happy new year!

He interviewed every jeweler in town over the phone to make the engagement ring for his beloved. John Trayser was phoning from Chicago, but was also about to move to Bozeman, as soon as he secured Colleen's hand in marriage.

He later told me that he gave the same info to every jeweler, and that I was the only one who seemed willing/able to transform that information into design ideas. I remember well the information, which wasn't really so much about the ring as it was about Colleen herself. My favorite--love it!

Here's the result from that conversation, which was all about a rough-and-tumble, flyfishing, no-nonsense girl. A secure, beautiful mounting for a 1.10 carat white diamond and a series of Yogo sapphires set in two raised channels.

Yes, it was all going to be a perfect New Year's Eve engagement...I told him I would have the ring ready in time.

There's just one thing he forgot...he would be up in Big Sky today, and he failed to figure out an excuse to come to Bozeman to pick it up.

Guess what I'm doing this New Year's Eve?

another halo before its time

The striking Lela came in, with an absolutely stunning family diamond. Big. Beautiful. And in need of an equally beautiful "home." Too bad several jewelers had turned her nose up at the project because the diamond had not been purchased at their respective establishments.

Unless a diamond actually has issues that affect its longevity, durability, or ability to withstand the rigors of the setting process, I cannot understand why a jeweler would not want to have the honor of setting a family heirloom. It really is one of the highest compliments bestowed upon a custom jeweler.

Lela knew she wanted a softly octagonal halo, made with metal that was "barely there," allowing all the diamonds to show themselves off. She also knew she wanted a ring against which any straight band could sit flush. The result is the profile you see, which actually makes the diamond part of the structure. By having the culet (point at the bottom) drop into a tiny hole in the shank, it actually provides additional stability to a basically delicate ring.

Lovingly crafted in my favorite metal, platinum; and set with Russian-cut diamonds for the most amazing brilliance on earth.

oh! the places they'll go!

The most important thing I can impress upon the dear reader at this point is....what I am about to describe is NOT suggested jewelry care. That said, this is also a story of how being brutally honest with your custom designer can make the very important difference between a ring you can "have and hold" for a long, long time; or ending up with a memory made of precious metal.

It all started with this fun, lovely couple. It was clear they knew each other and knew themselves. Not only is this a delight to see, but a wonderful platform for making a custom ring for someone who "isn't a jewelry person."

The bride, Kirsten Kainz (née Reese), is now a celebrated Bozeman sculptor. At the time, she and her groom, Patrick, were pretty new to Bozeman, as was I. She explained how her sculpture was made from found objects, which she pounds, hammers, forges, and welds into pieces of art.

"How cool" crossed my mind about a million times as she and Patrick talked about her work. And then I realized...this self-admitted "no jewelry wearin' girl" was probably going to exhibit ideal jewelry care habits. I was promised otherwise, but that initial hunch was correct.

So, I braced myself for this little "child" to get some rough treatment. The design needed to be "interesting but not complicated." I settled on a three-stone ring with the outside diamonds being brilliant-cut half-moons. All three set in bezels, and then crafted in platinum for good measure.

I am proud to say that two daughters and countless hours of sculpture later, this ring is doing dandy. It doesn't look any more like this photo, showing it shiny and new and minus any dings. But, I can say it has been much-loved, which makes me smile.

quintessential

This design is quintessential for my process of cusotm designing.

Kate came in nearly sure that no one could do as she wished. She and her beloved had each found a beautiful, richly colored rock on the same magical excursion in nature. The rock she had found, a pretty shade of green, was a smooth and interesting shape, but about as large as Kate felt she could "pull off" in a ring. But ideally, her groom's red rock sould be incorporated, as well. What to do?

My design idea was to leave the green rock basically intact, except to cut a circular disk out of it, which would be inlaid with an identical disk of the red rock. The colors looked great together, and the symbolism was the clincher. A simple, 14K two-tone mounting completed the concept. But will it work?

Some rock materials are used in jewelry with some regularity: lapis lazuli, malachite, rhodochrosite. Generally, rocks that are of fine enough quality to qualify as gem rocks have fairly consistent and predictable behavior. Which means that decisions such as shaping, cutting, filing, finishing, and inlaying can be readily made.

But these rocks were not gem rocks. They were just rocks. Just really beautifuly ones. But, as non-gem rocks, while I could certainly have attempted to educate myself on them, I still wouldn't be able to learn anything about cutting or doing inlay work with them--no data. But I felt their existence told me everything I needed to know. The green rock was clearly water-tumbled, and so had survived a lot, through the millenia. It would be stable. I just had to take a chance cutting the red one.

Could not have gone more smoothly.