Blog

You are here: Home » Blog

Owen Walker Hand Engraved crosses for Kazan, Russia

Sterling silver hand engraved crosses

I was commissioned by the Oak Harbor Lutheran Church to create two North West Coast themed crosses to be presented to the bishop of the Kazan, Russia, Lutheran Church and one of his assistants while they were visiting their sister church in Oak harbor, WA. I must admit I am not a fan of crosses, but I am a Christian and understand how the cross is a powerful symbol to most Christians. While speaking to the representative of the Oak Harbor Lutheran Church, I got inspired to do this design. The main beam of the cross has two Ravens one up and one down, because you never know about Raven, he will pop up or down on a whim. The cross beam has two upright Eagles because Eagle is upright and steady. The center of the cross is a small face with rays representing the Sun, which is also a symbol of the Son of God. So you see, both worlds, both cultures, overlapping symbols and I had so much fun!arbor

The FitzGerald Family Celtic Pendant

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

FitzGerald Family Celtic Pendant

Walker Goldsmiths has been honored to be involved in the creation of this FitzGerald Family Custom Celtic Pendant. Claire FitzGerald came to me, Janet Walker, to create a Custom Celtic Pendant with a lovely diamond that she received from her husband who has passed away. The diamond was originally very well set in a 14kt gold bezel-tube in a 14kt gold ring. She also had a beautiful bright, deep blue, oval checkerboard-cut Zircon that she wanted in the pendant. And we had a nice little handful of blue Sapphires. We used Sterling Silver to create the pendant; kept the diamond in its 14kt yellow gold setting, set the 8x10mm Zircon in a Sterling crown and set the 6- 3mm Sapphires in white gold crowns and Wha-La! we created a slide pendant that she wears on a gold chain. So it’s mixed metals and mixed stones that can be worn with anything; the typical Celtic tradition; kind of like a Tartan with its variety of color and pattern.

Claire talked to me about just being the artist and trusting my skills to create a piece that she would have for an heirloom for her family, since the stones were of such a sentimental value to them. She also traded family gold and silver for this work.

Claire’s gold rings

We talked about Celtic designs and our past experiences with traditional Scots and Irish celebrations, since she comes from a long line of Celtic ancestors, she told me about remembering her daughter’s involvement with Celtic dancing. Two of our daughters, Jessica and Sariah were Scottish Highland dancers in their young years and I had the fun time of creating their costumes. Claire remembered sewing for hours the intricate Celtic Knot patterns with ribbon on her daughter’s costume. That triggered my desire to create a Celtic knot for her pendant.

There are a lot of different Celtic Knots, some are intricate and merely decorative and some patterns are incredibly symbolic. The knots that are open in style, having a beginning and an end symbolize Life itself. The knots that are closed, having no beginning and no end to the design symbolize Eternity, continuity of family, relationships and all that we hold dear to our hearts. This FitzGerald Pendant is one of those knots. Thank you, Claire, for the privilege to be a part of this heirloom.

Claire came back to us a couple of weeks ago with a diamond that she wanted added to her FitzGerald Pendant. And it was so appropriate that it be added as it was the diamond from her husband’s wedding ring! He was “The FitzGerald” so it had to be on it. Owen set it in a 14kt Gold crown to match her lovely big diamond, only this was a 4 prong crown setting. It worked well and she loved her pendant even more! Thanks again, Claire.

Update: Claire went on a Cruise with her brother and sister in law and they gifted her with a lovely Tanzanite momento of their fun trip together to the Caribbean. She came right to us to add it to her Fitzgerald Family Celtic Pendant. So here’s her family pendant with a new memory stone. Great idea, Claire!

New Tanzanite stone on Claires family pendant

A Custom “Our Story Ring” from Walker Goldsmiths …phase one

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

Wax carving of Our Story Custom Wedding Ring

Exciting adventures in the sun, surf and mountains are what this romantic couple want to celebrate with this Custom “Our Story” Wedding Ring. As the main wax carver, Janet Walker, I’m having a very fun time here at Walker Goldsmiths creating a “Our Story Ring”. What’s that? Well, it’s my name for a ring with carvings of a scene that represents a person’s life. A sweet lady contacted me to make a ring for her fiancé that represents the life that they spend together and intend to continue. They are sports minded and love to spend their time in the great outdoors. Sun, surf, snow, mountains, lakes and the sea are all very important to their well-being. So this “Story Ring” has carvings of these scenes all around the ring.

This is the wax carving of the ring that represents the life they’ve had together and want to continue. This ring is 8mm wide, 2mm thick and comfort fit inside the band. This is their story and they’re stickin’ to it!

