18kt gold, argentium silver, tourmaline, garnet earrings

just finshed! (sorry, posting from my phone. I can't figure out how to turn it)

completed peridot pendant

Hello Everyone,

So here is the finished pendant. Again it has Argentium Silver (tarnish resistant alloy), 18kt yellow gold, and peridot. This was taken with my cellphone, it's a little dark in pic...

Finished earrings

Hello everyone. I have finished the earrings I was working on (in progress pics below). Please forgive the quality of the picture, but my apartment lighting is pretty dim without the aid of sunlight. Again these earrings are made with Argentum Sterling, 18kt yellow gold, and natural pink tourmalines. These were made custom for a very special client:)

Update for tourmaline and peridot projects

So here is what I have so far. The gold is a little pale, but once polished it will pop in color. The stones are not set yet, but just resting in the settings. The pink pendant I'm thinking will have another ring of the rope silver then another of gold, and then another ring of rope silver around the very edge of the piece, so there will be the flat plain of silver in the middle. I thought this would solve several problems: 1) Making the pendant bigger to fit the size of the chain (which is 4mm). 2) Matching the earrings in style. 3) That final ring of silver will give the piece a much more finished look and protect the flat silver from getting scratches.

I have been really up in the air about the final touches on this piece. I think the thing I will do is add more gold wire to the pendants edge but only at the corners. I can then hammer the wire out a little so it will get a little thicker at each of the four points. I don't know. We'll see.

Steampunk

These are some fun objects I'm working on. This is my interpretation of steampunk style. Steampunk is the anti cyberpunk, focusing on the Victoriana, industrial revolution and the mechanical. The style is also encourages the over engineered functionality of an implement. The best thing abou this counter-culture movement is the idea of Do-It-Yourself aka DIY. There is an appreciation for the handmade too! These are in process, with much more to come.

The magnifying glass handle with finger holder. I'm working on a arm that comes off of the lens frame that houses another, smaller lens for extra magnification.

This pipe is intended to be used with blowing bubbles, not tobacco. I'm working on a lid that can hook to the cup for when in use, and a mouthpiece.

Pink tourmaline & Peridot Crusade

So I got some pics for you all to see the match I landed on these 2 custom projects. I found a perfect match to the pink tourmaline earrings for one client (stone shown here), which will serve as the pendant. It is about the same size. I have tried to find bigger while following criteria of color, clarity, and cut; but no luck. Second pic shows all three together with my fingers in there to give you idea of scale. (Those teardrops on the left are another earring project I'm working on)

The third image here is showing all the peridot being used for the second client. I'm making a full set of earrings, ring, and necklace. The stone to the top right is a true cushion cut with those checkerboard facets on the top and bottom. The top left is almost a mine cut on top and cusion elsewhere. Mine cut meaning the stone has a lot of facets on the top supporting a very high table (flat part). The cut actually makes the stone a little more sparkly in my opinion and also more noticable if damaged. Therefore will be putting that one in the pendant, and leaving the cushion cut in the ring.

Stone sitting (temporarily) in bezel a top raised silver which will soon become her pendant. My fingers again are here for scale. Nothing is soldered yet, but wanted to illustrate how it will look. Note on all the stones: they tend to appear darker in the bezels right now because they are not set. They are just sitting in the bezels and haven't been sanded down all the way either, so they cast a bit of a shadow.

Custom Jewelry

The sketches here are for ideas to satisfy to discerning young ladies who are currently traveling in Chicago. They have asked me to create some pendants that can fit over their current favorite chain. Along with that, earrings and such to match. For al projects shown I will be using Argentum, which is a new sterling silver alloy that is tarnish resistant.

These are photos of my sketch book, showing some ideas. The first is to create a large silver shape (here rectangle and circle) set the stone in the middle and cut a decoritive motif out of the silver around the stone that emphasizes it as well as makes the pendant larger to go better with the chain without dwarfing the stone. (the cutting out technique is called piercing) On this I'm thinking a cushion cut pink tourmaline. Notice that the bail (the part the chain will go through) also has decoritive piercing to match. The request is also for two-tone, so I will be using 18kt yellow gold wire to draw a line around the bezel and a rim around the outside. This picture here shows a setting for a cushion cut peridot, matching earrings and a ring, along with another design for a buff top london blue topaz (bottom left). The peridot would be bezel set in silver with 18kt yellow gold wire lining the bezel. and then edged with a decorative rope design in silver. The pendant is shown square, however I could turn it on it's point to have a diamond shaped pendant. The rope wire will also edge the bail for continuity. The earrings here are drawn with a post but I think I will convert to a french hook to encourage movment from the earring when worn (it will sparkle that much more). Same idea in two-tone as the pendant, but with a diamond shape riveted (loosely) on the back so that it swings even more. This will make the earring a little longer (easier to show off) as well as do away with any rigidity from a longer piece. The ring will be simple and lightweight with a minimal bezel that is accented with 2 gold triangle shapes. (I think I still might sit on this design a bit). The london blue topaz is designed to have oversized prongs big enought to have cz's set in them for extra sparkle. This is in proportion to the size of the stone (it's a little on the bigger side) without making the overall piece huge.This last page shows some designs that are an attempt to be more contemporary, but I'm not completely happy with the concept. Can't win them all.