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Custom Sterling and Turquoise Pendant

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

This Custom Sterling and Turquoise Pendant was a recycling experience that Walker Goldsmiths had with Laurie and her mother, Nada. They had a family piece from her father who had passed away. The jewelry piece was a large Sterling Navajo type watch band with 4 turquoise stones on it that no-one ever wore. So Owen Walker took the stones all off the watch band and made 4 new custom pendants for family members. The Sterling watch band was used for some of the metal on the pendants and the rest (it was big!) was traded toward the cost of making the pendants, and providing the chains, etc. Beautiful and a great idea to recycle and memorialize a family piece!

Custom Pendant

Customizing a Wedding Ring to fit with Personal Style

Written by Janet Walker · 3 Comments

14kt White gold and diamonds wedding rings

It’s about time that I posted about Genevieve and Forrest’s Custom Wedding Rings. They were unique and a special experience for us all. Forrest is our dear neighbor and when he decided that Genevieve was “The One” he came to us, Walker Goldsmiths, to begin the process of getting her a lovely ring to signify their love and plans for marriage.

Now, Forrest is a determined fellow and always seeks the best bargain and quality. When Forrest wants to do something he always researches intensely and then makes a firm decision. He owned a beautiful diamond ring that he had previously purchased and wanted Owen’s opinion of it. Owen spent quite a lot of fun time talking to him about diamonds and metal; what to look for, how to recognize quality, what’s the difference between metals and how they wear, what’s the real difference between white and yellow gold, what does karat and carat relate to, and what the 5 C’s in relation to diamonds mean. Check this out for more information.

All the while we’re asking him who is this new girlfriend! We’ve learned over the years that’s it’s always safest to involve the fiance’ in the Wedding Ring choices, after all, she’s going to wear the ring and it needs to be just her style. So Forrest brought her to meet us and we heartily approved! Genevieve is a lovely artist who has really firm ideas about “her style” and together they went window shopping, looking at designs and figuring out just what was going to be right for them. Genevieve liked the diamond Engagement Ring that Forrest had for her and decided that she also wanted a Wedding Band to fit along side the other ring. So Genevieve and Walker Goldsmiths designed a custom band to fit snug up next to the ring provided by Forrest; we carved a wax of the desired ring, cast it in 14kt white gold, and set a diamond in the new ring. Together the rings make a very lovely Customized Wedding Ring set, just as together Forrest and Genevieve work well together and make a wonderful couple.

14kt white gold Wedding Set

Custom Lovebirds Ring with Diamonds

Written by Janet Walker · 8 Comments

Photo of Flashy 14kt white gold Lovebirds ring with 1ct. total weight in diamonds

Flashy white gold Lovebirds ring with 1ct. total weight in diamonds.

This is a variation of the Lovebirds Ring that we make for our Potlatch Ring Collection here at Walker Goldsmiths. This ring can be a Self sizer or as we’ve done here with crowns put into the open gap on top to accommodate setting stones. The Lovebirds story is a wonderful tradition of the Northwest Coast Native people.

Joshua contacted us in the middle of his fishing season off the coast of Alaska. His Sweetheart was in need of an engagement ring, in fact, he hadn’t even asked her to marry him yet!! Joshua had found our website and really liked the Lovebirds ring so we emailed back and forth ideas on how to make that ring extra special. He was having an exceptionally good season commercial fishing so he knew that now was the time to “spring for the ring”. He didn’t want his Sweetheart to get away!

Walker Goldsmiths jumped at the chance to help him out because we truly enjoy the excitement of this love business. We made this ring with the Lost Wax technique in 14kt White Gold, then Owen put his magic diamond finders cap on and went to searching coming up with 3 gorgeous diamonds that equal a carat to set in the center of the Lovebirds; a half carat center with two quarter carats on each side. Joshua wanted this ring to be 14kt white gold and that was no problem, and of course, we specialize in setting diamonds in 6 prong Platinum crowns for strength and durability. The effect was marvelous; lots of flash! We sent it off to him and waited to hear the news. Joshua and his Sweetheart loved the Custom Lovebirds Engagement or Wedding Ring with Diamonds and, “She said Yes”! Thank you, Josh, for putting us in the loop as we love to hear the good news.

Top view of Lovebirds Ring

14kt White gold Lovebirds ring with squared bottom shank

Custom Story Wedding Rings in 14kt Gold

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Photo of Elk carving on Custom 'Wedding Ring

Rosma and Grahams Custom Story Wedding Rings

We love to create Custom Wedding Rings here at Walker Goldsmiths and when we can do Custom Story Rings it’s even more fun. Graham and Rosma came to us wanting Custom Wedding Rings and they provided a very interesting challenge for us. They wanted 14kt Gold – no problem. They wanted to incorporate their two personalities into the rings – fun challenge!

Graham is your exceptional American boy growing up hunting and shooting in the Rocky Mts. of Colorado, served in the US Army in Iraq, and sports a big glowing personality. Rosma is a sweet beauty from the Marshall Islands. She speaks Ebon, the language of the Marshall Islands, and sings and dances their traditional dances like a princess.