“Our Story Ring” on a Sprue Base

Hand Carved Sterling Totem Bracelet

Written by Owen Walker · Leave a Comment

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

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Small Whale Bracelet

Written by Owen Walker · Leave a Comment

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 a link to a previous post that has some more Orca stories in it; Orca Stories

<img class="wp-image-576 size-medium" src="http://120.raincity.net/walkergoldsmiths/wp-content/uploads/sites/15/Design-56-Baby-Orca-2048×1536-2-2048×1536-200×150.jpg" alt="Photo of Hand carved sterling silver small whale bracelet side view 2" width=" 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 Style Twisted Braid Diamond Wedding Ring… Step Two

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

Photo of Celtic Twist White Gold Wedding Ring

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!

Ravens, Wolves and Bear Rings, Oh my!!

Written by Janet Walker · 7 Comments

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!”

A Triskelion Wedding Set from Walker Goldsmiths

Written by Janet Walker · 2 Comments

Celtic Design jewelry is pretty popular around our Walker Goldsmiths Studio these days. Maybe we’re just warming up for the local Highland Games the first weekend in June or maybe because our name is Walker and that’s definitely Scots. I don’t know, but it sure is fun! This is another wedding set carved by me, Janet Walker and cast and set by Owen Walker in our Walker Goldsmiths Studio.

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!

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Little Raven bracelet

Written by Owen Walker · Leave a Comment

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Little Raven bracelet

This is another Owen Walker bracelet that could have been dancing raven or swimming or whatever, we called it Little Raven because it was one of the first 1/2 inch wide bracelets we designed. It is fairly easy to fit a creature onto a bracelet that is 1 and 1/2 inches wide or 2 inches wide, but it has proved much more difficult to compress the personality and ego of a Raven in 1/2 inch, and that goes for other creatures too, not just Raven.

One of my favorite Northwest Coast Indian Raven stories is the one about the blind halibut fisherman. Raven is an enigmatic creature; he can be kind and noble, or cruel and dishonest. He does the best things, often for the wrong reasons or he will be gluttonous and rapacious, and do terrible things for no apparent reason other than he wanted a snack, or some other trivial reason. One morning while admiring the sun on his glossy black feathers (he is just a trifle vain) he noticed a blind fisherman come to his canoe with a basket of octopus meat, and his halibut hooks intending to catch a few halibut. When he pulled away from the shore Raven followed.

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Little Raven bracelet 2

When the fisherman baited his hook and threw it into the water Raven would dive down to the bottom and very carefully remove the octopus meat from the hook and sneak to the surface and eat it. If you have ever had a slow day fishing you know how frustrating it can be especially when you pull up your hook and find your bait has been stolen. Frustration can make one hyper-vigilant, this is the state we find our fisherman in. He fixed the next piece of octopus meat very firmly on his hook and threw it into the water and kept the line a little tighter so he could feel the slightest nibble. Raven was finding this so easy he was getting a little careless, and as he stole the bait he made the tiniest movement of the hook. The fisherman gave a prodigious jerk on the line and pulled up his hook. Attached to his hook was a smoothly pointed object the blind man could not identify even after spending a great deal of time feeling it all over, so when he got home he put it on a pole outside his house hoping someone could identify the object but the next morning it was gone.

The object was Raven’s beak! The fisherman had jerked it right off his face, and being vain Raven did not want to be seen beak less, let alone have to explain that he lost it stealing from a blind man! When you are looking at totem poles, especially old ones you will see a human looking character with feathery arms and what looks like an Egyptian pharaohs beard. This is Raven with the broken beak hanging down under his chin like a beard, as he had considerable trouble reattaching it!

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Little Raven bracelet 3

Hand-carved Sterling Silver Little Raven bracelet by Owen Walker, .5 inch width. 1/2″ width.

D39price: $250.00

Celtic Style Twisted Braid Custom Diamond Wedding Ring

Written by Janet Walker · 2 Comments

This wax model of a ring is the latest Custom Wedding Ring project at Walker Goldsmiths. This purple wax ring has been carved by me, Janet Walker, and will be cast and set with a .53 pt. diamond by Owen Walker. The idea was to create a twisted, over and under Celtic style braid that winds up to the base of a Platinum crown. Owen will cast the ring in 14kt. white gold and then hand carve a vine pattern up each rope of the braid. He’ll also carve and enhance the edges of the ring with more vine patterning. We always recommend and almost demand that any diamond as the center stone of a ring be set in Platinum. Platinum is so wonderfully strong that the diamond is perfectly protected and won’t need retipping for the life of the ring! So a 4 prong Platinum crown will be set in the center for this .53 pt. diamond. The diamond is just gently sitting in the crown in this photo.

Wax carving of Celtic Wedding Ring

We’ve made this basic style of ring for decades with the elevated sides that reach to the crown. It’s kind of like a ski-jump effect, very elegant, and has been called for some reason a cathedral setting . This is the first time that anyone has asked for a Celtic twisted rope design. And it has been a fun challenge! The ring will be cast and finished this week and I find it pretty exciting to see my work come to a beautiful finish. But more than that it’s extremely exciting to see these kids who I’ve know for so long get this ring and prepare to take a giant step for a lovely future together. Walker Goldsmiths will keep you posted as the casting takes place and Owen gets to the nitty-gritty hand carving.