Russian princess, another Cameo and more

Hello again! I guess I need to get into the rythm of

when to post, and how long between posts, but

hey, I am not pretending to be some great blogger, I need to find my way

around it all still. I have been rather

busy, with some very

interesting designs, and some ultra mundane things that I dont really feel like sharing. The ring on the left is part of a whole bunch of things I am making for a new client, who is a lovely Boere- Russian princess. ('Boere' means 'farmer' in Afrikaans, but has been used to describe white South Africans as a whole, but mostly Afrikaans speeking people) Altogether I have enjoyed designing for this lady, we seem to have very similar taste. This ring was made in 9k yellow gold, and contains diamonds. Here are just a few of my work in progress pictures:

And some more pictures of things I am busy with Firstly a Kruger Rand coin frame for the same lady, made from 9k yellow gold, I will post pictures again when it is done.

And then another Cameo setting for one of my longest standing clients, another lovely lady with a selection of collectors jewelry to die for. I made this for her son in Cape Town.

And because I know you love it, some work in progress

pictures. On the second one you can see how I refine the design on the metal, I think better in metal, if that makes any sense.

I have always been very intrigued by Cameos. These delicately carved works of art has been telling stories 300 years before the birth of Christ in Alexandria, Egypt. But was ultimately made popular by Queen Victoria of England.

Did you know that you can tell if a master carved the Cameo by the signature at the back? The apprentices weren't allowed to sign their names.

Even though I do not carve Cameos myself, I do have a nice little collection of these beauties, it was not very hard to design for this shell Cameo. I decided on using Sterling Silver.

The feminine lines of the Cameo lends itself beautifully to my style of designing. Although my style has changed and matured over time, I have always been drawn to vintage jewelry, I believe I put a slight modern twist to it. I had a lot of fun cutting out the pattern, it is a theme that repeats itself on many of my pieces. I drew the design out on the metal, drilled 0.9mm holes and cut out the negative spaces, its almost like drawing with a saw. What a medium! Oh, and everything down to the chain was handmade by me. :)