When Graham came to us wanting Wedding Rings he specifically wanted to create something that incorporated and represented who they were individually. (I rubbed my hands together gleefully at this point!) Rosma’s ring was to be a 14kt yellow gold Lily Flower Wedding Ring with a beautiful sparkly white diamond in the center and a band to fit along side covered in leaves. Grahams 14kt yellow Custom Story Wedding Band was the big challenge; to incorporate their two personalities in carved pictures. Graham wanted on one side primarily an Elk to represent his hunting life in the Rocky Mountains accented with evergreen trees trailing off to ferns, flowers, sand dunes, surf and palm trees representing Rosma on the other side. WOW, you say!! I really raised my eyebrows at that, but I carved the wax with close checking by Graham to get it just right. Owen Walker lost wax cast it in 14kt yellow gold and it was beautiful indeed. Thank you, Graham and Rosma for this fun challenge! We did it at Walker Goldsmiths and successfully in an 8mm wide 14kt yellow gold Custom Story Wedding Ring. Check out our blog about story rings here.

Photo of Carved Story Rings in 14kt Gold

Custom Story Wedding Rings for Graham and Rosma

Custom Wedding Ring with an Overlap Braid Design

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Sometimes here at Walker Goldsmiths we get so busy creating, making and getting jewelry out to our wonderful customers that a beautiful custom piece can squeak right past us without getting its picture taken. This was the case with the lovely Custom Wedding Ring with an Overlap Braid Design for Heather. Then David sent Heather’s ring to us for refurbishing and I had a chance to take a photo.

Photo of Overlap Braid design wedding ring

Overlap Braid design white Gold wedding ring

I really struggled with this design when carving the wax. The ring had to be braided up to the center stone and diminish in size from the stone down to the shank bottom. Keep the same braid effect yet shrink in width! It really gave me troubles!!! And both sides had to be the same! Yikes!! I was challenged to say the least. It’s really not a braid in the 3 strand sense but actually an overlap effect with 2 strands. I really wanted to do this piece since textile art is my first craft love. Spinning and weaving come natural to me, so to take a textile effect and create it in metal was something I wanted to do. I even attempted to make it in strands of wax to cast, but that turned into a mess and it was back to square one. David wanted a nice big stone for Heather, so Owen found them a beautiful 1 carat Diamond and I was back to the drawing board.

Struggle as I did, taking it slow and easy with lots of meditation I carved that Custom Wedding Ring with an Overlap Braid design. Owen lost wax cast the ring in 14kt White Gold and set the 1 carat diamond in a tube bezel.

I think it turned out beautiful! Thank you for this challenge, David and Heather, Walker Goldsmiths really love this ring.

Custom White Gold 1ct. diamond Braided Wedding Ring Design

Custom Hand Carved Signature Wedding Rings

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Creating Custom Hand Carved Signature Wedding Rings was a new experience for us at Walker Goldsmiths. We received an email from some sweet folks who wanted to redo their rings. Now, what’s a Redo you might ask? It’s a doing over of their Wedding Rings! Sometimes when couples decide to get married there’s finances to consider, designs that seem almost right but not really, inherited jewelry that “will do” but they’re not your real choice, plus we grow and our likes and dislikes change.

Signature Wedding Ring Set hand-carved by Owen Walker

Jewelry is ALWAYS an emotional issue. What we choose to adorn our bodies with is a representation of who we are or want to be. When Michelle and Charlie found us they had been looking at Owen’s hand carved Bracelets on our website and enjoying the play of light and the deep carving. Owen has done many Northwest Coast Style hand carved Rings throughout the years, but this was a new take on hand carved rings. It took us a few tries and much communication to figure out just what Michelle and Charlie wanted their rings to look like.

Charlie and Owen came to the conclusion that there was “some confusion regarding what we “see” in the bracelet and perhaps what we have been able to communicate.”

Photo of Owen's bracelet with diagrams of desired carving

Figuring out what parts are wanted

It wasn’t the North West Totem symbols they wanted; they wanted “an abstract version” of their personal signatures on their rings with Owens carving embellishing them! We kept going back and forth with definitions of “carved texture”. It was a stretch for us to understand, but what fun!

The Hand-carved Signature Wedding Rings by Owen Walker

Thank you Michelle and Charlie for giving Walker Goldsmiths the opportunity to work with you and explore a new and very personal way of representing themselves to the world.

In my mind it’s a new take on the ancient Phoenician Signature Cylinder Seals or the Egyptian seals in the form of signet-rings of kings. Ancient ways in a new form!

