Tweaking

I have a client in the UK. We have been going back and for over email for a while and it has been difficult to come up with the perfect design. The client is looking for a contemporary half bezel low-set diamond on light half round band, along with an etoile pink and white diamond wedding band that sits flush to the engagement ring. (What a mouth full!) This would normally be the easiest of requests, except for the fact that the diamond is 3cts.

The reason a diamond of that size poses issues is because it is LARGE. A 3ct round diamond is 9mm wide by 5.5mm tall. Normally a stone that size would be set in an intricate/classic/antique setting with lots of metal and supports. And to put that on a simple 2-3mm band is tough... it lacks stability. And it would need to be set very high for the bezel not to bulge out of the side of the band.

The first attempt was close, but not quite there...


The client felt the stone was set too high (tall) for her taste and "v" for the half bezel was too small. But with some tweaking, it found the perfect compromise (the 2nd side view, on the right)...

What we are doing is adding width to the band (4mm total) to give allowance for the stone to sit lower. Then we added a little more material to the area where the bezel meets the shank to add stability to the setting. And, we opened up the "v" to let more light into the setting.

Now, I know you are thinking that this still seems like an easy project. But when dealing with such a large stone for a small size (size 6) it becomes difficult to keep the proportions in check. It's all about structure with a project like this.

How to Compliment a Calla Lily?

Remember the Calla Lily Engagement Ring?


Now I need to make a complimentary men's wedding band. Something a bit funky and something to tie them both together, but still masculine. So this is my first attempt...


A concave ring ring (modern / little bit of funk) with a wraparound leaf pattern (to mimic the wrapping of the band of the engagement ring.) The leaf would be high polished and slightly raised with the veins engraved in, and the background would have a texture.

Another idea is to use a Calla Lily leaf in the design...


But I'm not sure we are there yet. Still thinking thinking thinking.

Round vs Finger vs Square

Fingers aren't round. Because of this, rings don't just come round.

Your fingers are actually trapezoids. Wide/flat bottom surface, 2 tapered walls, and a narrow/flat top surface. Okay, okay, when you look at your finger it doesn't really look like a trapezoid... but it doesn't really look like a circle either, does it? So, for the fact that all fingers are different, there are different shaped rings. Of course the most common is round. The next is a finger shaped ring. And finally, a soft square.

Now why am I discussing this? A client asked me the difference between the ring shapes and why you would use them. There are different reasons for each one. The main reason would be for comfort. The next reason would be to keep a ring for rotating. And finally, just because it's pretty damn cool looking.

Here are a few different basic sketches for various shaped rings.

Elegantly Green Wedding Showcase

Back from my honeymoon... back to reality... back to work! And one of my first projects for this new business year is the Elegantly Green Wedding Showcase.



This is an eco-chic boutique wedding expo on Valentine's Day at the Boston Hyatt. It will feature couture wedding gowns in sustainable fabrics, eco friendly florists and photographers and catering, green transportation, and jewelers... LIKE ME!

So, if you are planning a wedding, come and join us! If you want a discount at the door, let me know and I will send you a discount code! Take a peek at the site... and pass the info onto any brides-to-be!

The Jeweler's Wedding Bands

You may be wondering where I have been for the past two weeks. To sum up... Sal and I ran away to Hawaii and got married.

While everybody has many questions and comments, the main one I get is 'what does a jeweler make for wedding bands?' Well, I attempted to make something that nobody else has (just like what I do for my clients.) This was a true collaboration between me and Sal.

Sal came up with the design. An asymmetrical knife edge band, one angle about a 30-40 degree and the other (the short side) around a 70-80 degree angle. The design is clean and quite modern.

Then, just like I do with my client's, I fabricated them to his specification. While Sal's ring is heavier... slightly more industrial, mine has a single row of itty bitty .8mm diamonds bead set on the short side to make it a bit more feminine. But overall, they are a matching pair of wedding bands.




As for the wedding... it was wonderful. Sunset on Makena Surf Beach on Maui. Just me and Sal, our officiant, Minister Andy Kaina, and our photographer (who served as our witness) Patty Holbrook. Simple, peaceful... perfect.

Closed for Vacation

So sorry that I've been MIA, but you know how it gets around the holidays!

