All that glitters...

As i've been rapidly expanding my precious collection, i thought i'd do a recap post taking a stroll through some of my designs to date. 

I work predominantly in 18ct yellow or white gold, though i am open to discussing other precious metals. I also mainly work with sapphires and diamonds as they offer both a vast array of colours, from dusty pinks, greens, mauve, blues, yellows, champagnes, brilliant whites etc, as well as giving you the hardness and longevity to sparkle away for an eternity and beyond.

I design both women's and men's pieces and am always open to chatting about custom designs.

If you have a special occasion you'd like to mark with something golden and/or sparkling, drop me an email for a little chat on what i can design for you.

A little bit of twinkle.

A new little twinkling treasure just delivered to Pieces of Eight Gallery.
This 18ct yellow gold ring houses a spray of champagne and white diamonds sprouting amongst a subtly botanical setting.

Black Gold.

A new addition to my collection of precious rings.

Black Gold in an oxidised 18ct yellow gold band is unisex and can be made in any width or thickness.

The oxidising process turns the golden lustre of the band to a dark smokey black. However, over time and with wear, the gold starts to shine it's way back through, a slow subtle reveal. The band has a rough file mark texture which gives the golden surface a soft and subtle tone, earthy and subdued.

A special pair of wedders, for a very special pair.

Fresh off the bench, these 18ct white gold wedding bands are about to find their home on the fingers of a very lovely couple who shall remain nameless until after the wedding. But for now, i have the pleasure of sharing a little snapshot of the rings.

His is a plain 18ct white gold wedder with a rough textured finish, while hers in an 18ct white gold wedder, also with a rough finish and with a scattering of small coloured sapphires in various tonal shades of mauve and dusty green.

More pics to come...

Be-Jewelled.

More images to come...

Diamonds and sapphires and gold, OH MY!

My new collection of engagement and wedding rings marry the clean crisp lines of beautiful princess cut stones with organic soft settings.
Diamonds and sapphires are set into 18ct yellow and white gold, celebrating, not concealing the handmade techniques of stone setting.
Textured and raw, the gold acts as a soft and muted backdrop to the bewitching sparkle of the stones it contains. Hammer marks and scratches remain visible in the metal, giving life and story to each piece.
As though recovered from an archeological dig, these rings echo a sense of mystery and magic.

These rings are now available at e.g.etal. Custom commissions are available.

Image, (from bottom to top):

18ct yellow gold ring with 18 x diamonds
18ct yellow gold ring with solitaire princess cut Champagne diamond
18ct white gold ring with princess cut Parti sapphire & 20 x diamonds
18ct white gold ring with princess cut diamond and 2 x parti sapphires and 10 x diamonds on shoulder
18ct white gold ring with 18 x diamonds

Sine a little light.

Summer is heating up, the Christmas rush is upon us, and love is definitely in the air. 

Here are two recent engagement commission to share...

An 18ct yellow gold engagement ring with a champagne and white diamonds, and an 18ct white gold engagement ring with a scattering of white diamonds.

Wondergold

Three new 18ct yellow gold rings.

Left: Laurel Ring - available at E.g.etal

Right: (top) Ancient Coil Ring, (bottom) Ancient Tracks Ring - available at Pieces of Eight.

Showcase 500 Rings - Lark Publication

This epic publication arrived in the post the other day. A HUGE survey of contemporary rings from around the world, another great feat in keeping with the infamous 500 series books from the folk at Lark Craft Publications.

While flicking through it over breakfast, i was proud as punch to find myself nestled amongst many friends and heroes.

If you're a jewellery fan and collector of great art books, this hefty tome is definitely one to get you all inspired and amazed!
(Find here on Amazon)

The One.

Its been a long time in the making, but i have two new very special sparkly rings about to make their way to Pieces of Eight gallery.

These two 18ct yellow gold rings with white and champagne diamonds are exclusively designed for Pieces of Eight and will be available to buy off the shelf or as a prompt to commission your very own bit of glittery goodness with room for your input and modification.

I have also been super busy recently working on quite a few private wedding band commissions which i've also pictured bellow.

So if you have a special "The One" that you'd like to commission a bit of gold and sparkle for, pop into Pieces of Eight (for the exclusive diamond rings pictured), or contact me for a private commission.

Note: Due to gallery/artist loyalty, i am unable to be commissioned privately for rings that are designed exclusively for galleries. If you wish to contact me directly, it would have to be for a new design that is not currently on show. Feel free to contact me via email if you have any queries regarding this.

Count The Ways, 18ct yellow gold ring with 7 white diamonds.

18ct yellow gold wedder.

 The One, 18ct yellow gold ring with 1 champagne diamond.

18ct yellow gold wedder.

Count The Ways, Gold Wedder & The One.

Wedders. 18ct yellow gold & 18ct white gold.

New Deliveries to E.g.etal...

Some brand new pieces making their way to E.g.etal Gallery right now!!

Sprouts, buds, prickles and shoots.

A new collection of little stack rings has sprouted, possibly inspired by the amount of time i've been spending watching my little seedlings growing on the kitchen window sill...

