Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Ruby Red


 



I was recently commissioned by an old school friend to manufacture something special for her big day.  It's always so rewarding to work with a client that knows exactly what it is that they have in mind.  In fact, not only did she inform me that she'd be having a 'medieval' wedding, but that her colour scheme would be burgandy and white.

She also supplied me with a very detailed photograph of an embroidered celtic cross.  From there we tweaked, and added and subtracted bits and bobs, which eventually resulted in this creation.  The pendant is made of sterling silver (with interspersed oxidised sections) and set with marquise and cabachon cut garnets and cubic zirconias.  It really complimented and enhanced her gorgeous burgandy and white lace and satin gown beautifully.  Such a pleasure to have had the opportunity to make such a striking piece of jewellery.







Look familiar?  That's because this sterling silver pendant is the second part of a set of jewellery which I manufactured a few months back - 'Marvels of March'.  This is also something which I absolutely love to do when designing - making up sets of jewellery that compliment each other in both design and materials. 

Again for this piece, I've finely pierced the silver to create the lotus flower effect, and tube set a gorgeous red cabachon garnet in the centre.  Now all we need to do is to source a fitting chain, and we have another 'mission accomplished'.








And sticking with the reds ... a domed, 18ct yellow and white gold ring, set with 0.01ct and 0.02ct brilliant cut diamonds, with a border of round rubies.  The inside of the ring (which one cannot see in this photograph) is also cut (pierced) out with detail, which always finishes a piece off so completely.  I always believe that a piece of fine jewellery should always be well finished - inside and out.  Otherwise it's almost as though one would take the time and trouble to erect a building with a solid foundation, straight and true brick work, and shoddy plastering - doesn't quite do the creation justice, does it?





The Simple Things






I have a very 'symbiotic' relationship with a friend of mine - Ren Frouws (http://www.thefamousfrouws.blogspot.com/) - she helps me with the photographic aspect of my work, and in exchange I make her pretty pieces of jewellery. 

This is her pic (with an insanely close up lens, I might add) of a ring I made her a while ago.  It's something I've been meaning to make myself for a while now, but when the opportunity presented itself to manufacture another piece for Ren, I thought 'let's do this thang' (as she's always admired my wedding band which is very similar in design, I thought she should have one for herself).  All the metals (platinum, 18ct white gold, 9ct white gold and sterling silver) are flush with one another, and in the channel are set the most beautifully subtle (alternating) natural pink and white diamonds.  It really did evolve into one of those special 'wow' pieces!






Another one, or two (if you consider the versatility) pieces I made for Ren.  She calls it her 'twisty' ring/pendant, which I reckon describes it really well. 

It's one of those especially versatile (something I love to incorporate in design) and ever changing  pieces, as not only does it look very different on one's finger when turning it around to the left or right (as the curves all differ and change as they revolve), but by simply interlacing a length of simple silk cord, the ring becomes a pendant (which is also very different in appearance when viewed from the front or the side - as it stands away from the chest a little).  Another one I'd love to make for myself at some stage.