Came across this stone on Etsy while looking for something special for Julies 15th wedding anniversary ring. The traditional stone is rock crystal which is basically quartz or ruby so I though some reddish quartz would cover both. The stone has little multicoloured flecks throughout which makes it looks like a cloud of confetti…
This was my first use of Gold for a ring for Julie’s 14th wedding anniversary gift. Bit more nerve-wracking than working with silver but it turned out nice in the end, the opal seems to go well with the gold ring and really catches the light in a rainbow of colours. I managed to lose…
This was a quick ring for Julies birthday present. I spotted the design online and liked the unusual stone shape. It reminds me of a blue gas flame from a soldering torch. Tried a hammered texture on the ring but not sure if it really worked. Still, overall a nice ring.
Simple pair of earrings with a flower shaped domed back and a half drilled peacock pearl stuck to a post in the middle. I’ve been meaning to finish these off for a year or more and finally got round to them. Also got to try out my homemade barrel polisher, gripping a hexagonal jam jar…
Nice matching pare of crazy lace agate stones. Mounted with a simple wire claw setting. Makes a change from all the rings. Jules got these for Christmas 2017.
Been collecting most of my silver off-cuts and fillings for the past couple of years, amazing how they accumulate. Interesting to see all the projects that went wrong on the first try.
These two rings were a request from Muriel for her nieces as Christmas presents. By some strange process of design dead ends and iterations, I came up with a slightly raised design for the back which lifts the stone off the ring and makes it seem to float above the finger. Liked it on…
Beautiful quartz stone with organic looking dendritic inclusions in a plane through the middle. Nice simple, minimalist tension setting. This one was made for Mum as a replacement for her pyramid ring that I trashed while trying to resize it, hopefully an upgrade.
Another massive stone (just for a change) clear quartz shot through with dozens of black tourmaline lines, brings to mind the pictures of particle collisions in a bubble chamber. A subatomic collision, tearing apart matter to reveal layers of hidden complexity in a starburst of darkness (loving these arty descriptions) Built a framework of 1.5mm…
Second attempt at a pair of cuff-links. These keep coming our all druzy for some reason. Sparkly stoned which have been vacuum deposited with metal to give them a coating. Used a few chain links this time and think it works better as its a bit more flexible. seemed to all come together quite quickly, guess…
I’ve had this large rose-quarts stone for over a year now and it’s been tantalising me every time I look at it. It seemed to be so curved that I couldn’t quite be sure I would be able to get a setting to grip it, what with it being so large. Finally decided I to…
Labradorite triplet After making lots of rings I wanted to create something big and more involved, little did I know this would turn out to be such an epic project. Matching set of three pieces including a 9 stone flexible bracelet, ring and pendant. I bought a set of Labradorite cabochons stones from Dhorgems with…
Nice copper ritual quartz stone, set with the point up and a slightly offset connection to the ring. This one was given to mum for her birthday. Update: I was asked to resize the ring to make it slightly bigger, while re-soldering the ring the stone became over heated and the copper turned dark grey…
Its been a productive last quarter of 2015. 7 rings finished. Now if I can just persuade Jules to let me give a few away…
Nice ring made from a piece of drusy quartz, very sparkly. This one was given to Becky for Christmas.
Two matching rings made using stones we bought while in Oman on holiday in a market. The backs are pierced out into E & D’s initials. Christmas presents 2015
Particularly liked the way this one turned out. The ring has a nice curve to the corners and wears really nicely. The peacock coloured pearl is reflects in the bowl of the silver flower. i did two variations, the second one thicker with a hammered texture finish. the thin one went to Nadia for Christmas,…
Latest project combining 3D printing with Jewelry to create a ring the mirrors the crystal structure of the quartz rosette stone. designed in 3D CAD and printed in wax before being lost wax cast in silver then having the stone prong set. The initial ring shape was modeled in 3DSMax using low poly editing and…
This was a tough challenge in precision soldering getting all the corners to solder without the previous joins overheating and falling apart. Couldn’t quite find a way to solder the last joint without damaging the stone. Tried heatproof gel but still couldn’t get it right. Then I accidentally dropped the stone and the corner snapped…
This is another crazy ring. Many weeks of pondering how I was going to mount this one and after being egged on by Kate to go for the more interesting option decided to mount it on edge. Used my favourite squared off outside ring design with a small spacer to lift the stone clear of…
This was an epic project. Both a large hammered anticlastic cuff and several ritualized quartz cabochons on raised pedestals, like mushrooms. This was kind of inspired by several difference cuff images online and a bit of experimentation and like most of my projects just seeing where the flow of doing takes it. First formed a…
Finally got round to setting this triangular larimar stone http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Larimar picked up in a little rock shop in Highcliff, near Bournemouth.
