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Newsletter, February, 2013, check out Walker Goldsmiths Lovebirds for Valentines Day

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

Our NEW 14kt Handcarved Lovebirds Earrings

Walker Goldsmiths Lovebirds jewelry is a wonderful way to say “I love you” on Valentines Day. One of the most popular ways to celebrate and commemorate Valentines Day 2013 is with a gift of our Lovebirds Jewelry.

The story of Lovebirds itself is a seriously romantic tradition. An item of value with both a Raven and Eagle design may be given as a love token to someone of the opposite clan, therefore it is called a Lovebirds token.

In Alaska the Tlingit and Haida people have two clans, Eagle and Raven. Eagles traditionally marry Ravens and Ravens marry Eagles. This ingenious and healthy tradition is a good assurance of a strong bloodline to carry on the family. This is one of the oldest of all Northwest Coast culture traits that still carry’s extreme influence. It is still the 1^st question that women and men ask each other – it defines their future relationship possibilities.

Walker Goldsmiths Sterling Silver Lovebirds Bands

The symbol of the Lovebirds worn as a piece of jewelry or a tattoo is a very popular design representing the union of the Eagle and the Raven clans as one; of love, hope and joy that comes from within and is shared with another in romantic love.

For more about the story of Lovebirds check out Owen’s bracelet page.

Walker-Goldsmiths-Cast-Sterling-Silver-self sizer-Lovebirds-ring

We have quite a few pieces of Lovebirds jewelry from which to choose. Whether you like earrings, rings, pendants or bracelets there’s a Lovebirds design to suit your fancy.

We’re showing Sterling Silver Jewelry here and one pair of Earrings in 14kt, but all jewelry can be made in 14kt – it’s your choice – we can do it!

Custom Earrings from Recycled Jewelry at Walker Goldsmiths

Written by Janet Walker · 1 Comment

photo of Karen's recycled jewelry earrings

Karen’s recycled jewelry earrings made from mother’s gold watch elements

My Friend, Karen, had some family jewelry that was precious to her so we made some custom earrings from recycled jewelry at Walker Goldsmiths Studio. Check out the photo and see the beautiful white gold fleur d’lis shapes each with 3 melee diamonds. These were originally the little attachments on the side of a watch that connected the band to the watch. This may have been her mother’s gold watch so we wanted to use the pretty parts and give them a new life.

Photo of white gold watch part with 3 melee diamonds

Fleur d’Lis watch part to be used in custom earrings

Karen loves blue Sapphires and I just happened to have some beauties! Owen set these .50ct, Bright Glacial deep Blue Sapphires in white gold crowns and soldered on a loop to attach the fleur d’lis. This is when I drilled a hole in the bottom of the elements and attached a steely blue freshwater pearl to provocatively dangle. This lovely combination of elements makes a beautifully dramatic and elegant pair of earrings. This has been a great way to make custom earrings and incorporate recycled jewelry from old family pieces. The memories go on.

One interesting angle to this story is the fact that Walker Goldsmiths is making these custom earrings from Karen’s family recycled jewelry as a trade. Karen is a professional genealogist and she’s been doing research on my family for me in trade for my skills with her recycled jewelry.

Karen has dug up some wonderful information and names of my ancestors that I didn’t know. She’s found out for me that I’m even more Polish/German/Russian than I previously knew!

Sterling Silver Northwest Box Ring created by Walker Goldsmiths

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Sterling NW Box Ring

The sterling silver Northwest Box Ring was created by Walker Goldsmiths as a representation of a traditional Northwest Coast Style Carved Bentwood Box. An actual bentwood box is just that; a box created using hot water or steam to bend the wood. The outer side is carved and painted to include totems and mystical characters. I imagined a village after a flood with a box of dried salmon floating downstream, waterlogged, with only one carved corner sticking up waiting to be found.

What are these boxes used for? Traditionally they were created by all the Northwest Coast Tribes to store precious items and even to cook in with hot stones. They are incredibly functional. In the far north, Alaska, they were made with Yellow Cedar and even further north made from Spruce. In the southern northwest Salish lands they were made from Red Cedar. Any manner of things can be stored in them. Being Cedar they are very impervious to bugs, they have a heavy top and bottom, can be made all sizes and are exceptionally beautiful. Often they are painted; the Haida historically have carved and painted beautiful intricate family crests or designs of significance on their boxes. Walker Goldsmiths created this Sterling Silver Northwest Box Ring to celebrate the fabulous art tradition of the Northwest Coast Indians.

See this post about painting Haida formline by artist, Melonie Anchetta;

Haida Bentwood Box

Check out my post on activeartist.net about this lost wax cast Sterling ring for more information about this Sterling Silver NW Box Ring.

http://activeartist.net/blog/northwest-coast-style-bentwood-box-ring/

Custom Wedding Rings for Sweethearts to “Tie the Knot”

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“Tie the Knot” Custom Wedding Rings

Walker Goldsmiths made these Custom Wedding Rings for a couple of real sweethearts to “Tie the Knot”. Their story really twangs the heartstrings! The groom is an old friend of ours who divorced and lived single for too many years. So one day his telephone rings and it’s a voice from the past. He doesn’t recognize the woman’s voice, but they get to talking and he finds out the caller is an acquaintance from High School days. This woman had been an “unapproachable” Cheerleader and popular girl that he felt he could never get a chance to get to know! Now, her story is that she had been widowed twice, children all grown and off on their own and was lonesome and looking for companionship. She had talked with a girlfriend who knew that he was single and dared her to give him a call for New Year’s Eve was just around the corner. They visited and really hit it off! Romance and friendship bloomed since they really had so much in common; previous partners out of the picture, children off and grown, same age and location experience and similar acquaintances from the past.

