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Custom Salish Salmon Ring is delicious

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

Owen Walker puts Sockeye Salmon in his Smokehouse

Owen tending the Sockeye Salmon in the Smokehouse

Smoked Salmon is very dear to our hearts and stomachs here at Walker Goldsmiths. Owen is an excellent chef with our backyard “Smoker” and we try to fill it up with Salmon at least once a season. We accomplished that this year and I took the opportunity to become inspired to carve a Salish Salmon Ring that I’ve been meaning to get to for some time now.

I wanted to represent the Northwest Native Salish designs and the flipping liveliness of the spawning Salmon in a 3 dimensional small sculptured ring. People have been after me for some time to make one and when Ramon at the Trumpeter Gallery in La Connor, WA asked me to make a Custom Ring for his customer, I was compelled to “Get to it”!

I had a hard time figuring out just how to wrap a Salmon around a finger and still have it visible from the top of the hand. The whole action on a Salmon is the head and the tail and the middle is just delicious meat!! I didn’t want the interesting parts to disappear around and down the sides of the finger so decided to give it that flipping action that you can see sometimes when Salmon jump out of the water. So I fiddled around with pencil and paper until I came up with a design that would fit. It makes for a kind of short, fat Salmon, but they’re all the more delicious and probably full of eggs.

The first step is drawing the design out on paper and then cutting a wax tube blank to fit the width that I want. Then sizing the wax tube to the desired finger size. I always use wax tubes because it’s the fastest way to go. Lightly sketching the design on the wax with a sharp pencil I then go at it with files to achieve the shape. I call this my “blocking out” stage and this usually takes quite a while and I try to be careful because if I make an error here it’s twice the work to repair and get the perfection my artistic soul needs. I usually stop here for the day and come back to it when I can with a fresh look at where I’m going with it.

Wax Salmon Ring Tail End

Next time I get to it I’m at it with gravers and files carving out everything that isn’t a Salmon! The design of the Salmon is Northwest Coast Salish. This style differs from the more northern Haida and Tlinget design styles which is U forms, ovoids and S forms connected by flowing formlines. While Salish art is different from Northern formline art, it’s done with circles and crescents, it is very pleasing to the eye when done well. It’s a delicate balance of shapes and space. If you want to see more examples of really good Salish style art Google Susan Point and Shaun Peterson for a wonderful eye treat. One of the challenges that I particularly enjoy is to take a 2 D design and turn it into a 3 D sculpture retaining the 2 Dimensional recognition.

Since I really struggled with this design and carving I’m pleased that we’ve got our fat little Lost Wax Cast Salish Salmon Ring now at Walker Goldsmiths that we sell for $ 175 in Sterling Silver and of course, we’ll make it in gold on request.

Tail View of finished Salish Salmon Ring

Salish Salmon Ring Tail View

Sterling Silver Salish Salmon Ring

Make your Collector’s Item Custom Coin Ring a Reality

Written by Janet Walker · 4 Comments

Gold Quarter Eagle Custom Collectors Coin Rings

Custom Coin Rings in 14kt gold made by Walker Goldsmiths are sweet indeed. Jim got a hold of us after he had scored a wonderful deal on 2 – Quarter Eagle gold US coins. Both of these gold pieces were minted in 1914. They are excellent collector’s items.

Jim had a coin ring that he loved to wear in his past but somewhere along the line lost track of it. Always enjoying that ring made him want another and when he found these coins and got a smashing deal on them he had a dream to have two matching Custom Coin Rings created. He got a hold of us through this website and because he lives within driving distance from Walker Goldsmiths Studio we were able to meet him personally. Jim brought the coins down to us and I carved the waxes and Owen cast them into 14kt yellow gold and set the beautiful coins in the rings. It would be so interesting to know the story about these coins and what history they’ve seen. The artwork is so beautiful. One of the things we always think of when handling anything old, whether it be trade beads, a coin or an artifact is “Oh, if we could only talk to it the stories we would hear!”

A $20 gold piece is called a double Eagle and a $10 gold piece is an Eagle and a $5 gold piece is a half Eagle and a quarter Eagle is $2.50. US gold coins were minted from 1795 to 1933, this design called the Indian Head was minted from 1908 to 1929. During that period all the gold coins had basically the same design with a standing eagle on one side and the Indian head with full headdress on the other, designed by Bela Lyon Pratt. All US gold coinage by this time was made of .900 gold which means an alloy of 90% pure gold and 10% copper, earlier gold coinage was made of an alloy of .9167 gold with the balance being copper and silver. When you see gold purity expressed as a decimal (i.e. .9167). That is the amount of pure gold in the object the balance (.0833) is the alloy. The two decimals must add up to 1.0.

