Wedding Rings
It’s so amazing when people ask me to design their wedding rings. This couple came into the studio with a pile of family jewellery, a very modern engagement ring and an assortment of old gold, along with a pretty well developed vision of what they wanted. These are the result!
14kt yellow gold incorporating some old sentimental gold allowed with new gold, and re-use of diamonds (again, from sentimental family jewellery). The quality of the stones was amazing, and the new design really highlights them, and will endure for ages!
The groom wanted a sand cast ring in sterling silver, set with this large diamond, and smaller diamonds flush set into the band, for an extra blingy (but subtle) sparkle! The silver was new, but like the bride’s rings, the stones were all re-used from sentimental family jewellery.
The joy that I feel when I get a comment like this:
“Robin we cannot thank you enough for all the incredible craftsmanship and beauty you have poured into these rings. They are so beautiful!!! You made the whole process seamless all the way across Canada!”
is indescribable!
New custom T bar pendant
I love it when people buy my stuff (seriously, the validation of someone actually wanting to own something that I made really never gets old— thank you so much to all the people out there that own a little piece of my creativity!). But, as I’ve said before, I like to do custom work too. I had a recent order that sort of combined both — a piece that I designed as part of my ongoing obsession with all things immunity, but in a bespoke combination!
Here it is: my sterling silver T bar pendant on a string of beautiful garnet beads with garnet needled felt, with a special flower motif.
Focus on Stem Cells - Collaboration piece
Exciting stem cell concept for special brooch and pendant.
Stem cells. What do you know about them? With the rise of the concept of stem cells, you’ve probably heard them both exalted and vilified in the media. There’s a lot of hype. What you may not know is that the original identified stem cell was actually the blood cell stem cell or hematopoietic stem cell (see what I did there? It all comes back to immunology!). In fact, HSCs have been in use for therapy for a long time, particularly for cancer treatment. You can read in more detail about this on the Canadian Cancer Society website, which has a nice, accessible description about it.
While most stem cell therapies remain more science fiction than science fact, there is a lot of research happening around stem cells, and understanding their development, as well as how they can be used to intervene in health and other areas of biology. One researcher focusing on this area is my colleague and friend, Prof. Jennifer Mitchell, based at the Cell and Systems Design Department of University of Toronto. So, when she approached me about designing some special pieces for her, I was excited about the opportunity to work with her again. I had made a one-off piece for her previously: a representational ball of stem cells, in my early days of designing. This time, the brief was to revisit that piece, evoking her focus of using embryonic stem cells models to understand how the develop into other cell types.
A hint of the first piece I made in 2019, alongside the microscopic image of a stained ball of ES cells. The blue staining is a nuclear (DNA) stain that fluoresces blue under the right wavelength of light!
I fabricated this one, and it had alot of features that I liked, but it had some aspects that I wanted to fine tune more, so it was great to have a chance to reconsider this design for something that I could produce again in the future. This time, I went the casting route, and carved something in wax.
Wax model of stem cell ball
This allowed me to make something flatter, but still with a lot of dimension. I then added a back plate to close it, a simple, hidden bail, and added the felt, and voila! A new sophisticated cousin was born.
Finished pendant, sterling silver with needled blue felt
I’m loving the way it turned out (and Jen was pretty pleased too!). You can see one of these on display in Cell Systems and Biology, if you’re passing that way, along with more explanation about Prof. Mitchell’s research. Want one of your very own, or know someone who would? You can visit my Shop Page to get one!
Visit Dundas, see one of my pieces in person!
I’m so excited to share with you that one of my pieces will be on view at the Carnegie Gallery in Dundas in October!
You might remember my “Spillage” ring that I shared a while ago. I like to apply for juried exhibitions, especially other places. I’m always eager to share my work, and it’s always an honour to me to be accepted. The Carnegie Gallery only does an open juried exhibition once every two years, and this year, I put forward two pieces, and they accepted my “Spillage” ring for this year’s exhibition. Yay!
The exhibition runs from October 6th - November 5th 2023. The opening reception is October 6th, hope to see you there, and keep your fingers crossed that I win an award !