Side view of “Tie the Knot” Custom Wedding Rings

They decided to waste no time and get married! They had a handful of old gold jewelry to recycle and a silver ring that she really liked the Knot part of the design; a knot that symbolized what they were tying! We made her a ring similar to the silver one with a few changes for comfort and excellence in gold and got her a new big stone set in a platinum crown! He always had worn his grandfather’s ring so he wanted to continue with that, but it was too worn out so we melted the gold and added some and made him a new comfort fit band in the spirit of this new adventure. They wanted to just get on with LIFE and we were ready to help all we could! We watched these real sweethearts “Tie the Knot”.

Walker Goldsmiths made Rudy’s Custom Sapphire and Diamonds Ring

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Photo of Rudy's Custom Sapphire and diamonds ring

Rudy’s Custom Sapphire and Diamonds 10kt yellow gold ring

Walker Goldsmiths made Rudy’s custom sapphire and diamonds ring and delivered it to him last week when we traveled to see family. Rudy is Owens cousin’s husband who lives in Utah. We’ve visited them on and off for many years. The last time that we visited, Rudy gave Owen a handful of old 10 kt yellow gold rings that had belonged to his father, who had since passed away. He wanted Owen to recycle the gold and make him a custom sapphire and diamonds ring. Rudy wanted a big blue stone and some diamonds to remember his dad. Of course, we were glad to do it.

I had a good idea of what it should look like so I started carving wax and the ring took shape. Rudy’s not a big guy but he works hard and uses his hands all the time. His ring would be a size 11.5. Now that’s pretty substantial! As for the big blue stone we contacted a stone dealer that we like to do business with to get a good product and purchased a 10 x 14 mm man made deep bright blue Sapphire which is a beautiful and durable stone. Owen also purchased 6 – 8pt. diamonds. I finished the wax carving; Owen cast the ring using Rudy’s fathers gold rings and set the diamonds and sapphire. We loved the results. We were going down to UT to see a bunch of the family so we swung around to Rudy and Linda’s to find them home. Owen gave Rudy the custom sapphire and diamonds ring; he was very pleased and it fit perfectly. Rudy has a wonderful appreciation of family and the importance of memories, plus…Rudy likes flash!

Custom Leafy Design Ring with Diamond Dew Drops is definitely done and dewy.

Written by Janet Walker · 2 Comments

Walker Goldsmiths’ Custom Leafy Design Ring with diamond dew drops is done and definitely dewy and sparkly. We’ve made a few of this similar design, but specific to the desires of the customer. Some have been flat and wide, and some narrow, but this one is tapered and designed to snuggle the large diamond.

Karen’s 14kt Dew Drop Diamond Ring

Karen is an expert genealogist and the history and lineage of this jewelry is important to her to preserve. The family gold and diamonds we used to recycle into this lovely wearable ring help keep alive the memories of this family. It is a living heirloom, a work of art, and love. “The big diamond was my grandmother’s stone, passed on to her daughter, my mom. The others were from a stick pin engagement gift from grandmother to grandfather, some of the small diamonds came from my mother’s rings from two marriages.” Styles change, times change, people change, (When did you last see a man wearing a stick pin?) but the emotions invested in families remain, and in our view are eternal. Jewelry can be like a touchstone to our memories and the emotion they contain, this is why we enjoy these kinds of projects so much, not only do we get to hear interesting family history, but we also get to partake just a little in the emotions that are contained in them. It is a joy to transform old things into new.

Melting and Alloying the gold

Owen and I have known Karen and cherished her friendship for many years and often gone to her home to find her in the garden! So this natural custom leafy design ring with diamond dew drops theme creating a dewy, sparkly effect is so right. Owen alloyed all the 10kt gold up to 14kt, adding it to her 14kt, casting the ring with this gold. Then we replaced a couple of badly chipped diamonds; we were able to use her previous crown for the large stone. Now the ring has a fresh start and a new life. We really enjoy creating new family heirlooms from recycled jewelry! Thank you, Karen. See the wax carving and more story here on a previous post;

Kate’s Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant is Finished

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Kate’s Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant

Ta-Daah!! Walker Goldsmiths has finished Kate’s Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant made with 14kt gold, Sapphires and Diamonds with only a few changes from the original idea. The original idea was to set the smaller diamonds in the lightening bolt made of sterling silver. I decided that the oxidizing of sterling over time would detract from the flash of the diamonds in the lightening bolt so Owen rolled a section of 14kt white gold and welded it to the yellow gold feather to create the lightening bolt and set the 7 small diamonds. Now there will not be a problem of the lightening bolt on Kate’s Fantastic Feather Pendant loosing any of its sparks!

