Category Archives: Uncategorized

Mosaics in Arcata

Visit to Laurel Skye’s SkyeLab mosaic studio in Arcata, California. The entire home is decorated with mosaics – floors, walls, chairs, toilet, garden, kitchen, bathtub and more.

on the porch
On the porch
Mosaic Stool
Stool
Mosaic Supplies
Supplies
Toilet with copper pennies
Toilet bowl tiled with copper pennies
Mosaic plates
Mosaic plates

Gold Ring, Diamonds and a Tatoo of a Cherry Blossom

Custom commission: a gold cherry blossom ring for Laura, an oncology nurse with a full-body Japanese cherry blossom tattoo. 4-month process from sketches to wax model to gold casting, with a 5-karat rough black diamond center and 5 triangular diamonds between petals.

Laura's tattoo
Laura’s tattoo
Design drawings
Design drawings
Wax model in the making
Wax model in the making
Wax model with diamonds
Wax model with diamonds
Ring cast in gold
Ring cast in gold
The final product
The final product

Memory Lane

Trip to Switzerland for a 45-year high school reunion. Soglio in the Bergell valley (Hotel Palazzo Salis built 1629, once occupied by Rilke), Chagall exposition at the Kunsthaus, and admiring a 20.67ct aquamarine gold ring by Gabriele Krack and a Tiffany diamond bee pendant.

Bregaglia Valley
Bregaglia Valley
Piz Badile
Piz Badile
Diamond Bee Pendant
Diamond Bee Pendant (Tiffany)
Aquamarine Gold Ring
Aquamarine Gold Ring (Gabriele Krack)

BACK IN DOHA (QATAR)

6th annual visit to Doha. Doha’s architectural contrasts (IM Pei’s Museum of Islamic Art vs strange skyscrapers), Qatar’s wealth inequality between nationals and migrant workers, the Qatar Foundation’s university campuses, and antique Islamic jewelry at the museum.

Museum of Islamic Art Doha
Museum of Islamic Art, Doha
Guest workers
Construction workers / ‘guest workers’
Dhow harbor
Boats in Dhow harbor, museum in background
Islamic necklace
Necklace of red spinel, pearls and diamonds set in gold bezels
Bazuband
A bazuband made of large diamonds set in gold
Shah Jahan cameo
Shah Jahan depicted on a cameo in sardonyx stone (ca. 1630)
Corndog building
Corndog building (Burj tower)

Teen Jewelry

An observational study of teenage jewelry and fashion trends: strong color coordination, snake rings, body piercing accessories, mood rings, and friendship bracelets with social messages. Low price point and personal meaning are key teen values.

Blue matching outfit
Blue Sweat Shirt and Matching Blue Android – note the snake ring and mood ring
Teen color contrasts
Teen’s sense of shocking color contrasts
Piercing accessories
Piercing accessories
More piercing accessories
More piercing accessories
Friendship bangles
Friendship bangles
Bangles with messages
Bangles with personal messages

Closing Pin for Sky Diving

A custom gold closing pin pendant (the essential parachute-release pin worn as jewelry by many skydivers) set with red and yellow diamonds matching the colors of a parachute canopy.

Gold closing pin pendant
Gold closing pin pendant with red and yellow diamonds

Delicate & Graceful Diamond Necklace

A necklace using rough grey diamonds drilled and attached with 28-gauge gold wire (balled up with an acetylene torch) onto an 18-karat gold chain. Diamonds are uniquely heat-tolerant, though occasionally one splits and flies through the studio!

Delicate diamond necklace
Delicate & Graceful Diamond Necklace

40 BEACHES OF EAST HAMPTON

An index post launching a 7-part series documenting all 40 beaches of East Hampton Town, Long Island, covering beaches from Sag Harbor to Montauk to Wainscott.