A client came to me with two old bracelets made from old threepenny bits. They ranged in date from 1897 to 1940. The bracelets had seen better days, and my client asked if I could take two of the 1917 coins off and create cuff links as a gift for her husband.
It was slightly daunting to be working with 100 year old coins, but the cuff links turned out ok!
These stacking rings were a custom build for a client who has three children named after gemstones. She chose the correct coloured stone for each child from my gemstone collection.
These remind me of the lovely old style acrostic jewellery. What a gorgeous way to honour your loved ones!
If you’d like a set (or just one!) of your own, let me know – I’d love to make you some.
Lovely Laura recently commissioned me to create a matching ring and earrings for her friend as a wedding gift.
The stone in the ring is malachite, and the earrings are azurite/malachite.
Malachite is just such a wonderful stone – what an amazing natural colour!
Lots of people like to know the process behind the creations I produce, and I sometimes forget – just because I know how I do this, doesn’t mean everyone does! These lovely dangly gemstone earrings were a wedding gift from my friend and client Natasha to a dear friend of hers.
Natasha found these sparkly amethyst, Rose de France and aquamarine rose cut cabochons in my gemstone collection.
First I shaped the bezels. A bezel is the part that goes around the stone and holds it in place on the piece. I take a strip of silver, bend it into shape with my half round pliers, and solder the join. Once the bezels have been immersed in pickle (an acid solution) to remove the buildup of borax and the oxidisation, I rinse and dry them and hammer them into shape with a mallet on my ring mandrel.
I solder the bezels onto a silver backing plate. After I pickle, file and emery the bezel settings, I check that the stones all fit nicely into their little housings.
Then it’s time to add some links to join the bezels together. I create the links, line them up and solder them on.
I add the ear wires. As always, I am amazed that something that looks so unappealing will soon become something beautiful!
After some more cleaning up, I mount the earrings in sealing wax to hold them still while I set the stones with my engraving ball and chasing hammer.
After yet more emerying and finishing, the earrings are ready to go off to their new home!
In case you want more, I have written before here, here here and here about my processes. Happy reading!
I created this ring for a lovely client to give to her mum, who had a similar and much loved ring many years ago.
I love the rune design, so ethereal and still so strong!
My lovely client and friend Charmaine, chose this piece of carnelian from my gemstone collection for me to make her a new ring.
She has a fabulous collection Silver Forge rings, and this is a great addition!
Thanks, lovely Charmaine – it’s always a pleasure to create for someone with such great taste! 🙂
As part of a bracelet I’ve been asked to put together, one of my clients wanted a special box to keep to tiny and precious booklets inside.
It is set with a carnelian, one of his favourite stones.
The piece will like a charm bracelet, filled with pieces that have significance to my client – what a great way to wear all those memories at once!
A lovely client from Paris got in touch and asked me to find the perfect stone to make her mother a pendant.
This amazing and unusual piece of rhodochrosite fit the bill!
I love knowing that my pieces are scattered around the world – it’s a great feeling!
This pendant was a custom piece I created for a client to give to his wife.
They are Dungeons and Dragons fans, and this is the symbol of the Harpers.
Their daughter’s name is Harper, so it’s a lovely and meaningful gift!
This brooch I created for a client is in the shape of his wife’s business logo.
The peach moonstone reflects the colour of the logo, and provides a nice focal point to the design.
What an apt and thoughtful gift!