Custom Art Deco Style Turquoise Ring

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Art Deco Style Turquoise and 18kt Gold Ring

This Custom Art Deco Style Turquoise Ring was made by Walker Goldsmiths for a friend, Russ Millenbach, who has the Silvery Moon Jewelry shop in Fairhaven, WA. Russ has known us for years and sold quite a bit of our lost wax Cast Silver Rings and Hand carved Bracelets and Pendants. He’s our Bellingham, WA area retail outlet. Russ has a particular customer who fell in love with this Royston Turquoise stone. And can you blame her? Wow! This stone is incredible! Problem was that she didn’t care for the ring it was set in, so Russ took it out of the ring that he had and got a hold of us. His customer wanted an Art Deco look and in 18kt gold. No Problem.

I love carving wax and for something so beautiful it was a labor of love and fascination. I can draw a design, measure it out, carve up the wax model, have Owen Walker lost wax cast it in metal, set the stone and then, and only then, does the magic truly unfold. It’s like a birthing. And this gorgeous Royston Turquoise really revealed itself for what it truly was; an incredible beauty!

Royston Turquoise comes from the Royston mining district located near Tonapah, Nevada. Royston Turquoise originally consisted of four old Turquoise claims: Bunker Hill, Easter Blue, Oscar Wehrend, and Royal Blue. In the 60’s and 70’s most of the best turquoise ever mined in the USA came out of copper mines and the Otteson family Royston mines, who have been in business as turquoise miners since 1958. They’re still mining turquoise and there are few turquoise miners left in the USA. Royston Turquoise is known world wide for having a wide range of Turquoise colors from a beautiful soft blue to emerald greens. The colors of Royston Turquoise often run together in the same rock which creates some of the most spectacular Turquoise stones on earth as is visible in this stone.

Phot of Rough uncut Royston Turquoise stones

Rough Royston Turquoise

If you want a custom turquoise jewelry piece made we can accommodate! Thanks, Russ. It was a privilege and loads of fun for Walker Goldsmiths to make this Custom Art Deco Style Turquoise Ring.

Roystone Turquoise Ring

Custom Surfer Rings to Celebrate the Summer Surfing Season

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Two Surfer Rings

We’ve had fantastic weather here in the Pacific Northwest Coast of Washington state this summer, home of Walker Goldsmiths. At last count it was over 40 days with minimal precipitation and the surfers are heading to the beach in droves. Some surfers have contacted us wanting to talk about Custom Surfer Rings to celebrate their good times. Jewelry is a reflection of our personalities and Surfers are fun wave seeking folks wanting jewelry that reflects the sport they love. We like to accommodate anything to do with jewelry and the sea!

These sterling silver Custom Surfer Rings have a simple stylized wave pattern running all around to crash together at the center bezel set cabochon stones. One stone is a beautiful Star Sapphire and the other is an unusual Cat’s Eye Tourmaline. The rings are both comfort fit inside these 8mm wide bands which means these are comfortable rings. Janet carved these in wax and then Owen lost wax cast them in Sterling Silver and set the stones. These rings are actually Wedding Rings for these dedicated surfers! Walker Goldsmiths would very much enjoy making a Custom Surfer Ring with you! Check out this page for more pictures of Surfer Rings.

Newsletter June – It is not hard to figure out your ring size.

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Photo of Sterling lost wax cast Raven ring

My Guy Raven Ring

Walker Goldsmiths has often had folks want to know, “just how do we figure out our ring size?” If you were visiting us in our Walker Goldsmiths Studio we could slip our handy-dandy ring sizer over your finger and figure it all out for you, but some of you are just too far away for a quick visit. So here’s a tip about just how to do it. It’s easy-peasy and only takes a piece of paper and a pencil. Please Check out your ring size.

With this information we can then figure out the size you need dependent upon the style of ring you desire. We’ve been fitting the ring to the customer for 38 yrs and you can bet we’ve learned a thing or two!
So you had a wonderful trip on the Alaska Ferry last year and fell in love with the Ravens? Ravens were everywhere you traveled; big glossy characters so entertaining and beguiling. They seem to have followed you home, because everywhere you looked and traveled there’s your Raven! What does this mean? That Raven is possibly your Totem of choice?

My Guy Raven photo by Sharon Grainger

Owen and I took a road trip through California, over to Quartzite, AZ then down to Tucson and Ravens were EVERYWHERE! I was sure it was the same Raven who was following us; it was my Raven! We had a great time visiting kids and made the loop back up the coast to home… and along came Raven. So, inspired by our “traveling companion” I just had to sit down at the bench and carve out a Raven Potlatch lost wax cast ring and am I glad I did, as it turned out to be one of our best designs.
Please give us a shout if we can be of assistance to you with your “ring of choice”. Whether it’s a Wedding, Memorial, Story, Surfer, or any kind of ring we can help.

How to Determine Your Ring Size

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Photo of measuring my finger to find my ring size

How I measure my finger to find my ring size

Step 1–Wrap a string or piece of paper around your finger.
Step 2–Mark the point where the two ends meet.
Step 3–Measure the string or paper against a ruler.
Step 4–Find your measurement on the chart below to determine your ring size.
Generally 1/16 of an inch or 1 mm increases the ring size by ½ a size.

Chart to help you find your ring size