A few weeks ago, a creative idea took hold of me that I’ve been mulling over. The general concept is nothing new - that something beautiful can be found unexpectedly - but in terms of jewelry, I want to somehow create pieces where the overall piece is quite typical or expected, and then there is a flash of surprise.
To bring together the various jewelry-making techniques I’m using, I thought one way to reflect this creative concept is to make a classic piece in silver or platinum, and then have a portion of it in gold with mitsuro texture. I started a clover with this concept in mind (pictured below). I’m not sure if the clover design itself excites me enough to finish it, but I like it as a test of the idea.
So in the coming months as I improve my stone-setting and general jewelry-making skills, I hope to keep exploring how to incorporate this two-tone, multi-texture concept.
Current projects
Creating the five-prong basket setting for my sapphire flower ring is probably the most technically difficult project I’ve tried to date. I fabricated it (so made it directly in metal, no wax) and soldering that many small pieces without melting the rest was so hard and time-consuming. I’m really realizing that when doing everything (design to making) by hand, the work becomes increasingly difficult as the stones and pieces get smaller - which is funny because typically larger pieces and stones are more expensive for the client due to raw material cost!
Recent inspirations
Champagne diamonds! Recently I have been very drawn to warm-tone, brown and pink-ish diamonds as opposed to classic clear diamonds.