into the mold, finally another ring cast (usually in brass or silver) and finally spend time polishing the new ring model. The problem with this process is that (1) it is time consuming (2) it costs money and (3) the model will always be slightly smaller than the original due to shrinkage that occurs when making the mold, shrinkage when making the casting and finally removing material in the polishing process.

I knew there had to be a better way to make molds... but this is how everybody does it, so I just went along with it. But then I saw a buddy of mine doing this neat little trick that takes no time and only costs pennies... and gives you exactly what you need to make a match to a ring.

So here is my cheap and easy way to make a mold of the profile of a ring!

We start out our experiment with basic materials...


PlayDoh, Plaster of Paris and a ring! Oh yeah, you can tell this is going to be a good one!

From there I made a flat circular surface and a long snake like thingie out of the PlayDoh...



Next you press the ring into the flat PlayDoh surface and add the snake-like piece to create a wall (kinda reminds me of the ashtrays I used to make in art class... I really can't believe that they let us make ashtrays in art class!)...



Then you pull out the ring out of the PlayDoh and you now have negative space...


Then we pour plaster into the little cup...


After we let it sit for an hour to harden, we peel away the PlayDoh...





And finally, what do we have... a mold of the profile of the ring me to use to build a wax wedding band upon! Actually, we have 2 profiles, I made a mold of both sides...


I'll keep you posted oh how well this works when the time comes!

Old, worn & comfortable...

It is strange, but in the past week I have had 2 grooms-to-be tell me how somebody in their family had an amazing ring that was so worn and comfortable. And both of these clients want me to adjust their rings to reflect those wonderful broken-in soft edges.

While one ring is simply a mass manufactured band that the client wants both the inside and outside edges buffed down, the other is to be fabricated with that old feel. As he put it, he's looking for a ring that 'has tumbled around in the ocean for a few hundred years.' Great description.

The style will be a hybrid of a simple half round wedding band and a signet ring. The main difference is that a signet ring has a taper to width of the band (which this one will not) and can sometimes be rather tall, which this one will not be. And most importantly, it will not have any sharp edges.

I found a great example of an estate signet ring that has those wonderful soft/rounded edges...


While it is oval and tapered, it gives you a good idea of what we're looking to accomplish. With that in mind, this is what we have come up with so far...



Beauty is wonderful... but comfort is king.

Balancing act...

I'm still attempting to come up with a design to compliment the Calla Lily Engagement ring. The problem I am running into is making the ring too far out of the box. While I could make some crazy bizarre/fabulous piece of jewelry, I don't want it to be so crazy that it looks dated in a few years. My fear is to make something that is reminiscent of the bold 80's jewelry. Come on, you know what I'm talking about.

So I'm trying to find the balance between funk and classic. It's an interesting problem.

Right now I'm at the point of attempting to find something that can wrap around the finger (like the calla lily.) I'm thinking maybe we can do it with possibly a branch pattern (similar to my twig bangle bracelet)...


I am also interested in the idea of wrapping text around the ring. I like possibly using text as a pattern. And I found a great quote that could be fun for a wedding band... 'iosvi de drverie ne me dvne mie' which is latin for 'I am a token of love do not give me away.'

So, here are a few new quick sketches!


As a side note, my sketches/designs are not the only place I am attempting to find balance. My life has just been crazy lately. I decided it's time that I start becoming more picky about jobs. While I love all of my clients, and wish I could make something beautiful for everybody, I can't afford to keep taking every job that comes my way (no matter how small.)

After doing my books from last year, I realized I lost money on a great deal of jobs because I just really wanted to help people out. And while I think having something amazingly beautiful should not just be for the rich, I also can't keep making jewelry for cost just because I like people. Unfortunately, if doesn't put bread on the table.

So, for the moment I picked up a freelance job with Urban Outfitters as a Visual Artist. Basically, it means that I'm building displays. It's not easy work, but I'm having a blast working in a wood shop again. Plus I'm painting, silk screening, hanging off of 12 foot ladders, etc. It's like being back in art school ;) It's just exhausting.

Now I am just attempting to find the balance between my 2 jobs. I just want to find a way to keep everybody happy around me!