Charoite Revisited

I previously posted about some of my charoite cabs, here. I recently set one of them, and wanted to show you the result, and share the process that led to this design:

Hard-angled stones tend to pose a bigger design challenge for me than rounder ones, so I sat with this one for a while before the idea took hold. I originally was going to set it vertically, with the point facing down (sound familiar?):

and:

but that's sort of my "go to" for teardrop stones, so I wanted this to be a little different. Also the charoite triangle is a scalene (each side is a different length) rather than an isosceles, where two of the three sides are the same length, so it wouldn't really have looked right (at least not to my eye) if I'd set it vertically. 

Charoite comes from Siberia, Russia, and that made me think of rugged mountain country. So I made a mountain-ish backing for the stone. And the stone itself, set sideways, has a slope kind of like a mountain. I didn't want the mountain to be too rugged, since the stone's finish is a soft satiny look, so I added just a few sawn cutouts on the sides:

I gave the overall piece a soft satin finish to complement the stone. The back is softly textured as well:

I like for my jewelry designs to have some meaning, because jewelry is the most personal form of adornment. And I really enjoy writing the descriptions for the stone items. In this case it wasn't just the stone itself but it's host location that influenced the design. Also, charoite is considered quite ugly in its natural state. It's not until it's cut and polished that it becomes this fantastic creation. And that made me think about personal growth, how we go through changes and constant learning in life. So here's the description:

"Through life we all climb our personal mountains. The work of growing emotionally and intellectually is never done; not if we want to keep reaching and striving for our own personal goals. Sometimes it is raw strength that pushes us through and sometimes it's learning to be gentle and receptive. The journey ends when we do; before that it's about moving forward and experiencing everything that life offers us."

Sometimes I think I'm a big cheese-head, but this does reflect how I try to live my own life and so I guess if it's cheesy, I'm okay with that. There are worse things.  :)

So that's the story of this particular design journey. I'll try to post some more in the upcoming weeks as time permits. I can't wait to see where the next design will lead me!

Rootless

I've been living in the Southeast for nearly a decade. Being here in the heart of the Bible Belt, where family and history is second only to God, is an eye opening experience for someone who did not grow up here. Generations of sons and daughters attend the same schools their fathers and mothers did, family bloodlines arc cleanly through the years, and where you're from is one of the first questions you'll be asked when meeting someone new.

I find this fascinating in some ways and stifling in others. As a girl who repeatedly asked her parents where the adoption papers were kept, you might suspect that I do NOT have deep familial roots.

This agitates my mother, which I find strange, since she is very much about family - but after my parents moved us across the country at ages nine (me) and seven (my brother), they never made an effort to connect us with the family left behind on the east coast. Sure, there were birthday and holiday cards sent by relatives, and stilted phone conversations, but as for exploring our roots, getting to know our cousins OR the older generation, visiting my parents' childhood haunts - none of that ever happened.

My grandparents all died around the same time - in the late 1970s or early 1980s, when I would have been around twelve-ish (with the exception of my maternal grandmother who died in 1992), so I never knew them well. For many years it's been just me and my nuclear family. And we're not exactly what you'd call close-knit.

Is it any wonder, then, that I feel more rooted to places than people? When I think about my own personal history, it has more to do with places I've been than with feeling connected to people in my life. I think about the move to the Southwest, in the late 1970s, growing up there, what the city looked like to me then. I think about the piece of land my parents bought in Prescott, while I was in high school, and how we camped there until they built what has turned into their retirement home. I spent hours as a girl, exploring the forestlands on those camping weekends, walking the dirt road that connects the sparse number of homes just outside of Prescott. I dreamed and imagined all over that land.

I think about places we visited. One year we took an amazing trip to Colorado. But what I remember about it are the incredible mountains and the vast views from roadside stops. I remember the waterfalls and drinking that cold mountain water in July (for the record, it tasted better than any water I have had before or since). I remember the quaint charm of Durango. I remember the glorious run on a high school track in the altitude - lungs searing, but the feeling of being so very alive just then - those are the things that shape my history and my past. But in them, I am alone.

This little guy was a souvenir of that trip. I've had him since I was fifteen.  :)

Recently my mother has been going through things and sorting. I'm sure that has to do with my father's impending death from cancer, and the ways in which her life will change. Totally understandable. And my mother is a bit of a hoarder (not in an "as seen on Television" way by any means. But her mother gave away or got rid of nearly everything of mom's from her childhood, her treasured family items, without ever asking mom first. And I'm not sure mom has ever quite gotten over that. So she keeps lots of bits and bobs from years past).

One of the things mom was cleaning out last time was her jewelry box(es). I do come by this jewelry affliction honestly! She has a small collection of Native American jewelry that dad bought her in the '70s and '80s. And this time she gave me the two cuff bracelets pictured above, saying that she knew that I would cherish them. And I do. To me they are a talisman of a certain point in my life, transitioning from young girl to teenager and starting to become a grown woman. Moving toward myself. Finding my way in a family-less terrain...shaping who and what I would become. So they are treasured in ways my mother, I think, would never imagine. They are a part of my history. They say, I have been here. They mark a point in time from which I can look back to and find comfort in both who I was then and who I am now. They are my roots. 

An Evolution

I've posted before about my jewelry fabrication journey, especially as it relates to stone setting. While recently I haven't had as much time as I'd like to hone my skills, I did create a few more pieces and I can see a design evolution.

I posted here about one of my first pendants and the issues I had with creating it. Where at first I found that just cutting out the backplate and getting the bezel solidly soldered down to it was problematic, now both of those steps come much more easily to me. And I've started to add embellishments to my fabrication work:

This is a gorgeous piece of lapis I've had for some time. I like setting teardrop stones "upside down" as my husband says...I don't know why but I like the points downward. Here's another example:

The above photo was a quickie while my girlfriend was wearing her necklace...I had photos of it at home but unfortunately they were lost, so this is all I have.

Next up is a Peruvian opal:

I love the colors in the opal! I have a few more like this and can't wait to play with them. I only added a few extras around the bezel as the stone has a lot going on. And the turquoise briolette picks up the colors perfectly.  :)

One more - which I almost didn't put up for sale. I SO love how this pendant turned out! But I can't possibly keep them all:

Sorry for the crooked shot, but it's the best one for showing the stone face. A phenomenal ocean jasper! Ocean jasper is found only in Madagascar, and can only be accessed at low tide, so I wanted to play with that. I made an asymmetrical back plate and then added only dot embellishments, randomly, to echo the orbs in the stone itself. The back is textured to look like the ocean has tossed it around for eons.

Now that I'm more comfortable adding embellishments, I feel like I'm ready to start adding more! I don't know what that will do to my stone choices - I tend to buy "busy" stones, and I'm not sure a "busy" background will really work with those - but I'm eager to see how the ideas and stones come together.  :)