I will be away from my post for 2 whole weeks. But don't worry, I will be back with stories and lots of photos!

The Tooth Fairy

Every once in a while I get a REALLY good story to go along with a piece of jewelry. Well, all of my custom jewelry has a story... but sometimes I get a REALLY REALLY good story.

I recently received a package through a friend that said 'Confidential! Tracey Only!' on it. As I started to open the padded envelope, what falls out you may ask? A TOOTH! As I peeked in it was full of baby teeth. My friend's father happened to come across all of his daughter's baby teeth and thought it would be funny to turn them into a piece of jewelry.

Well, after some research into 'tooth jewelry' and found a whole new category of Mourning Jewelry (or what I refer to as Victorian Death Jewelry.) Mourning Jewelry was typically made from the hair of a dead loved one, woven into intricate patterns and set along with onyx and other black stones under glass. BUT in some rare cases, Mourning Jewelry included teeth, which I find much more disturbing than the hair jewelry. And with that, I knew I wasn't going to make a necklace full of teeth.

I suggested a place to store the teeth... a sterling silver box. And with that, my friend's father agreed. And said that way she can decide what to do with her DNA... keep it in the box or throw out the teeth and use the box for something else.

So with that... I give you the box!





And apparently, he gave her the package from 'The Tooth Fairy.'

Kitty Ring

If you know me, you know I'm a dog person. But I must admit I had a blast making this 14K Red Gold Kitty Ring.

It was supposed to be a Christmas gift for one of my client's to give his favorite girl, but when I handed it over last week he just couldn't wait... it was burning a hole in his pocket. He nearly made it 10 minutes after walking in his door till he gave it to her.





Now, I must say, even tho I'm a dog person... this is a pretty cool cat.

Calla Lily Engagement Ring

This one was a process. As I have said before, sometimes it is more difficult to build an organic piece. This was one of those pieces.

While it was highly therapeutic to make a sculptural piece... it was difficult to keep it properly balanced. To create something that has the organic appearance of 'wrapping' around the finger multiple times but to keep it structurally sound was tough. But I think the final product came out beautifully.

The final piece is palladium with a green pear shaped tourmaline.

***LAST CHANCE FOR CHRISTMAS ORDERS***

Just one last shameless plug for my Green Spot Etsy page! This is your last chance to place an order in time for Christmas!

Have you checked out my Etsy shop? It's chalk-full of adorable buggies and flowers. All made especially for you by me... with love! What else could you ask for? OH... how about the fact that it is all eco friendly! OR the fact that the pieces start at $40! Here are just a few of the offerings...







Come on! Why buy a mass manufactured piece of jewelry for the one you love?

Insure your jewelry!

Okay... I had to take a little break from the blog for a bit because I had to clear my head before I could write about this. I think I am finally at that point.

I came home Thanksgiving night to a burglar in my apartment. I opened the door and noticed the lights on. That seemed strange seeing I am a stickler for turning off lights. So I stood in the doorway and shut off the hall light. That was when I saw the upstairs lights on and heard a rustling sound. For a very brief moment, I thought there was a squirrel in my apartment... but then I realized squirrels can't turn on lights. So I shouted up and then started screaming bloody murder.

When the police arrived, we saw how they got in. And slowly I started noticing what they took. Prescriptions, jewelry, bank information, etc. Sadly enough, I realize more and more things that are missing everyday.

Where am I going with this? Well, it seems that our insurance wasn't in order. We had renters insurance... that part was done. But the next part, and most important, wasn't. Our insurance required us to provide an itemized list of everything we wanted covered (this detail was buried in the paperwork.)

This is a total miscommunication between me and Sal. I never wear jewelry and always say I don't have any... he took this as me saying 'I have no jewelry.' The truth is, I had lots of jewelry. Pieces I had made in my jewelry training, some I had made just because, some that belonged to family members, some gifts... and none of it was on the list. So we will get a lump sum from the insurance (a fraction of the loss.)

It was an expensive lesson. But my mistakes are your gains. Take a lesson from me to take stock of the precious things in your home. Whether it is electronics, jewelry, music/movie collection... just take a day and inventory everything. Even photograph special items as proof. And remember... even the small things add up quickly.

Now... if you are a past client of mine, and you need a receipt for one of your pieces, drop me a note and I will send you a copy.

