As of Thanksgiving, the scaffolding has come down and the city’s Christmas decorations have gone up. I look forward to trying out the new Greek restaurant downstairs when they finish their remodel.
For some years now, when giving directions, I have told people to look for the “two story, peach colored cinder block building with green awnings”. Currently, I say to look for the building wrapped in black netting. The structure is undergoing a facelift, and as of today, looks like this:
Last week, it looked like this:
Here is the architect’s rendering of how it should look by Thanksgiving, assuming work stays on schedule:
Access to The Goldsmith will continue to be at 1528 N. Main Street, and should only be problematic during one day of the project.
As always, it is a good idea to phone ahead before dropping by (especially now that the entrance may be temporarily unavailable). I am open regular hours during construction and look forward to seeing you.
The assignment here was to use the client’s gems and gold to make a size 11 ring, which was a “One of a Kind”, designed around the emerald cut quartz with black tourmaline inclusions.
While the overall design is rectilinear to reflect the shape of the focal gem, symmetry was avoided to allow a “different” look to the ring from any direction it is viewed.
In addition to the main gem, my customer supplied some diamonds for accents: both square black, and round white and champagne color.
It was cast as two separate white gold rings. These were then joined to form a single ring by a network of different size yellow gold tubes in a random pattern, to emulate the needle shaped inclusions in the quartz.
On this project, my client wanted to have a pendant shaped like a seahorse, inset with a genuine alexandrite. An added challenge was that the sculpture was to face forward when hanging from the chain.
The seahorse was cast in yellow gold, with its tail wrapped around a silver branch of coral. This gave it both context and stability.
This “mother’s” pendant has genuine birthstones to represent each of four children.
Diamond for April
Ruby for July
Alexandrite for June
Emerald for May
The pendant was made from an existing ring with one missing gem------the emerald. The job was to repair the broken setting, replace the missing emerald, and convert the ring to a pendant.
It is now ready to wear.
Two things. This opal, and my new digital camera (which I am still learning how to use). A favorite gem dealer recently stopped in the shop. I bought a few items that I needed to fill specific requests------and I kept coming back to this 7.5 carat pear shape gem. It was not on my shopping list, but I bought it anyway. You need to hold it in you hand to really appreciate its beauty.
The broad flash pattern of fire in this translucent gem gives a strong feeling of depth, unusual, but prized, in opal
Shown here, next to a dime, you can better see the actual size of the piece.
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A couple of years ago, a client bought a beautiful blue zircon from me. Recently she brought it back in to have a ring made. Working from a sketch that my customer drew, I carved a rough wax model and asked for her input. She approved the design after some modifications and refinements.
We decided to cast the main body of the ring in the new platinum/sterling silver alloy, and add 18 karat yellow gold accents, some of which would become the prongs to secure the gem.
On this project, my client wanted a ring in white gold with a ten millimeter black pearl. The pearl was to be held to the ring by “tentacles”, like a squid.
While I often carve the model for a project, from a block of hard wax, down to the desired shape, it seemed better this time to work with the softer wax wires, to weave and build up to the squid’s form. An additive rather than a subtractive method.
I crafted the model around a white pearl that was on hand in stock, and sent photos of the wax model for my client’s initial approval before proceeding. I found the right black pearl for the job after the ring had been cast in gold.
After polishing the gold and setting the pearl, we decided to add some gems to the eyes. Several different colors were considered, but the rubies were the best look, and had the advantage of being a significant birthstone.
One of my clients, on a trip to South America, found the “perfect” aquamarine pendant. Almost. It was in yellow gold, and she prefers white. Working from a photo she e-mailed to me, I figured some estimates to make a pendant, offering a few different variations on the general idea.
She chose one of two gems that I got in on approval. Then I carved a model of the new piece. Together, we decided to have the diamonds, which surround the aquamarine, graduate in size, from top to bottom. This had the effect of complementing the pear shape of the centerpiece.
I cast the wax model parts in white gold, polished the rough castings, assembled the parts, set the gems, and voila, it was ready to wear.
Upon seeing the finished pendant, my client told me, excitedly, that it was even better than the one she had seen in Brazil.
With this project, my client wanted to take the diamonds from three rings and use them in a new pendant. After looking at different designs, she asked me to make something based on a piece that I had in my display case. This piece, itself, was based on a ring whose design was a variation of another ring that I had made some time ago.
A rough sketch of the piece was followed by a three dimensional model. After viewing this, some refinements were made before embedding the wax in plaster, melting out the wax model, to form mold, and casting it in gold with the centrifuge.
The rough casting was filed, polished, and the diamonds set, to complete the project.
