Sterling Silver Handcarved Raven and the Moon Pendant  

Raven and the Moon with keepsake Tahitian Pearl

Handcarved Raven and the Moon Sterling Silver Pendant with keepsake Tahitian Pearl

This Sterling Silver Handcarved “Raven and the Moon” Pendant  was carved by Owen Walker for a Christmas gift to Ingrid’s daughter.  Ingrid came to us with the carved   12 mm Tahitian Pearl and the beautiful grey/silver 10 mm pearl with an idea for a gift for her daughter.  Her daughter is working exceptionally hard on her degree and future career so Ingrid wanted to gift her something beautiful and significant.

Walker Goldsmiths can accommodate!  This was a very fun project that incorporated Owen’s carving and my beading techniques.  This Northwest Coast style Raven design by Owen is a beauty that Walker Goldsmiths has found to be very popular and handsome. The Sterling Silver Handcarved Raven is 1  3/4 inches in diameter.

I’ve only occasionally seen carved pearls; someone carves through the natural shell-like nacre going only so deep to create a pattern or texture on the pearl.  It’s pretty interesting and creates a beauty all it’s own.  We had a selection of 8 mm Blue lace agate beads that Ingrid thought would go well with the pearls.    “The Blue Lace Agate crystal is a symbol of freedom, and serenity. It represents a place with plenty of open space to breathe and just do your thing. In our world filled with constant noise, pressure, and stress, the Blue lace Agate crystal has an immediate calming influence, it helps you to shed any stress to embody a calmer state of mind.” …by the Energy Muse.

We went ahead with the creation and it is sensational.  Thanks, Ingrid, for the fun Walker Goldsmiths  had with you creating this beautiful Sterling Silver Handcarved Raven and the Moon Pendant.  You are every girl’s dream of a mom!

Sterling Silver Raven with the Moon Pendant

Sterling Silver Handcarved Raven and the Moon Pendant

 

 

 

“Salmon Caviar” Trade Bead Bracelet

Salmon Caviar Trade Bead Bracelet

Salmon Caviar Trade Bead Bracelet

This Trade Bead Bracelet is a beautiful combination of reds; Coral, Carnelian, Agates, Hudson’s Bay White Hearts, Amber, Jade and Czech Glass with an oval of Abalone Shell to give a nod to the sea, home of the delicious Salmon.

I like to use black lip mussel shell buttons as clasps. They are strong and easy to put on; no fussy clasps that are hard to clasp up with one hand.  This is colorful, easy to wear and Trade Beads. What could be nicer?

Salmon eggs are a wonderful delicacy here on the NW Coast.  One of the best Clam Chowders I’ve ever experienced was served at the opening Potlatch for the Big House at Alert Bay, Cormorant Island, BC, Canada.  The chowder was the usual mix of clams, spuds, celery, bacon and then the highlight; salmon eggs!  Wow, was it delicious! Try making it yourself, you’ll love the combination.

I custom make this Trade Bead Bracelet to whatever length you might need, generally 8 inches long.  For sale; $150. Free Shipping in the USA.

 

Custom Handcarved Sterling Wedding Rings

Custom Handcarved Wedding Rings

Custom Handcarved Wedding Rings

When Julianna and Doug came to us for Custom Handcarved Wedding Rings Owen was very pleased to be able to make them for their Wedding.

Julianna wanted the Sterling Silver Raven and the Sun with the Sun being 14kt Red Gold making it so pretty.  The Northwest Coast Native myth is about Raven being a sneaky trickster who steals the Sun from the Grandfather Creator and leaping through the smoke hole tossing the Sun ball into the sky.  The bigger story is on our Transforming Raven Bracelet page.

Doug has a beautiful Sisiutl tattoo that he likes and wanted on his carved Wedding Ring.  Owen made it a substantial band that is slightly curved for comfort.  The Sisiutl is a mythological creature associated with lightening and wealth.  If you can communicate with a Sisiutl you can gain the secret to wealth – if he doesn’t eat you first!

Thank you, Julianna and Doug, for letting Walker Goldsmiths be involved with the wonderful occasion of your marriage.  Custom Handcarved Wedding Rings are fun to make and it’s always nice to meet new friends and hear their stories.

