Two-Generation Rings

Jewellery outlives people. Not always, but often. I like to make things that I can feel fairly sure will make it down two or three generations. Here are two rings that were made with this idea in mind, under these guiding principles:

• They should be able to last two generations – the workmanship should be sturdy, the engraving deep, the stone hard, its colour durable even when finely scratched.
• They should have simple classic designs, so that the next generation won’t have to be embarrassed by the previous one’s taste. (I think of the inherited ‘60s rings that I have to melt down from time to time.)

Both rings have a simple hexagonal bezel and are tapered at the bottom for comfort.

Ring: silver, amethyst

Ring: silver, amethyst

Designing a Flower Earring

As anyone who has seen this blog knows, I am in love with the flowers that grow wild in South Africa.

Here’s an example of how i am using some of the abundant variety of forms available to anybody by just looking about. In the garden there are abundant plectranthus, in this case a ground-cover with elegant leaves that are both waxy and hairy – the plant is invested in conserving water. It has very small flowers, perhaps 1cm long. The flower is speckled with little pink dots, but it is the form that interests me.

 

Using a fari bit of magnification to assist my aging eyes, I produced an idealization of the shape.

 

Having got a handle on the shape, and the way that the petals fold into each other, I carved the thing in wax, with a tiny flower held in a pair of spring-tweezers on the bench in front of me. There is a fair bit of abstraction that goes on – for both formal and practical reasons – the tiny stamens had to go – they were simply too small. Individual florets of the plectranthus are as different as faces, and I was guided by what felt satisfying.

I had it cast, producing this:

A Flower Pattern

I painted pictures of these flowers from Namaqualand. Digital editing allowed me to arrange them in a grid. I think it makes a pretty pattern.

Flower pattern: Namaqualand wildflowers