The very last piece that I made in my training course last year was this sterling silver and garnet crown set ring. It’s a bit of a departure from my normal style, but I like it!
I specifically chose a garnet because my lovely sister who lives on the other side of the world has just turned 50, and she likes garnets.
Happiest of birthdays, dearest Christina! xxx
As I mentioned in my previous post on Flipside Circus, I was happy to donate a custom made handcrafted sterling silver and drusy agate ring for the recent Flipside Fiesta fundraising raffle.
John was the lucky winner, and he unveiled the prize for his wife Robby at Christmas time. I recently visited them both in their lovely home, and Robby chose her favourite gemstone from my collection – it wasn’t drusy after all, but I didn’t mind a bit!
This gorgeous stone is Unakite – I’ll do an in-depth post about that later. For now, it’s a natural stone, and isn’t it pretty!!!
Congratulations, John and Robby, well done on supporting such a great and worthy cause; and Robby, I hope you enjoy wearing your ring!!
My cousin commissioned me to make a set of earrings and a ring for his lovely girlfriend.
The design needed to be small, with a green stone, and a little bit unusual. We Facebook messaged back and forth, and together, we came up with a design which incorporated those concepts!
I hope Laura liked them, and what a nice partner she has!!! 🙂
The culmination of our year’s worth of Silversmith training was a weekend session in which we were expected to create a complex piece which we had previously designed. We had to hand in a rendering, an art drawing, a technical drawing with notes and a set of procedural notes before creating the piece over the space of 15 hours.
I designed this dome lidded ring featuring a grey cat’s eye moonstone cabochon, which can be worn either with the lid on or off. I received a mark of 92.2% for this piece. I’m pleased with it!
The term “drusy” comes from the word “druse”, which refers to a rock surface (usually a cavity) covered with tiny individual crystals, such as are found inside geodes or in larger pockets of mineral deposits.
Drusy crystals take hundreds or even thousands of years to form. They form as molten rock begins to cool with trapped gases inside. The gases cause gaps in the rock. As ground water carrying dissolved silica is forced into a porous area of the rock for century after century, tiny crystals form on the surfaces or in cavities of the rock, forming a blanket of crystals.
These rocks are split open to reveal the crystals within. Cabochons are then cut from the surface of the rock capturing the drusy elements.
The most commonly found drusy is quartz (agate or chalcedony), but many other species can exist in this form.
Naturally colored quartz drusy is found almost exclusively in muted colors such as white, grey, tan and cream. Many quartz pieces, though, are dyed black or other vivid colors such as purple, red, green and blue, and some are coated with titanium or other metallic vapor which creates various iridescent finishes. You can read more about gemstone treatments here.
I love working with drusy, because as well as being incredibly beautiful, no piece is ever the same!
Some of the pieces shown here are available for sale in my online shop. I am currently only working with natural stones, which I am happy to custom-make into rings or pendants similar to the ones shown here if you would like one. Do contact me for a quote, won’t you!!
This pearl ring was a recent commission piece – a nice big Kasumi style pearl in a simple sterling silver setting.
Jade provided the design, and was just lovely to work with!
I learned a lot about pearls while making this ring. The mussel that grows this particular kind of pearl makes pearls with a lot of texture and variations in color. I really like that idea, as I like the “grown by mother nature” feel provided by some bumps and imperfections. A bit like all of us, really!!
Renee, a lovely customer for whom I previously had made a seaglass pendant, commissioned a custom made drusy agate ring.
Renee chose her gemstone from the collection available on from the Silver Forge gemstone collection. I love this red piece, it looks almost edible!
What a privilege to create another piece for you, Renee, thank you!!! 🙂
This ring was the second last piece I made for my Vocational Course. The design was one provided by the school, as the task was to learn claw/basket setting. I chose the stone though!!
I made the ring particularly for my mum, for her birthday. She’s delighted with it!! Hooray!!
My dear friend Sophie chose this piece of drusy agate and I made it into a pendant for her.
It’s the first pendant I’ve made with drusy, and I’m really happy with the way it turned out!
Soph was really pleased with it, and I plan to create some more soon!! 🙂
I asked my dear friend Morgan to choose a drusy agate cabochon from my collection, and I made it into a ring for her.
She wanted it to look a bit old-fashioned, so we designed it with a half-round shank, and I gave the silver a very matt finish.
She is thrilled with it, so I am very happy!!
