Thursday, December 24, 2015

Gemalogue's Design: Oceanic Cuff


As you may know I recently started my jewelry design journey at FIT in New York. I used to take jewelry design for granted but now that I am making my own jewelry, I have to say that the process is an enduring physical process. Every piece takes countless of hours from start to finish. Since this was my first design, I decided to document my design journey.

My bracelet design was inspired by the ocean, I love anything with soft curves and abstract shapes, therefore I incorporated it into my design by making it resemble the ocean floor. I also love working with any stones that are sparkly, whether they be natural gemstones or crystals. For this particular design I used crystals to represent the sparkles that occurs when the sunlight hits the surface of the water.



The green piece you see above is a wax piece that I carved out to the shape that I want. The tiny holes are where the crystals are going to be in.



Next the wax piece was sent for casting. I cast it sterling silver. However somehow I didn't really like the way the curve on the cuff looked so I decided to change the cuff design.


Here you noticed the little extruded curve had been removed. I think it is much more aesthetically pleasing now. Next, the cast piece was soldered onto the cuff so it becomes one solid piece. I have to say it was a tedious process because holes were drilled in order to hold both pieces together, and any wrong measurement would cause the middle part to sit slanted or incorrectly.

Below you can see the initial sketch I had in mind and what the product came out to look.


Finally the last step was to plate the cuff, thanks to a lovely person from instagram I chose rose gold with rhodium. I was contemplating between gold and rose gold but I'm happy at how this color combination came out instead. The rose gold and silver color gives of a soft look. The stones that I used for the tiny holes were cabochons, so when I run my fingers through it there's a textured feeling.


Below was a custom piece I made for a customer. She wanted everything to be solid sterling silver (hence more expensive). If you notice, I replaced the cabochon stones with Swarovski crystals instead so it helps bring the cuff to life.


Hope you enjoy my piece! I'm looking forward to sharing more designs with you all :) Find me on instagram and follow my design journey! Happy holidays! XOXO



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