These have only just been delivered to Pieces of Eight Gallery. They can be ordered in any number, from a single little treasure to a whole stack. Each one is individually sculpted in wax, then cast, so no two rings are ever exactly the same.

Heart to heart.

Oohh... as 2012 has slowly dawned on me, i've taken a moment to look through my shiny new diary and have realised, it's only a few weeks till a certain little day that makes lovers coo, and keeps jewellers busy - Valentines Day!

If V day happens to be on your radar this year, then take note that along side my art projects and quirky pieces, i also create special, sparkly and sentimental treasures.

here are a couple of pics of some special pieces commissioned over the last little while...

UNDERFOOT. OVERHEAD. Studies in Nature.

I currently have work in the newly opened exhibition 'UNDERFOOT. OVERHEAD. Studies in Nature.' at Object Gallery, Sydney, curated by Kate Ford.

Exploring the environments beneath us and above us, and all that lies between. Underfoot. Overhead. includes a number of makers who take inspiration from the natural world and create artefacts that then challenge our idea of what is 'natural'.

Featuring work by Juz Kitzon, Ken + Julia Yonetani, Emily Valentine Bullock, Natalia Milosz-Piekarska and Michelle Kelly.

My work came under the title 'Immortal Morsels' and is an idea i think i might like to explore further down the track...

'Immortal Morsels' sees Natalia explore the mysterious world of food and it's endless uses as mediums for worship, healing and protection. Throughout time and across cultures, certain foods and an endless repository of enigmatic edibles have been administered with the belief that they house magical and medicinal properties. They have been used to heal, protect and alter our physical and mental states. Some foods and ingredients take on such divine eminence, the question could be asked, are they the food of the gods, or are they gods in themselves?

Natalia plays with these ideas through the construction of her own fictitious talismanic morsels . Using a veritable apothecary of materials to conjure up her creations, she cooks up a collection of weird and wonderful bite size charms to be taken strictly as prescribed.

Above are some of the pieces i included.

...and more rings.

I'm running out of ring pun titles for all the rings posts i've been putting up lately, but none the less, here's two more rings i made recently.

The first is Chilli Seed Ring and is a wee addition to my Bad Beasts Do Not Harm Me body of work which is travelling up to Sydney next week to be shown at Metalab Gallery in Surry Hills. I thought that as the exhibition is touring to a new home, a new little addition, just for Metalab, would be a nice way to carry the show forward.

Second is a ring i've nicknamed Eyes For You. It was meant to be a ring to go out as stock, but during the final stages of finishing it i realised, i never keep anything for myself. So, this one stayed with me and currently lives very happily on my middle finger.

I've had requests for similar designs since i started wearing it, so clearly wearing your own work is a good business move, pity i don't wear a lot of my own jewellery. People often ask why i don't wear more of my own work, or much jewellery at all for that matter. Part of the reason is simply because i find that when i work, i don't like having things getting in the way just in case i either a) damage the jewellery or b) get the jewellery caught in something that spins very fast or catches on fire, in turn, damaging myself.

Has a ring to it.

Seems to be ring season at the moment.

Here's two commissions i took on recently.

A very exciting couple of 18ct Yellow Gold wedders for two very special peeps, congrats you two!

And,

a spontaneous requests for a little double serpent ring in oxidised sterling silver with a stunning Tsavorite Garnet plonked in the middle.

Fun times.

Colours

Velvet Wedders: Sterling silver, Tsavorite Garnet. (Can be commissioned in white or yellow gold).

3 Stone Ring: Sterling silver, 2x yellow Sapphires, 1 x pink Sapphire.

I've really enjoyed playing with coloured stones recently, and, coupled with my rather 'unorthodox' setting methods, i think the results have quite a playful and joyous feel, like a cheeky wink.

At the moment i'm predominantly using a variety of coloured natural Sapphires, but have also started playing with Tsavorite and Demantoid Garnets for their amazing, other-worldly green colours.

Most of my rings are made in sterling silver, but, i'm more than happy to have them commissioned in either white or yellow gold, and i'm happy to work with other coloured stones and/or diamonds.

My stone set rings are sold at E.getal and Pieces of Eight in Melbourne. The lovely gallery staff in both galleries are more than happy to work with clients in having something extra special commissioned.

Rings for Pieces of Eight Gallery.

Well boys and girls, the news about town is that Pieces of Eight Gallery in the city is about a week away!!! Just in time for Christmas! Start walking by when you're around Melbourne town to see if the doors have opened. Head down Russel Place, (btw lt Collins and Burke st).

Here's a couple of rings that make up part of an exclusive collection i've been working on for PO8.

The reddish stones are carnelian, the other two in the last pic here are painted timber.

Engagement commission.

Another wonderful engagement commission came my way recently. After some discussion about colour, scale, design and stones, this was the sunny result. A 9ct yellow gold ring set with a yellow sapphire. Such a lovely warm ring, it's seems only fitting that it will find it's new home in Spain. Good luck!