Kate had a collection of beautiful small sapphires that we set down the spine of the feather. The bright blue sapphires are a beautiful complement to the 14kt yellow gold feather. Owen set Kate’s beautiful large diamond that was her mother’s in a tube setting nuzzled into the feather fronds and made the bale for a chain in 14kt yellow gold. The whole pendant is only 2 ¾” inches in length. A lot of the gold in this pendant was recycled from 2 rings of her mother’s along with the sapphires and diamonds.

This beautiful pendant is made of family memories, mementos and experiences with her sweetheart on an adventure that Kate and Mike had at Fort Robinson, NE. Now they’ll all be near her heart when she wears her Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant made at Walker Goldsmiths Studio.

Owen Setting Kate’s big Diamond

“A very great vision is needed and the man who has it must follow it as the eagle seeks the deepest blue of the sky.” — Crazy Horse

Small Bracelets to Delight the Eye and Excite the Mind

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Walker Goldsmiths have over the years created quite a menagerie of ½ inch wide bracelets that because of the constraints of space are indeed small bracelets to delight the eye and excite the mind. It is difficult to confine the personality of magical creatures into a 1/2 inch strip of design space, but the results are often delightful and exciting! Even the designer is sometimes surprised. I don’t often think of them as little gems because I make so many of them that I rarely give them a second thought, but they really are very delightful. When we first started our business every design had a name that described the bracelet and the action that is happening on it. Looking back at our old documents is fun because of the names.

small Orca bracelet

The bears: Little Bear, Bold Bear, Sea Bear, Young bear, Big Bear, and Bear Cub. The Hummingbirds: Little Sipper, Sweet Hummer, Joyful Hummingbird, and Little Hummingbird. Then there are the usual Northwest Coast Culture birds Raven, Eagle and Thunderbird in all their many incarnations, and the Lovebirds, Flickers, Loons, and Kingfishers. Then the Frogs, Salmon, Orcas, Dogfish, Octopi and Wolves, with adjectives like diving, jumping, flying, large, small, Timber, alpha, all having something to do with the personality of the subject or the bracelet.

Small Sockeye Salmon Bracelet

I have often been asked why I capitalize the names of the animals that are the subjects of my designs. The answer is that they are not just animals. They are illustrations of ancient stories in which the animals have personalities and attributes that are not visible to those who think of them as “just animals”. They have attributes that put them in the spiritual realm, including the powers of speech and transformation of physical forms. Each small bracelet is an illustration of an ancient story or commemorates an event or experience.

Small Thunderbird Bracelet

Small bear bracelet

Kate’s Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant – Phase two

Written by Janet Walker · 1 Comment

This Custom Feather Pendant is also known as “Looking for Crazy Horse” here at Walker Goldsmiths since inspiration for this Custom Feather Pendant has come from an experience that Kate and Mike had at Fort Robinson, NE. Kate says, “We stayed at a little cabin across from the old parade grounds and the adjutant’s quarters where Crazy Horse was killed in the 1870’s. Crazy Horse was very secretive and there’s not a lot of factual information about him and no one knows where he is buried. Also he never wore a war bonnet only a single spotted eagle feather upside down, and it was said that his medicine bundle included a spotted eagle feather and the heart of an eagle. He wore a large lightening bolt down the left side of his face and was considered a Thunder dreamer.”

I love that name, “Thunder Dreamer” and when I designed this feather pendant I imagined the lightening bolt and feather reverberating with the thunder and lightening…

The white Stuff poured all over the wax is a type of plaster called INVESTMENT, very much like the plaster that dentists use to make molds for teeth.

Photo of Owen Walker pouring the investment into casting flask

Owen pouring in the investment

After it has dried and is thoroughly hard the stainless steel flask is put in the kiln and temperature raised up gradually to 1500 degrees to melt out the wax leaving a clean ash-free feather shape in the plaster.

Photo of kiln with Kate's Feather Meltout

Kate’s Feather Meltout in kiln

When the temperature is then reduced to 900 degrees at this point the flask is then put in the centrifugal casting barrel. Then the metal is melted, machine wound and primed, pin pulled and molten metal is forced in by the centrifugal spin-speed. Owen then takes the metal filled flask and plunges it into cold water that boils out the investment and Whaaa- Laa! …a gold
Feather!

Kate’s gold feather after casting

Kate’s Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant

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This Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant in 14kt Yellow Gold and Sterling Silver with Diamonds and Sapphires has been inspired by a lovely experience Kate had with her sweetheart She sent us some family gold and diamonds to be recycled into a jewelry piece for her to celebrate the lovely time they had together. We gladly can accommodate!

Janet Walker Scoring the feather pattern onto the wax for carving

Here’s the first part of the process for Kate’s Fantastic Custom Feather Pendant; Drawing the design and Cutting/Carving the wax. The Pendant will be cast in 14kt Yellow gold with a Sterling Silver overlay for the Lightening Streak. I will post more pictures and more of the story as the process unfolds at Walker Goldsmiths.

Feather Pattern sawn out of Wax