It’s fun now to have another friend of Walker Goldsmiths with whom we discovered we have a lot in common. He loves NW Coast Native art, has Metis and Scottish heritage and is a budding wood carver. Thank you Jim for letting us create these Custom Coin Rings for you. They really turned out beautiful. The original coins are truly works of art and we just enhanced them.

14kt Custom Collectors Coin Rings

How to Get the Custom Surfer Ring that is the Real You.

Written by Janet Walker · 2 Comments

Surfer ring with diamond sparkels on waves

Surfer Ring with melee diamond sparkles and splashes on waves

The Custom Dew Drop Diamond Ring was the ring that attracted Rebecca to contact Walker Goldsmiths. As we emailed back and forth about; price, size, number of diamonds, the color of gold available, we started to learn about Rebecca. This is the really fun part of this “work”!

We learned that Rebecca really likes white gold and after more emails she confessed that she was really a “Sea” person.

“I am in love with the ocean, and all of the creatures that live in it. It’s my passion and someday will be my career. Also, my fiancé is Australian and grew up surfing and living on the ocean his entire life. So waves and water mean a lot to us, because it brings us happiness. So when I first started looking at rings, I was looking for something that may be like this part of our lives, but it was kinda[JW1] ’ frustrating. Everything seemed tacky, or the ring was really wide. I really don’t want a 10mm wide ring because I still want something girly, even if it’s not the big diamond kind of ring. I just want something simple, with a few diamonds set into it.”

After a few more emails I was excited to propose, “I think it would be very fun to carve some waves and crest them with “water sparkles and splashes” of little melee diamonds!!!!” Rebecca liked the idea so I drew her a picture and emailed it to her. She liked it and I went ahead with carving a Surfer Ring.

Being a Sea Girl myself made this very fun for me.

Drawing of Diamonds on Surfer Ring waves

Drawing of Surfer Ring with diamonds on the waves

It’s always interesting and a challenge to transform a 2-D idea into a 3-D object and especially in a really small size. Rebecca’s ring would be a 14kt White Gold, 8mm wide band, 2mm thick, a scattering of melee diamonds and inside the band would be comfort fit. Comfort fit is the name given to the specific style of inside ring bands. It’s more curved and shaped to give the finger room to curl around. It’s not the simple pipe shape. Given her active lifestyle I thought this would be appropriate. Owen Walker set the melee diamonds on the tips of the waves and it was good to go. We sent emails as the ring progressed getting her approval of design and then we worked Walker Goldsmiths’ magic and transformed it into reality.

Master Goldsmith, Owen Walker setting melee diamonds

Thank you, Rebecca, for the fun time with you and your new Custom Surfer Ring.

[JW1]

We Can Guide You to the Best Jewelry Choice

Written by Janet Walker · 4 Comments

14kt gold Initial Pendant by Owen Walker

Walker Goldsmiths basically does two types of jewelry construction; Fabrication and Casting. This jewelry challenge was brought to us by Kat who wanted a Custom Initial Pendant gift for her husband. She saw the Fabricated Carved Bracelets by Owen Walker on our website and thought that he had the “right stuff” to do this job that she envisioned.

This challenge would be a Fabrication; one of the jewelry making categories or specialized skills using cutting, bending, and assembling. In this instance there would also be creating an ingot of gold, alloying it to 14kt and color, rolling it to the correct thickness, sawing out the shape, engraving/carving, sanding, soldering and polishing instead of being assembled from ready made components.

Kat wanted her initials on a heavy, thick pendant of 14kt yellow gold for her husband to wear. Owen helped her figure out just what thickness, height and width would work best for her husband’s gold pendant so the cost would not be too expensive. Kat’s husband is a big guy and she didn’t want something so small that it was lost on him! Owen can make it however the customer needs because he has the skills and tools to do the job.

