quartztrail

Gift for my surrogate mom

Carol was my mother's best friend and quite possibly misses her more than I do. Of course, Carol's also taken it upon herself to noodge me out of conviction that no one should be without a Jewish mother, ever. This is a lot of work for Carol, since I never exactly listened to my biological Jewish mother. But if I ever get guilt withdrawal symptoms, I know who to call. 

Birthdays are tough for Carol, as my mother used to call her first thing and warble an off-key Happy Birthday. My mother was tone deaf, and I'm very glad I didn't know about this little tradition while I lived within hearing range. But when Carol turned 29 for the 41st time this year, I thought I'd do something to cheer her up. Singing was out of the question, because I was born with perfect pitch and therefore am acutely aware of how bad I sound.

So I did this instead:

I hire only the most stunning models, as you can see. Here's a close-up

The stone is a one-of-a-kind Multi-color Spiderweb agate set in sterling silver. The wire is twisted by hand. Yes, by me. I screwed up the setting and had to redo the whole thing a couple times, but it all came out okay in the end. And Carol likes it, which is what counts. Though it did arrive several months late. Sorry, Carol. Mom never got anywhere on time, either.

Carol's daughter, Lisa, is a lifelong friend and helped start a non-profit called Young Survival Coalition. I'll be auctioning off a few pieces on eBay in October for Breast Cancer Awareness month with half the proceeds going to YSC. Details to come.

My death-ray decoder ring

I showed this around the office and the guys loved it more than the girls. It's huge, it's weirdly luminscent and it flashes the "Batman" beacon into the night sky.

I wish.

It's a labradorite, and a good one. I normally hate these stones, since they rarely shine more than a tiny bit, and only at one angle, and in certain types of light and then you might get a flash of yellow or blue-gray.

But this had an amazing blue that changes shade at different angles and is visible even indoors under fluorescent office lights. Kewl.

Click for full size so you can see some of the detailing on the ring. Like the previous ring, I did the detail work myself and then dipped it in horrible, stinky stuff to give it a patina.

Love this one. Love it. Wear it everywhere. Bad guys totally avoid me now.

One ringy dingy, two ringy dingies ...

Yeah, I only hire the hottest fashion models for my jewelry collection. And I really go for that "Mommy couldn't get a comb through my hair" look.

Anyway. This is my latest creation (click for big version):

It's a crinoid fossil, made of small sea creatures whose skeletons got trapped in sea sediment. And sterling silver. I twisted all that wire myself and soldered it all and made some awful, awful mistakes. Like too big a setting, so the silver practically swallows the stone up. It got all wrinkly when I went to smooth it over the stone. Ugh.

Even worse -- I put a nasty gouge into the stone while setting it. I would've burst into tears if I weren't busy kicking myself so hard. My amazing jewelry teacher told me how to use a small amount of a special jewelry polish and a big, whirly lathe machine thingy to grind some of the gouge down.

But it's still visible, along with the other boo-boos I made.

So, you know what that means ... not for sale.

Pity me, having to wear this gorgeous thing to console myself.

Click for full size:

I'll have another, even cooler ring to show next. No preview. This one I like so much, and it came out so well that it's ... not for sale.

One of these days, I actually have to try and make money off this stuff.

Just not today.