 

 

 

 

 

Amber is Not Only Beautiful

TB522 Amber, Jet, Copal and Egyptian Prayer Beads

“Prayers on the Trail of Amber”  Amber, Copal, Jet, Bakelite, Onyx and Egyptian prayer beads. TB522

Walker Goldsmiths have always been crazy about Amber.  Amber is not only beautiful, but basically it is so wonderful to the touch, fantastic to work with, never boring because every piece is totally different from another, plus steeped in history. We love working with it in all the various aspects of jewelry.  There have been numerous beautiful pieces of amber jewelry that have come through our Studio and many that we have made ourselves.  Being of Polish decent I think has helped me to gravitate to it, besides it’s my colors!  As a Trade Bead collector and trade bead jewelry creator I’ve learned that Amber was the original trade bead traded from the Baltic to Europe, Egypt, China and North America.

"Raven Steals the Sun" Sterling Silver Raven, Amber Beads, chunks and beads . TB473

“Raven Steals the Sun” Sterling Silver Raven, Amber Beads, chunks and beads . TB473

What is Amber anyway? “Formed over 45 million years ago, Baltic Amber is an organic fossil substance, produced by pine trees which grew in Northern Europe – from southern regions of the present day Scandinavia and nearby regions of the bed of the Baltic Sea.  The climate became warmer and trees started to exude big amounts of resin, “pine pitch”. Scientists say that Amber is a fossil pine resin from this region that has achieved a stable state through oxidation.” wikipedia.

Big Chunk of Amber that my Dad brought me from Russia

Big Chunk of Amber that my Dad brought me from Russia

Natural herbal medicine has always been an interest of mine, so the healing qualities of Amber came to my attention. Further study provided more information about the traditional and alternative uses of Amber for pain relief. Natural Baltic Amber has stood the test of time and with good reason as it has very unique properties.  Historic research tells us that Hippocrates used it for healing, and other famous physicians of those times wrote that powder of amber mixed with honey cures throat, ear and eye diseases.  In Lithuania and in tsarist Russia nannies had to wear amber beads to protect themselves and babies from diseases. As late as before World War II, especially in Germany, Baltic amber beads were put on babies to make the eruption of teeth less painful and make the teeth grow stronger.

Cedar with his Amber Necklace - Teething Baby Boy

Cedar with his Amber Necklace – Teething Baby Boy

We know that amber has been around a very long time, but what is it that amber possesses that has made it useful to health since the beginning of recorded time? It’s simple and interesting. It has a substance, or ingredient called Succinic Acid. “A powerful anti oxidant that helps fight toxic free radicals and disruptions of the cardiac rhythm, Succinic Acid has been shown to stimulate neural system recovery and bolster the immune system, and help compensate for energy drain in the body and brain, boosting awareness, concentration and reflexes, and reducing stress. Baltic Amber contains 3-8% of this scientifically examined medical substance used in contemporary medicine.” amberartisans.com.

When my daughters and daughter in law started having their babies Walker Goldsmiths was called on to make Amber “teething” necklaces for their babies.  It was a labor of love, plus they were so darn cute with their necklaces.  If you have a fascination or curiosity about the healing powers of Amber just check out all the various web pages and prepare to be amazed at the historical information available.  Amber is not only beautiful, but medicinal.  Can Walker Goldsmiths make you a custom Amber necklace?

 

 

Horseshoe Nail Wedding Ring Set with a Difference

Horseshoe Nail Wedding Ring Set

Horseshoe Nail Wedding Ring Set with a Difference

Andrew contacted Walker Goldsmiths with, “I am interested in a Horseshoe Nail Wedding and Engagement Ring Set (similar to others you’ve made) where the tail of the nail doesn’t connect and stays at a point.”  To be honest, I tried to dissuade him, but he was determined to get what his Sweetheart wanted.  I knew it was going to be a big challenge for me to make a wax that fit just right!  After much “messing around” with prototypes I finally was satisfied and so was Andy when I showed him the wax carving.