This Custom Initial Pendant was to be 1.5 mm thick, 20mm high and 30mm wide, perfect for a big guy. Walker Goldsmiths has the capability to make items of jewelry like this because we alloy our own gold for whatever color or carat, and we roll our gold in our shop so we’re not bound by what we’d have to purchase from suppliers. You can commission Walker Goldsmiths to make almost anything that you can imagine, like your initials for your sweetie to wear.

Pencil drawing of KKB initial pendant to be fabricated by Owen Walker

Drawing for fabrication by Owen Walker of 14kt gold inital pendant

Make Recycling of Your Old Gold Into New Jewelry A Reality

Written by Janet Walker · 6 Comments

Owen melts jewelry to be recycled in a crucible.

Years ago Walker Goldsmiths redid the “just about worn out” Wedding Ring for a friend that we’d known for some time. Our kids and their kids all grew up in the same area and schools. It’s been a lovely friendship. They’ve since moved to another state to be nearer to and help out with grandkids.

Remodeled 14kt Diamond Wedding Ring

We got a phone call from Penny asking if we’d be interested in Recycling some gold bits and chunks that have accumulated over the years, old broken chains, including some gold bridge work from Great Grandma. This we can do! She said, “I think I just want a gold band – if there is even enough… design something swirly.” Whooo-Hoo, I thought, I’ve got just the ring in mind. Years ago I had made some Grape Leaves with Swirls designed rings and made a mold to reproduce them easier than carving each individual ring. We have made this design in Silver and Gold and they sold for years when we lived in Idaho and I still had the original mold. I dug it out of the drawer and made a wax that needed a little touch up. It cast up in the gold beautifully. Not only did she have enough gold for the ring but was able to pay us for our labor. Sweet deal! You just never know what you can find in the back of the old jewelry box that can be Recycled into something beautiful and new. Penny loves her ring and Walker Goldsmiths is grateful for her friendship and the job!

We had a customer call us about “how to safely send her jewelry for a remake, after all, she had a big diamond and a bunch of gold rings to send all the way from Texas?” After talking to Owen about her concerns the best thing we could come up with to give her a more secure feeling is the facts about Walker Goldsmiths 40 yrs experience with REGISTERED Mail. Signed and locked in a safe every step of the way. Every Postal employee who touches the package has to sign in and out. We’ve NEVER lost a Registered package in all the years we’ve been doing work by mail. Even we have to have ID and sign an acceptance form before we can take it out of the post office. In fact, this is the number one reason we use a postal box. Everything is locked safe. So the signature that we give to the post office can be tracked by the sender and you’ll have a record of us having your diamond and gold in our hands. You’ll get a tracking number when you register it and you can track your package online! The package stays in the PO safe until we present the notice at the counter, prove identification and sign for it.

Recycled Gold made into Swirly Ring for Penny

Swirly Ring made from Recycled Gold

You too can make recycling of your old gold into new jewelry a reality. It’s the ultimate “Green”!

Goldsmiths are the original recyclers!

Fall in love with this Challenging Design for a Wedding Ring.

Written by Janet Walker · 2 Comments

Custom Wedding Band made in 14kt White Gold

Wedding Band Custom made to fit Engagement Ring

We love a challenge here at Walker Goldsmiths and Custom work always is just that. Creating a Custom Wedding Ring to fit an Engagement Ring is a fun challenge. We like to include the customer in the process and really get a vision of the personality of the person who is going to wear the ring.

These young folks who came to us wanting a Wedding Ring already had the Engagement Ring. Ryan had purchased a lovely large Aquamarine mounted in an antique setting and Hannah loves it. The setting and shank of the antique Aquamarine ring is fragile and lovely. We talked with Hannah about the feasibility of creating a Wedding Ring that would snug up and slightly wrap the crown of the Aquamarine. This beautiful ring, because of it’s antique quality and fragility, needs to be supported if she intends to wear it every day as her wedding set and Walker Goldsmiths wants to help make that possible.

Hannah loves to doodle and in fact showed me a page from a journal with her doodles! I like to ask people what style do you like, just to get the ball rolling, and Hannah whipped out her journal and said “Swirly”! So we started drawing and exchanging “Swirls” in emails and eventually really communicated on a design; swirls and leaves in 14kt white gold with dew drop diamonds. I carved the wax, Hannah OK’d it and off we went to casting and setting stones.