Overall, I just keep reminding myself that I didn't get hurt and things can be replaced. And I hold out hope that they catch this person that decided it was a good idea to go shopping in my home.

A new life to an Antique Engagement Ring

Usually when people bring family/estate jewelry to me, it's so we can pull it apart, melt it down and make something new. But this was one of those rare occasions that I got to actually give new life to an old piece of jewelry.

This was my client's grandmother's rings. He came to me asking what we could do... thinking that we would pull the entire piece apart and start new. But then he told me he had wonderful memories of his grandmother wearing this ring all the time. With that I knew we should use it as a jumping off point and update it.

The original ring was 14K white with a prong set center 1/2 carat mine cut diamond surrounded by beadset single cut diamonds in a 'flower' type head. Also, it had a very simple, plain shank.





So, the first thing we decided to do was remove the prongs and replace it with a bezel. This would not only add a clean line to the top and weight to the center stone, but apparently his finace-to-be is rather klutzy ;) A bezel adds security to any stone.



Next we decided to replace the shank. We added a heavier shank to hold beadset single cut diamonds. He had another one of his grandmother's rings that included single cuts that we decided to use.



And finally, we decided to engrave the sides of the ring shank. He had mentioned that his fiance-to-be loves everything with seahorses. While he didn't want something to scream 'seahorse', he did like the idea of including one. We came up with an engraving including a seahorse transitioning into a scroll so it would look simply like a scroll pattern.

And here is the final piece!






How wonderful is it to have something old and new combined into one!

Etsy

A quick update...

The Green Spot Studio Store has moved to Etsy for the holidays! We are attempting to rebuild the website (version 3.0 coming up!) and decided to pull the store down for now.

So please come visit us at our Etsy page! We are featuring affordable pieces for the holidays, prices starting at $40! And if you are looking for Christmas gifts, make sure to place your orders by December 14th to give us enough fabrication time!

As always, I appreciate your peeking and reading and visiting my sites! And I really appreciate it when you pass name and site addresses along to friends and family! Thanks!!!

Grasshopper Cufflinks

Seriously, how damn cute are these? They are simple Sterling Silver... and adorable! That's really all I have to say about them! They are just damn cute!

Calla Lily Engagement Ring Wax

It's been a few rough weeks of life getting in the way of life. BUT I'm finally back in the shop!!!

To kick off my holiday season of long shop days, I started with a custom calla lily engagement ring. This is for a client in the UK (love the fact that international clients are finding me!) If you scroll back a few entries, you can see the sketches that we began with.

Right when I started carving this wax, I knew it was the perfect first project to get me back to the bench. It is more of an 'artistic' project, which I have not had the opportunity to work on lately. I feel it is a mini sculpture first and an engagement ring second (which is a good thing)... and I must say, I have loved carving this wax.

But I thought it would be fun to share my carving process so far. I started off with a wax ring and scratched in the general pattern and started carving away...





And after a few hours, this is what I have completed so far...



So far the client is happy with what he's seeing. Of course I am thrilled with that fact, but even more so with the fact that he told me to run with it and let my creative juices flow.

Updating a Family Heirloom

I was approached by a bride-to-be to make something special for her husband-to-be. He had a family ring that they wanted to turn into a pair of cufflinks but let it slide. So, she 'borrowed' it from him (and would change the subject whenever he would mention it or start to look for it) and handed it over to me.





It was his grandfather's ring. A hand carved Tiger's Eye set in a low carat Yellow Gold 1/2 bezel/wide prong ring. Basically, the groom-to-be doesn't wear Yellow Gold and also wouldn't wear a ring of that size.

We decided on cufflinks set in Sterling in a similar manner (to be reminiscent of the original.) Also, because the Tiger's Eye was hand cut, we went with a plain cabachon stone of the same material and exterior shape.




Not knowing how difficult it would be to find a nice Tiger's Eye in the same size/shape, I bought a slightly larger stone from Thailand and had it re-cut in Boston to match. I have photos of the final cut stone somewhere, but I cannot find them at the moment... if I come across them, I will update!

The final touch was completing the pieces with an antique finish, just to add a little age to the cufflinks.






And our final piece, which was presented on their wedding day, was a hit.