Wax Carving of Horseshoe Nail Ring with the end snug but not attached

Wax Carving of Horseshoe Nail Ring with the end snug but not attached

Walker Goldsmiths found a nice big Diamond for the center of the Horseshoe Nail that was a stunner and a bargain.  Andrew’s fiance’ is a professional farrier and loves the concept of a gold and diamond Horseshoe Nail Ring.  They wanted just one big diamond and carving around on the ring to increase the bling factor.  Owen lost wax cast it in 14 kt White Gold and the diamond was then set with a sturdy ring and prongs to diminish wear and tear and make the ring more user friendly. That’s what we wanted given the occupation of his sweetheart.  It really turned out beautiful and we were all pleased.

Andrew messaged us, “I did receive the rings and they are everything I dreamed! They are amazing! Y’all are amazing! We are blessed God put his hand on us and led us to you. Thank you so much, Andy.”  And indeed  Walker Goldsmiths are grateful for the opportunity to be involved in this happiness and adventure of a Horseshoe Nail Wedding Ring Set with a difference  .  Thanks again, Andrew!

14-kt-White-Gold-Horseshoe-Nail-Wedding-Ring-Set

14-kt-White-Gold-Horseshoe-Nail-Wedding-Ring-Set

Opal and Diamonds Engagement and Wedding Rings with a NW Mountain Range Wedding Band

Opal and diamonds Engagement and Wedding Rings with a NW Mountain Range Wedding Band

Opal and Diamonds Engagement and Wedding Rings with a NW Mountain Range Wedding Band

Nate came to see Walker Goldsmiths with the request of making a beautiful Engagement Ring for his sweetheart who is a busy, busy nurse.  He knew “kind of” what he wanted for her, and most importantly, what she wanted. It was definitely an Opal.  My reticence to make an Opal Wedding ring was explained; Opals are fragile and not very durable for everyday wear over time.  We decided, since her heart was so set on an Opal, to find a Triplet.  The Opal Triplet is a gem stone with three components that make it up: one piece of a crystal opal that gets sandwiched between a top layer of clear Quartz and a backing that is black resin.  It works good to protect the Opal with the Quartz cap and use the black resin backing to not only give it strength but reflect the color and flash of the Opal forward.  We did a big search to find just the right color in the Australian turquoise blue Opal for Megan.

The design of the ring is the antique traditional gypsy setting technique with the stone set down into the gold and the shank tapered down to 4 mm wide.  The Diamonds on each side of the Opal add to the sparkle beautifully.  This design lends itself well to Megan’s need to be able to put vinyl gloves on and off with her job.  The ring was a big hit when Nate presented it to Megan!!

Megan and Nate then came back to us with desires to make a Wedding band for each of them.  Megan wanted Bling and Nate wanted Mountains both in 14 kt yellow gold!!

Opal and Diamonds Custom Wedding Rings

Opal and Diamonds Custom Wedding Rings

14 kt yellow gold Mountain Wedding Band

Nate’s 14 kt yellow gold Mountain Wedding Band

It was so much fun for me to carve these rings for them. Megan’s Bling Wedding Band has 7 diamonds, all bead set low with bright cut carved gold around the stones to facilitate a flashy look and her job needs.  Nate’s Wedding Ring had to be durable and substantial.  Nate is a big guy and a professional Tile Setter who loves our mountains.  My Story Ring carving was the answer.  I love to carve very 3-D scenes and our North Cascade Mountains are so beautiful and sculptural.  Owen handled the lost wax casting and finishing and we got them done and presented before the wedding. Whew!!

Thank you, Nate and Megan, for letting Walker Goldsmiths be a part of this process sealing of your lives together.

 

Lost Wedding Ring Do-over

Black Star Sapphire and diamonds Wedding Ring Replacement

Black Star Sapphire and Diamonds Wedding Ring Replacement

After months of searching, our dear friend Patti called Walker Goldsmiths and said, “Help!”, she’d lost her precious Wedding Ring.  Many, many years ago Patti had guided us through the creation of her dream wedding ring, so to hear that she’d lost it was a very sad tale.  She and Harry had turned the house upside down looking for it to no avail.  Patti, a serious sewing lady, said she thought that just maybe she had lost it in the bolts of fabric that get squished so tight together in the fabric shops.  There was nothing to do but make a new Custom Wedding Ring as she was tired of wearing alternatives.  I’ll always think of her experience now when fabric shopping!

