12/12/2025
I had this grouping of five stones together on one of my many “pieces in process” trays at my wax carving bench for quite some time - a year and a half at least. Combining geometric stones like this is not something I have done often in my work, but I kept coming back to this arrangement over and over again. I always had a cigar band vision in mind, but it wasn’t til I started practicing engraving that I knew I had to break this combo out to put into use. So far, with engraving, I haven’t started pieces by sketching on paper much. This one rolled off the hand with some wiggly sharpie marks I traced in excitement onto the metal under the scope. The negative space around the stones came out as a sort of folk-y flower shape as I traced the area how I saw it in my mind, and it wasn’t until I photographed the finished ring that I realized the triangular diamond served as a sort of bloom to top it off. A happy accident.
I like working like this, without a strict plan, because I feel a little bit of freedom in designing in the moment. For me the magic happens when I’m with the materials and ready to go, sensing my intuition come into play as I look through the scope and at my pile of sharpened gravers conveniently living at the right edge of my bench. If I feel an urge to start putting certain lines down I just want to do it right away, rather than draw it, map it, transfer it, etc. maybe it’s impatience but I’d like to think that intuition is fleeting and if I don’t capture it in the metal right away it’s impression will fade. I do, however, use brass practice plates that are always kicking around my bench, easily accessible so I can “jot something down” when I have an idea. I do reference them a fair amount when I’m picking a pattern to graver to use.
This is one of my favorite rings available at the moment, and I know that it will call to someone special. Vintage and reclaimed diamonds, 18k yellow gold, can be resized.