Engagement ring

When people ask me why I don't just make jewelry for my full time job, I roll my eyes internally.  I know it's a compliment and it's not that I don't appreciate the sentiment.  But I like making jewelry at this pace and without the stress of a bottom line looming over me.  The idea of trying to make enough money from jewelry production to live off of would completely ruin it for me.  I end up selling enough to buy more materials and tools and equipment. But if I don't sell an item for months or years, that's ok.  It just means I have to wait to buy that next tool.

The thing I love the very most about making jewelry is being able to create things for people I care about.  So when my brother asked me to make his girlfriend's engagement ring, I took it very seriously.  I was determined to give him several options and sent him a million texts about ideas. I ended up with four. (Maybe really just three and a half.  One ended up being more cocktail ring than engagement ring.)

We talked about stones and I ordered green and rainbow topaz.  Green topaz was the front runner for the ring, but there is something about rainbow topaz that talks to me.  Like whispers in my ear that I should keep it. The stones arrived and I swear I got them out and just looked at them then put them away for two weeks.  Sometimes being emotionally connected makes me freeze up because I'm afraid I'll screw it up.  But I had a firm deadline to meet and that helped.

See what I mean about the rainbow in that last image????  I almost can't take it.

I made the ring shanks and built the settings (and rebuilt them and rebuilt them and finally removed one, in the case of the claw settings.  I think I hate those).

This was the ring that I made specifically with the bride-to-be in mind; I love it.  It's also the one that my brother chose. 

She said yes! (Obviously...if she hadn't, this post would have probably just been about topaz and "general" rings.)

I'll put the remaining rings up for sale if I can talk myself out of keeping them.  Seriously, I don't need any more rings. I say that but keep adding rings to my jewelry drawer.