A Black Star Sapphire was a total must have, along with a swirling cluster of diamonds.  We dug up the photo we had made of Patti’s original wedding ring that we keep on file to use as a reference.  She wanted one as near as possible to the “lost ring”.   This was to be a Custom Lost Wedding Ring Do-Over, with a couple of improvements.  Her original ring was a wide yellow gold band with another ring overlaying and attached to the wedding band, but this was to be one solid wide ring with the Sapphire and diamonds and my signature squared bottom shank to keep the ring from turning on her finger.

14 kt gold work done and ready to set stones

14 kt gold work done and ready to set stones

Now Patti’s not afraid of flashy rings and it was a pleasure for me to make a beautiful ring for her; Black Star Sapphire cabochon, Diamonds and 14 kt yellow gold.  Gorgeous combination for sure! It started with carving the wax and getting her approval. Harry was a darling and obviously wanted his bride happy and not being so sad over losing her ring.  Harry got a ring re-do also.  His uncle had passed away and left him a gorgeous Blue Star Sapphire set in a White gold ring, but it was way too small for Harry to wear.  Owen sized it up for Harry and then lost wax cast Patti’s new ring in 14 kt Yellow Gold, set the stones and called them to say “Come and get ’em.”  Walker Goldsmiths were excited!

I found a quote the other day that especially rings true for me lately and Patti has lived it! ” Don’t waste your time looking back, you’re not going that way”… Ragnar Lothbrok .  Sometimes people lose important emotional jewelry and never replace them, always pining for that symbol of something special in their lives.  I admire those that just turn the page and get on with it, getting a new ring or whatever it is to remind them of the happy times in their life.  Walker Goldsmiths congratulates Patti on making the positive choice for happy memories and a new Custom Wedding Ring.

Diamonds and Black Star Sapphire wedding Ring

Diamonds and Black Star Sapphire wedding Ring

An Acorn Wedding Ring Remake

Red Gold Acorn Ring with diamonds

Red Gold Acorn Ring with diamonds

Walker Goldsmiths were asked by some wonderful friends if we’d remake their Wedding Rings.  Of course we’d be pleased to do that for these special friends.  We’ve known them and both of their really great parents for so many years.  Heidi and Roy had a small bunch of rings and gold to recycle and their anniversary was coming up.  Heidi wanted something new and different than her old single diamond ring and something symbolic of her Alcorn family now.  She definitely wanted acorns on her ring!  I asked her why acorns and she told me the really great story; “It was in my mom and dads freshman English class and they were reading a poem about all the little acorns laying on the ground. Lois had been thinking how close Alcorn was to acorn as she was new to school that year and Merlon had caught her eye already.  When it was my moms turn to read she was to read the line that said “all the little acorns laying on the ground” but she read it as “Alcorns”.  The whole class cracks up laughing and she is so embarrassed she runs out of the class. The rest is family history!”  So it’s been a family joke that’s turned into a family symbol. Wonderful story for a Story Ring.

Heidi wanted a cluster of 3-D Acorns with 5 little diamonds to represent their children and 2 larger diamonds to represent her and Roy.  Very much fun and just what I love to do.  I carved an 8 mm band with a cluster of acorns to set diamonds into and oak leaves on both sides.

Wax for Acorn Ring

Wax for Acorn Ring

We wanted the diamonds set in bezels or hammer set down in the gold so there were no prongs sticking up to catch on grandchildren or puppy dogs.  Heidi and Roy raise puppies at their Pine Lodge Labradoodles, precious little bundles of love!  Roy wanted a simple 8 mm gold band with milgrain edges all around, snazzy and functional. They both choose to have them  made them in 14 kt Red Gold.

