Hammered Lapis RingOctober 2016 Sterling silver, lapis lazuli Made for a little girl who was almost named Lazuli, the finely hammered texture of this ring reflects the golden flecks in the deep blue of the stone.

detailed design that fully covers the top of her finger and the clean narrow shank reminded me of a spoon ring—which I was confident is a kind of jewelry that the bride might actually wear—so I added raised rounded borders to the shank to emphasize that motif

April 200614 karat yellow gold

All four sides wrap once each around the central axis of the shank and join back up with themselves

I'd previously made alabaster cabochons from some of the stone

Her husband at the time commissioned this piece to commemorate the event

The gigantic agate cabochon at the center of this cuff bracelet is riddled with dark blue dendrites

A few years ago

The bending and skewing of this cross is symbolic of the trials she's been through and that she's sure to face in life

I left the outside of the flame rough to indicate movement and gave it a green patina as an even more explicit nod to the Zhou Dynasty bronzes

倒 is also a homonym for the character 到

a matched set of half-round twist-style rings

I love the elegance of what we came up with in the end