Opals are the birthstone of October. I recently finished up a bespoke wedding jewelry project for a lovely bride that got married in early October. She loves deep blues and dainty, understated jewelry. Although the project was created for the wedding, she also wanted her ceremonial jewelry to be something to enjoy wearing on less fancy days.
Something blue originated with a studio visit, showing my client some gemstones. I also had a pair of whelk earrings with a tiny diamond. The whelk is very symbolic to her family, regarding her late father, so it seemed perfect for her necklace. I showed her a one of a kind Blue Opal from Lightening Ridge, Australia and everything started to come together for a necklace concept.
Blue Opal & Diamond Whelk Necklace
With my bespoke projects, they often become a springboard for new design ideas. A few months prior to the wedding jewelry project, I had disassembled a blue opal in a necklace with a prong setting, shown below. I decided the prongs over-powered all the lovely opals and other gemstones in the collection. The blue opal is so much prettier in a simple bezel setting.
The prong setting didn't work.
Coming soon, my OOAK (one of a kind) Collection re-launch with simple bezel settings to show off all the pretty gemstones. Sometimes, you have to rethink a design to make it work. Prongs were not the best setting for a one of a kind opal. I am excited to create simple bezels like the wedding necklace for the re-worked OOAK Collection.
The Wedding Set
Something borrowed and something blue for her wedding jewelry project, my client wanted to wear her grandmother's halo diamond style ear jackets. I suggested Lapis to pair with her necklace. The post style earrings can be worn separately from the ear jackets for everyday jewelry after the wedding.
This image with her necklace and earrings, is more of a "in process" photo before the pieces were finished. I built simple bezels for the Lapis cabochons to fit neatly in the interior of her grandmother's ear jackets. I plan to share a few images of wedding jewelry closeups when those are available from the photographer.
CAD rendering of the re-designed engagement ring.
In addition for something borrowed, my client's mom gave her the engagement ring she wore when she got married to be used for a re-design. The original ring needed to be sized down quite a bit. The older style featured the center diamond with very tall prongs. I worked with my CAD designer to create a lower profile prong setting, more suitable for her understated style.
The timing of the engagement was close to the loss of her father. The ring was very sentimental and my client wanted to wear this in memory of her dad.
I worked with her fiancé, on the re-design of her family heirloom engagement ring. This part of the bespoke wedding jewelry project was created months earlier for the engagement. For the re-imagined sentimental ring, we met in secret, so the proposal and presentation were a sweet surprise.
Married at her mother's home on a dreamy day in early October.
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