After they approved the wax Owen lost wax cast cast them in 14 kt Red Gold, finished the castings and set the diamonds.  It really turned into a beautiful flashy ring, and Roy’s ring is elegant and gorgeous too.  Walker Goldsmiths has been especially pleased to make these Recycled Gold Custom Wedding Rings for our good friends on their Anniversary.  Thank you, Heidi and Roy!

Acorns in Red Gold

Acorns in Red Gold

Crown Ring for a Queen

14 kt yellow gold crown ring with diamonds and rubies

Queen Allie’s Flashy Ring

Crown Ring for a Queen is the Custom Recycle Creation made by Walker Goldsmiths for a dear friend of many years.  Allie came to us with a collection of rings and gold that she wanted to “do something” with.  The pile of jewelry was rings and scraps of gold, charms, chains and stuff that she was tired of or they never fit right.  We told her we could definitely make whatever she wanted and buy her leftovers.  Some of this jewelry was very sentimental and as she’d lost a sister and her mother so recently that she was wanting this piece to be a type of memorial ring..  Allie is a woman who knows what she wants and the Crown Ring was just that.

Allie said, “I was looking for a way for a long-time-single girl to wear diamonds that didn’t look like a wedding ring. I didn’t have diamonds from my x so one Mother’s Day about 12 years into the marriage I bought the 5 stone band in Louisiana at a pawn shop .  After my divorce, I gave the 5 stone ring to my sister who wore it for 8 years and got it back when she passed. The ruby stones have special meaning to my grandmother’s memory; a reminder that my grandmother worked all summer in the cannery to buy my grandfather a ruby wedding band.  Mom kept it after he died. Then, actually all 3 of us wore it … My sister who passed loved baguettes.  She gave the ruby/ baguette ring to my mom while she was in the nursing home. Somehow this survived.”

Walker Goldsmiths made Allie this beautiful Crown Ring for a Queen and even wrote her a check for the left over gold from her recycled jewelry.  Pretty good deal!  Thank you, Allie, for letting us hear of your memories and being a part of memorializing those loving women’s lives for you.

Crown ring made from Recycled jewelry

Crown ring made from Recycled jewelry

Custom Anniversary Love Story Rings Represent a Transformation

NW Coast Love Affair in Sterling Anniversary Story Rings

NW Coast Love Affair in Sterling Anniversary Story Rings

The sweetest couple contacted us at Walker Goldsmiths to create new Wedding Rings for them.  As we talked we found out that Chrissy and Mario were really looking for Story Rings to celebrate their 10th Anniversary. Chrissy had lost her Wedding Ring and since they were celebrating their 10th Anniversary they wanted to get two new rings and start fresh, “When we found your page and saw these story rings, we both felt that these rings were exactly what we would like to have.  A year ago we made the final move from Germany to Canada and we are also trying to give our lives a new direction. We really love the ocean and have always lived close by or at least tried to spend as much time there as we can. We are seekers and wanderers and we are about transformation and we feel that we are returning to ourselves.”  Owen and I were very excited to participate in this fun journey by providing these Story Rings that represent their new lives.

The carving challenge for me was to get their favorite aspects represented in 7mm width; Ocean, Spruce Trees, the Pacific Northwest Coast Shoreline and Surf, Seagulls and Puppy Dog!  These folks are nature and animal lovers and this is a large part of their lives together.  I told them that the process is that you give me those details and I draw up a sketch to size and you OK it, then I go to carving wax. I send you pictures of the wax and you decide what works and what doesn’t, and we work together until we get exactly what you want!

Wax carving of Puppy Dog and Waves

Wax carving of Puppy Dog and Waves

We wanted it fairly substantial with a comfort fit inside and when Chrissy and Mario approved the wax, Owen then went straight to investing and lost wax casting in Sterling Silver.  Thank you, Chrissy and Mario, this has been a really fun job creating your Custom Anniversary Love Story Rings and Walker Goldsmiths wish you the best 10 yr. anniversary ever.  We thank you for sharing this part of your lives with us. You kids have worked hard to get to a place that you really love and that sings to our souls.  Best Wishes!

sand and sea and puppy dog too

Sand and sea and puppy dog too

10 yrs together

10 yrs together