Anniversary Commission

 I love seeing the process of other artists and jewelers and I don't post much about my process because I tend to get so engrossed with what I'm doing that I don't stop to take pictures.  I did this time because it was a commission for a friend so I thought I'd share!  This was a special anniversary gift and he requested a set of either a necklace and earrings or a necklace and ring.  I was given some basic parameters, nantucket, the beach, baskets, a daisy and blue and green colors (along with a few others) to work with.  When I think color I go straight for stones and since the beach was on the list and I had these lovely paua shell stones in blue and green I went straight for those.  I did A LOT of sketching.  I only included a couple of the ones that led to the final design here because this post would be ridiculously long if I included every sketch.  I like making notes about my designs in my sketchbook as you can see.  So I experimented a bit with the idea of basket weave, waves, daisy petal shapes and I got a little crazy with wire designs. (photos not included)

At this point I was given some feedback to go with the daisy design, try to include the entire flower and get away from the blues and greens so, round 2 of sketches looked like this......

He decided to go with the necklace design in the bottom photo, bottom right as well as the single petal ring AND dangle earrings because he liked the designs of all of them and couldn't decide.  So, I got off to work......

 creating granulated daisy centers for the earrings and necklace. 

A stamped back with the words "HE LOVES ME!" and their anniversary date.  Ultimately this had a heart shape cut out in it as well.  The hole was functional but I always like to try to incorporate it into the design if I can.

I always try rings on while I'm working on them, even if they don't fit me well, just to check how they wear and look on.  I really like the concept behind this design, the single daisy petals acting as the symbol for the "he loves me, he loves me not" game.  Perfect for an anniversary.

And the final products...... A single petal ring with a few silver beads to tie it into the granulated detail of the earrings and necklace.