So far one of my favorite rings. This one has a beautiful minimalism. The large ritualized Quartz crystal is held in tension across the middle. Bit of a gamble on the design, all through making it I wasn’t sure it would work, but it did. the stone just squeezes in between the prongs. i roughed…
Here are a few pieced made while experimenting with piping silver clay. The pendant is formed around a large 12mm cubic zirconia stone, this was placed in the center of a ball of cork clay, left to harden. Then had the silver clay extruded from a syringe into the pattern on the surface. Once hardened…
2nd Moshi Monster pendant – Katsuma, this one for Ellie. See the first Moshi pendant for a description of how it was made, the abridged version is: design in 3D CAD (3DSMax), 3D printing (Form1), mould making, wax poring, lost wax casting (Weston Bemor), clean-up, sanding, polishing, set two turquoise stones for the eyes, hang…
Perhaps a little bling for my first project for me? I must have been feeling a little flamboyant when I dreamt these up. Probably one of the longest labor project to date, somewhere around the 8 hour mark I reckon. Making up all the silver parts took ages, cutting to size, bending the sides, soldering…
First experiment with metal clay. For anyone who doesn’t know what this is, its pure silver that looks like clay, molds like clay, then hardens. When heated with a flame it melts into a solid chunk of silver, like magic! Shaping the letters was pretty easy, but I felt the pressure not to waste any…
Nice simple pendant with a beautiful lace agate stone form a great site online which sells the most amazing stones. First attempt was a bit of a rush, I tried using a thin 0.3mm silver strip to mount the stone but it was just too flimsy so I started again. The next attempt I did…
This was probably my trickiest ring to date. Inspired by a design I spotted online. Building the claw setting holder from individual tiny pieces of silver was very fiddly and took a couple of goes to get the soldering sequence right. First time the prongs all fell apart when adding the last prong because of…
Huge cubic zirconia rock, with a rub over setting. went for a brushed finish to offset the blingieness of the stone. Julie got this for valentines day 2014, diguised inside a kinder egg. E&D got the chocolate which they thought was great.
For some strange reason the girls nicknamed this the surfboard ring. I think it looks more like a flower or perhaps a bit Scifi. Ether way it was probably my most technical yet. Some nice radiating, hammered texture on the large leaf. Green amethyst trillion stone.
First attempt at a tension setting, The Ametrine crystal is tension held between the corners of the silver square. Was quite tricky getting the dimensions right so that when held it formed a square (or near enough)
This was my first attempt at producing a piece using casting. This was based on Destiny’s Poppet moshi The original shape was designed in 3D CAD using 3DSMax, extrapolating from the 2D reference image. Then printed out on a Form 1 3D printer (thanks Andy Millns) this plastic model was then sent to Weston Beamor to…
This was my first attempt at something a bit bigger and blingier. Found a nice piece of horse hair or ritualized quartz at Holts in Hatton Garden (thanks Jason for the discount). Couldn’t quite get enough pressure on the prongs to hold the stone still but it still looks good. Jules has even worn it…
Started a Silversmithing evening class at Arts University Bournemouth Some pictures of my first learning pieces, assorted rings, with sapphire, amber, agate and Lapis lazuli stones. Practising cutting, soldering, polishing, rub over cabochon settings. Mum had the sapphire one for her birthday in 2013.