Hand carved sterling totem bracelet showing the bear and the salmon

Totem is a word that comes from the Eastern side of this continent so it is not an accurate word to describe the poles that we now call Totem Poles here on the North West coast.  A Totem in its original use was a spirit helper or animal spirit that belonged to one person.  It was a personal thing that had to be sought after and helped a person to be strong and honorable.  Then some of the other Eastern Indians used a clan symbol that would tell others who they were.  This was also called a totem, and is closer to the usage on the North West Coast

Hand carved Sterling Totem Bracelet showing the Raven end

We modern Americans and Canadians now lump all of the different types of poles used by the people of the North West into the catagory of “Totem Poles” or just “Totems” There are many types of totem poles in use on the Northern coast, memorial poles to honor the dead, crest poles to put in front of your house, so everyone knows who lives there, and story poles.  A story pole can be raised to commemorate an event by retelling the story in figures on the pole.  Here in the Salish area there are also Welcome Figures, which are large single figures that were set up on the beach in front of the village to welcome guests.  There are also house posts that are part of the support system in the old style cedar plank houses that were exquisitely carved with figures from family history or stories that belonged to the family.

This bracelet is designed to illustrate certain characters used in the myths and legends of the Tlingit and Haida people. This totem design is not really a pole as it has no

Hand carved sterling bracelet showing the Eagle end and the Salmon

base.  It is a pole with two tops and no bottom, which you can’t do on a cedar log but on a bracelet it works! The figures are a Grizzly Bear with a Salmon being scooped up in his paw, with Raven and Eagle watching from each end, in case he should drop the fish or leave some scraps that could be snatched up and taken away for dinner. Typical behavior for these creatures!  We designed this bracelet for our friend Steve, who wanted to embody the West Coast environment around his wrist.  I think it is pretty successful in doing that!

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Totem bracelet by Owen Walker, 1.25 inch width.

D9 $600.00

Celtic Twisted Braid Engraved Diamond Wedding Ring

This Celtic Twisted Braid Diamond Wedding Ring is finally finished at Walker Goldsmiths and off to our customer who had big plans to propose to his sweetheart. She had told him what style she liked and they had even chosen a picture of a ring they’d found on-line, then he sneaked over to see us. We, of course, set him straight about just what was practical and functional about their chosen design and took off from there.

We’ve been making rings for people for over 35 years and have learned a thing or two about just what works and what doesn’t!  The big fashion these days is the micro-bling look created with LOTS of teeny tiny diamond melee, diamonds smaller than 1 or 2mm covering the band and sides.  The young girls are all being sold this in the jewelry stores these days and no one is telling them that they are just not practical or built for durability.  They are built to lose melee diamonds over time and to create a cash flow for the stores in replacement diamonds. When a customer comes to us and wants this fashion look I carefully tell them about the problems and expenses that might be involved and then with them design a ring that gets as close as possible to the original idea, yet is durable and functional in real life. This is where Owen’s engraving skills really shine. He can create the flash and look of melee diamonds with specific carving of the 14kt white gold to create facets that bounce off light and flash like diamonds.

Side view of Celtic Twisted Braid Diamond Ring

This Celtic Style Twisted Braid Engraved Diamond Wedding Ring, designed by Janet Walker, was cast in 14kt white gold.  It has a ½ carat diamond set in a 4 prong Platinum crown. The top is engraved by Owen Walker with a faux diamond pattern and the sides with a vine pattern.

We love this job. It’s so much fun to be involved in the magic and suspense of love and presentation.

We create heirlooms!  Thanks Joey.

Owen Walker engraving Celtic Ring

Hand carved sterling silver small whale bracelet

This Hand-carved Sterling Silver Small Whale Bracelet is another design where I had a hard time compressing a whole whale into a ½ inch strip of silver, but I really like the results even though it is hard to cut and get the tail perfect.  This whale can either be an Orca or a baleen whale by changing the pattern in the mouth, if I want a baleen whale (Grey, Humpback, or Bowhead) I just use a series of vertical lines instead of teeth in the mouth.  Because this is a petite bracelet we sometimes call it the “Baby Orca”, but it is really not a baby just a small bracelet.

The Orca, or Killer whale is a family crest from both sides of the village, that is, both Eagle and Raven Clans. Orca is the most powerful hunter of the sea. There are pods or families of Orcas that eat only fish and other families that eat both fish and other sea mammals.  It may interest you how they got the name of Killer whale.  In the old days of the whaling industry, when a whale was struck by the harpoon and was attached to the boat, pods of Orcas would appear and take big bites out of the stricken whale, often targeting the tongue.  The whalers did not make the connection that Orcas were whales too, and called them whale killers.  When it was realized that they were also whales they turned the name around and we got killer whales.

