Building a suite usually starts with me finding an interesting stone – in this case a harlequin cut amethyst – and seeing what that stone suggests to me. For this stone it needed to be a classic design, timeless and elegant, so I included some pearls and my leaf motif. That heartshaped leaf has become a bit of a trademark.
Building a Suite
So, now that I have made the pendant and it has found someone to love it and wear it, the next step is to make some earrings to compliment it. Here we have gone for semi-drop earrings with the posts behind the leaf and smaller harlequin amethysts swinging from the leaves.
It might be that drop earrings are not the first choice of the customer, so a stud style is designed and made instead.
Now, this customer is really happy with her necklace and the earrings, so the next thing is a bangle or bracelet to extend the suite. In this case it’s a bangle with a lovely big harlequin amethyst, a couple of pearls and those leaves again!
Another suite. When I made this pendant I wanted to showcase a very beautiful rainbow moonstone that I had been hoarding for a while! I loved the way the colours in the stone looked like clouds crossing the moon. I needed a night sky to go with it. I found this in a piece of lapis lazuli that had a seam of crystals crossing it. I married the two with halos of white gold with twinkling diamond stars and one shooting star.
My lovely customers, who were as taken with the beauty of the stones as I had been, now wanted some earrings to go with the pendant. This time it was a pair of dramatic drop earrings with rainbow moonstones, facetted lapis lazuli beads and diamond stars.
And now a bracelet. Rainbow moonstone had to feature, but the centre stone this time was a piece lapis lazuli. The image of the shooting star in the pendant is echoed over the lapis and the white gold halos form the links. Diamonds again give that final twinkle!
This time I started with a ring. The customer had seen a simliar version and wanted me to do something in the same genre but with mixed colours of gold, in this case yellow and white. The main stone is a colourful opal doublet, a pretty pink spinel compliments the colours in the opal and a small diamond adds that bit of twinkle.
The complimentary piece this time was an eye-catching pair of stud earrings. A matched pair of opal doublets, pink spinels and wee diamonds all act together with a bud motif to complete the design.
Two different views of the same suite. An unusual three stone engagement ring was complimented by a shaped half eternity ring all set with nice quality diamonds.