Hannah’s Great Grandmother had given her a little gold cross with a dozen little melee diamonds on it. She had previously sold the gold but still had a little baggy with the diamonds, so we decided that the “Dew Drop” effect would work good with this design. It’s a special and sentimental way to use the diamonds and carry on the memory of her Grandmother on Hannah’s Custom Wedding Band. I think the Wedding Band turned out beautiful and Grandmother would be pleased. Hannah also came out to the Studio with a little bag of old jewelry that she wanted Recycled into this piece. That really helps these young kids get the price down for them.

After the wedding Hannah and Ryan will come back out to Walker Goldsmiths Studio and Owen will solder the two rings together creating that extra support for her antique ring. Thanks for the fun, Hannah and Ryan, and may you have a most wonderful life together!

White Gold Wedding Band being set with Dew Drop Diamonds by Owen Walker

Custom Wedding Band with Swirls and Dew Drops in 14kt White Gold

Swirls and Dew Drops Custom Wedding Band

Wax Wedding Band made to fit Engagement Ring

Carved Wax Custom Wedding Band

The Best Custom Graduation Ring you will see this year!

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

Sterling Silver Graduation Ring with Sapphire and custom carving

Custom Sterling Graduation Ring

Owen and I at Walker Goldsmiths have told all our grandchildren that we would make them a Custom Graduation Ring when they graduated from High School. Grandson Matthew definitely came up with a humdinger of an interesting design! He wanted “something different” and he got it.

Matthew graduated from Irmo High School, in the town of Irmo, a suburb of Columbia, SC. Matthew has always been musically gifted and is an exceptional Oboe player. Matthew has been active in the Marching Band, but his extracurricular passion has been the Winterguard, a flags and dance performance competition group. He loves the Winterguard and worked hard toward their prize winning performances.

Sterling Silver Graduation Ring with 2014 in musical notes on one side and symbols of activities on the other side.

Custom Sterling Graduation Ring with musical notations symbolizing 2014

When Matthew designed his High School Graduation Ring he wanted music notes on one side that simulated the numbers 2014 and the symbols on the other side of a flag, a rifle and a sword representing his Winterguard experience, These symbols are on either side of a Sapphire on the top of the ring. This Custom Ring is substantial and will be special to him for a long time. This is Matthews Story Ring.

“Though I’m sad my high school band career is over…My friends, coaches, teachers, and family have impacted and supported me throughout this whole thing. I finally received my 1st place medal from CIPA championships. I also received the Outstanding Equipment Technique as well as the prestigious John Philip Sousa band award. I’m more than proud of myself and all that I’ve accomplished and I could not have done it without the help of all my family, friends, coaches, and teachers.”

The USC School of Music has accepted him into the Music Bachelor of Arts Programs. And he’s won a Life Scholarship. Way to go, Matthew! Enjoy your Custom Graduation Ring for a long, long time remembering your achievements and the fun it represents.

Grandson Matthew with Irmo High School Band

The Sousaphone Man with Irmo High School Band

How to decide on Custom Wedding Ring designs

Written by Janet Walker · Leave a Comment

Walker Goldsmiths had a couple of sweet young people come to us, individually, to design and make their Custom Wedding Rings. It was a bit different for us because usually couples come to us together to talk about the whole experience. This give us clues about what they want and just generally answer questions that we’ve discovered get results for success. In this instance they were college students, working jobs, graduating and getting on with life at a fast pace.

Yellow 14kt gold Custom Wedding Ring with Treble Clef

Custom 14kt Wedding Ring with personal touches of Treble Clef and leafy designs

First off, Zeke came to see us wanting an engagement/wedding ring. This was going to be a one ring design. We asked him who was his sweetheart and what kind of things did she like. What was her personality and what did she do professionally. These tips help us to design and make a ring that will reflect her exclusively. We’ve discovered over the years that we can basically put women in certain style categories. Of course, there are exceptions, but usually we can provide assistance about designs someone will like by talking about who they are, what they do for work and what they enjoy. Zeke handed us a page of “hints” about who his sweetheart was and what she liked and I went at it designing a ring. What fun that was! Brianna is a music lover so a Treble Clef was suppose to work in there somewhere, plus she loves flowers and natural things, including yellow gold. We made up a lovely 14kt Custom Leafy Diamond Ring and Brianna said, “Yes!”