Hand carved sterling silver small whale bracelet side view

I know some people that are very afraid of Orcas which I guess is understandable as they are very large and powerful, but I have had several close encounters with Orcas and have yet to feel threatened, very unlike my experience with grizzly bears and wolves.  Here is the URL to a previous post that has some more Orca stories in it http://walkergoldsmiths.com/blog/large-orca-bracelet

Hand carved sterling silver small whale bracelet side view 2

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Whale Bracelet by Owen Walker, .75 inch width.  D40 price: $225.00

Celtic Twist 14kt White Gold Wedding Ring

Here we are at Step Two at Walker Goldsmiths with this Celtic Twisted Braid Diamond Ring. I’ve asked Owen to make a rubber mold of this ring this morning so the next time something similar to this design is requested I can speed up the whole process with a wax from the original mold.  I’m a slow and tedious wax carver so when I can utilize a technique to give me a foot-up I do!  So he said he’d get to it this morning.

Owen Walker Loading the mold frame

He has to pack the mold frame and solder a brass sprue on the ring and position it in the rubber just right.

Our marvelous mold cooker

Then the mold frame is placed in the “cooker”, heated up and held at a high enough temperature for one hour to melt the rubber completely into all the nooks and cranny’s of the ring.  When it’s all cooled down, removed and the sprue cut off, Owen will become the Master Mold Cutter.

The picture accompanying this blog is of the ring totally cast in 14kt white gold without the crown setting in the peg-hole.  It’s polished and ready to make a mold in rubber.  After that’s done, Owen will engrave the vine patterns that are planned for the top and sides of the ring.  I’ll post a picture of him doing that process. And on we go!

Ravenbear Wedding Rings

This was a fun and tricky set of wedding rings that we’ve just shipped to some folks getting married.  Carved in wax by me, Janet Walker, and cast in Sterling Silver by Owen Walker in our Walker Goldsmiths Studio. These rings are a combination of Totem Symbols in Sterling Silver. One is a Raven and Bear and the other is a Wolf and Bear.  It’s always interesting to us to see what people choose to be their totems of choice and power.

They obviously love the “wild” element in some of our totem style rings.  Our original Totem Symbol rings illustrate a traditional character in Northwest Indian myth and legend.  These rings are part of our Potlatch Collection. The traditional Potlatch Celebration is a special event with gifts given, see Owen’s blog post; http://walkergoldsmiths.com/blog/the-potlatch/.  We believe that jewelry is a perfect way to celebrate a special event worthy of commemoration. Not only does it create a point of memory of the occasion but accents the special feeling around it and even creates a kind of “glue” for a functional relationship. We’re very proud and excited to be a small part of that. Congratulations to Tanya and Ed!

We learn lots of things from our customers and this is what Tanya sent to us…we love it!

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”

“Heaven is a place where, when you get there, all the dogs you ever loved come running out to greet you!”

Triskelion design 14kt Wedding Set

The ring I’m highlighting today was designed together with the artist lady who wears this wedding set. She wanted the Celtic Triskelion and had found a picture of what she sort-of wanted on the internet.  We took that picture and her sketches/doodles and my professional advice and went with it. To her and her husband the symbolism of the traditional Triskelion represented their union of body, mind and spirit in their marriage; their marriage vows with their Heavenly Father. This body, mind and spirit element is the essence of the Love Knot.

This was a remake of their original wedding ring, a family heirloom that had belonged to her husband’s maternal great-great-grandmother. This diamond is 4 generations antique! We kept the original white gold antique illusion crown with the .25pt diamond as the center stone of the engagement ring.  It was in very good shape with years of wear still possible on this antique crown. Owen retipped the prongs and it was then good to go! I carved the wax with the Celtic Love knots stretched out along the top on both sides highlighting the crown. ! Owen melted all their gold and added some of ours alloying to cast the bands in 14kt yellow gold.  Not only does this integrate their original family gold but helps keep the cost down for these newlyweds. The Wedding band with two hammer set melee diamonds had a wee Love Knot in the center. (I just had to say “wee”!)

The symbolic element along with the generational aspect equals worthwhile traditions for this couple and we’re so very pleased to have participated in the creation of their wedding rings.  Thank you, Lyzz and Sam!