Green Thumb

Last summer, my mom cut a shoot from the rose bush that my great grandmother planted decades ago in her garden - she gave it to me and I've been tending to it ever since. This is the same rose bush that inspired the Thorn Series in the Secret Garden Collection. With all this rain we've been having, my garden is greener than ever and the rose bush shoot is sprouting! It's still tiny but I'm excited to see if it will bloom later on in the year.

Below is a pair of silver rose thorn earrings, studded with black diamonds, cast from a thorn from the original rose bush. 

And She Said, "Let there be rings!"

THE SECRET GARDEN COLLECTION

Twig stunners - 14k gold and diamonds

Silver spiral twig ring with black diamonds

Variations of the twig ring in 14k gold with diamonds

                                   And one hand carved from wax, for good measure...boom!

14k asymmetric band with diamond

Flowers for Those that Want to See Them

Design ideas come from all sorts of places...some of them very unexpected...

Wood Sorrel Ring {14k gold + diamonds}

The concept for this ring did not start with me frolicking carelessly through flowery green fields. No, it had a much more pernicious, downright dirtier origin than that...garden dirt, to be exact. For awhile now, I have been carefully cultivating my backyard with dreams of turning it into a mini oasis-in-the-city, full of beautiful blooms and a small veggie patch. It has progressed quite nicely with one exception...these persnickety clover-like shoots that keep popping up everywhere. They are so ubiquitous, it seems that every couple of days I'm out plucking these pests from the ground to keep my tilled soil pristinely weed free. At some point, despite my best effort, their takeover became too tiresome to keep up with and I resigned myself to the fact that my lovely curated garden will have to live in commensalism with this ubiquitous (*ahem*) plant. And so, this ring was designed to reconcile my frustration and turn it into a thing of beauty. 

To quote Henri Matisse: " There are always flowers for those that want to see them." 

Oh, and lest I forget...

...this...

(...also available in shop)

Fancy Cut Diamonds

This necklace. Enough said.

(now available in shop)

Wax Carving

One aspect of jewelry making that I particularly enjoy is wax carving. It's an activity that can be cathartic, frustrating and calming all at the same time. Typically when I start carving, I don't have a drawing that I follow. I simply have a vague idea of what I want to make in my mind's eye and let the tools guide me. This method has often translated into finished pieces completely different than my intended original designs. I begin the process by slicing off a chunk of wax that will eventually be filed, drilled & formed into something resembling a ring, an earring or a pendant. Both pieces below were two such projects entirely hand carved from slices off of a tube of wax.

The idea I have for both of these rings is to cast them into gold, transforming them into fine jewelry to be worn as wedding bands. One version of both rings will incorporate flush set diamonds to enhance the simpleness of the designs.

Shine Bright

                                                                          Before ...

And After ...