Tag Archives: bezel

Grassy Green Drusy Agate and Sterling Silver Ring

My lovely friend Kylie, from Raw Toys, arranged for her birthday present this year to be one of my drusy pieces! I feel very honoured.

Kylie thought my usual rings might be a bit too chunky for her because she has small hands, so asked would I be able to make her a ring a bit smaller than my usual style. Of course I was totally happy to oblige! I sourced her a special lovely small green piece of drusy.

Kylie is really happy with the way this ring turned out (she even blogged a little bit about that 🙂 ), and that makes me feel happy, too. I love being able to make one of a kind pieces for lovely people!

Thank you so much, Kylie! And for any lovers of beautiful wooden toys and puzzles, head over to Kylie’s MadeIt Shop or her Raw Toys blog and see her gorgeous work. It’s well worth a visit.

Electric Blue Drusy Agate and Sterling Silver Pendant

A lovely customer contacted me from Florida recently. She was about to purchase a pendant from The Silver Forge shop, and wanted to make sure she was getting the right one. I was happy to help!

Agate was apparently one of the stones in the breastplate of decision constructed at the God of Israel’s instruction for the priest to wear (Exodus 28:15 – the Holy Bible). It is felt that the agate in the breastplate was likely a sky blue variety.

My customer said of an agate pendant she already has “I wear the pendant to remind me of being grounded in my faith in my Lord and as a symbol of Him as my rock. It is my symbol of a shield guarding my heart.”

I offered some options which I felt might be right for her, and she decided to go with this lovely electric blue stone, which I custom made into this pendant. I was glad to be able to give my support in her quest for spiritual strength and peace!

Cherry Creek Jasper and Sterling Silver Ring

I came across this divine piece of Cherry Creek Jasper a while ago, and just finished making it into a ring for myself.

The design was partly inspired by my dear friend and classmate, Jane. She makes beautiful rings, and her shanks are often very squared off at the ends.

I love the very organic nature of the stone. Jasper is so hugely versatile!

Lodolite Garden Quartz and Sterling Silver Ring

I bought two divine lodolite bullet shaped cabs a while ago, and I spent some time contemplating how to do them justice. I was waiting for inspiration to strike me, and it eventually did!

Lodolite is commonly known as Garden Quartz.

It is clear quartz with inclusions, which look like a landscape scene – garden or underwater garden!

I feel the organic vine-like nature of the ring complements the beautiful stone.

I’m looking forward to making another ring with my second gorgeous piece of Lodolite!

Flipside Fiesta Raffle Winner!

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!!

Peridot Triangle Ring and Earrings Set

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!!! 🙂

What is Drusy Agate?

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!!