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!
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!
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!
Natasha and her partner Philipp were in need of some new wedding rings. These lemon quartz cabochons from my gemstone collection had a good feel to them, and Natasha had a number of designs that she gave me for reference.
We worked together to come up with the perfect rings.
It’s always a joy to create for someone who is like-minded, I feel very fortunate to meet such lovely people!
My gorgeous client Natasha commissioned me to make these amethyst, rose de France and aquamarine earrings as a wedding present for a friend.
Natasha always has such beautiful ideas, and chooses such lovely gemstones from my collection.
Thanks, Natasha, it is always such a pleasure to work with you!
I caught up with a dear friend of mine recently after many years. It was so lovely to see him! Isn’t is great how you can have a lifelong connection with some people, and share laughs and stories as if it were only yesterday that you had seen one another? We talked about what we’d been up to, of course, and he was interested in my silversmithing. A while later he commissioned me to make him a ring.
I love the simple yet so effective design!
Thanks, my dear Max, for getting me to create for you. It was a pleasure!
This gothic cross was commissioned for a friend of a friend, as a replacement for an existing costume piece.
The oxidisation gives it a worn feel, and enhances the detail. I like the look!
I created this ring for a client who is getting married.
He is into metallurgy and smithing, so a sterling silver ring with a hammered finish was the way to go!
Simple, timeless and elegant – what a nice wedding ring!