Then Brianna came out for a visit, dashing between classes and work to talk about a ring for Zeke. This was all barreling along at a mighty pace as Summer was upon us with graduation and jobs being important to a new life together. Zeke’s a big handsome guy that needed something substantial. They had talked some about designs and decided something with a Celtic flair would do, but Brianna wanted a suggestion of the natural elements in his ring too so that they matched a little bit. The Celtic Triskelion symbol of mind, body, spirit had appeal because he’s studying Kinesiology to help heal people, plus the intertwining designs were attractive representing a never-ending path together. Brianna’s ring had the leaf effect that she liked and how to combine them was a puzzlement! The sketch pad came out and we doodled and finally came to the right combination. Zeke’s ring is a nice big Sterling Silver Custom Celtic design.

These two Custom Wedding Rings really are Story Rings because they tell the story of who these two young people are and what they value and want to represent to each other and the world. The secret we’ve discovered about Custom Rings is to talk to the folks about different design possibilities and functionality in their lives. The last thing we want at Walker Goldsmiths is unhappy customers, so the more we can find out about their personalities and guide them to sturdy, secure, workable solutions the better.

Custom Celtic Wedding Ring with a leafy touch

Custom Celtic Loveknot Wedding Ring Set Finished

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Wedding Rings made with Recycled White Gold and treasured family precious stones

Celtic Custom Love Knot Wedding Rings

As we previously posted...”Walker Goldsmiths was contacted to design and make this Custom Celtic Love knot Wedding Ring Set.” This was an exciting challenge because we used her cherished large London blue Topaz and gold also provided by her that was gifted from her brother. This gold was recycled into Kimmies rings. As I posted previously it’s been very much fun getting to know this customer, hearing her stories and working with her to get exactly what she wants. “She’s not afraid of large embellishments, she’s also easy to talk to and figure out what she wants, and knows the value of artistic license. All a plus for me, Janet Walker, as the designer and wax carver.” The process was really a lot of fun and now we have a new friend!

This ring represents a new covenant and relationship with a lot of hope and dreams for happiness in the future. Kimmie told me, “It is crazy and started 22 years ago. It shows me now that we go through some things and wonder why, well let me tell you God has a plan whether we know it or not.”

After a marriage, heartache and divorce at an all too early age she’s come full circle to a great guy who is determined to love and share life together with her and her daughter. She’s known him for a long time, “Everyone asks why we didn’t get together way back 20 years ago, and I just say God wasn’t ready for us to be together yet. He made us go through all the other relationships to make us ready for each other, and to be able to appreciate each other. And my heart and the Lord tells me this is the right one this time. The Celtic Love Knot on my rings mean two things to me. Traditionally they mean Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost. Which I love. But they also represent my daughter, my fiancé, and me. 🙂

The meanings for the Triskelion, Celtic Love Knot or the endless Ribbon of Eternity vary with whomever wants to use the symbol, some times it’s used to define the three aspects of two people; body, mind and spirit. The most remarkable and symbolic quality of the Celtic Love Knot design is that it has no beginning and no end. It’s been one of our favorite designs to put into metal here at Walker Goldsmiths. Thank you, Kimmie, for the opportunity to be a participant in symbolizing your families relationship in this Custom Celtic Love Knot Wedding Ring Set.

Daiamonds and Topaz on White Gold Celtic Love Knot Rings

White Gold and Topaz Celtic Love Knot Wedding Rings

Custom Celtic Loveknot Wedding Ring Set in Progress

Written by Janet Walker · 1 Comment

Loveknot Ring waxes

Here’s the wax carving from Walker Goldsmiths for a Custom Celtic Loveknot Wedding Ring Set.

Walker Goldsmiths was contacted to design and make this custom Celtic Loveknot Wedding Ring Set using her cherished large London blue Topaz. The gold was also provided by her, gifted from her brother. It has been a lot of fun meeting and getting to know this customer. She’s not afraid of large embellishments, she’s also easy to talk to and figure out what she wants, and knows the value of artistic license. All a plus for me, Janet Walker, as the designer and wax carver.

Walker Goldsmith’s has a new friend! The wax design was accepted, we’re now on to casting in white gold and setting the stones. We’ll keep you posted as the lost wax process for these Custom Celtic Loveknot Wedding Rings proceeds.

Are you interested in an experience like this? Just email us through our website www.walkergoldsmiths.com

Step two finished; all cast in White Gold and ready to finish and set stones. Casting went very well…

Cast and Ready to Finish Celtic White Gold Wedding Rings

White gold Celtic Wedding Rings