The ring we didn't plan
This wasn't the ring Daphne and I originally planned.
And I'm so glad we gave it room to become something else.
My friend Daphne first came to me about a statement ring after a particular stone in my studio caught her eye.
It was a striking black cabochon with a dramatic gold-colored marking across its surface. Daphne loved the contrast, and we began designing a ring around it.
As the commission progressed, though, we discovered that the gold-colored detail wasn't actually part of the stone itself. It had been added to the surface, and when Daphne and I looked at what remained without it, we agreed it was no longer the right stone for the ring.
It wasn't where we'd expected the design to take us.
I was so grateful for the grace with which Daphne received that news. Rather than holding tightly to what we'd originally planned, she trusted me to find another way forward.
And while we were figuring out what that might be, something else was changing in my studio.
I had begun learning to cut and polish my own stones.
Not long afterward, I came across a slab of palm root agate.
Palm root agate begins as ancient palm material that, over time, has been replaced by minerals while preserving some of the patterns and structures of the original material.
And Daphne loves wood.
When I showed it to her and suggested that perhaps I could cut a stone for her ring myself, her response was very Daphne:
âThis makes me so happy! I'm so excited and it fits along with your journey together with your art!! Eeeeekâ
And then:
âLike a beautiful blessing.â
So instead of searching for a finished stone that might work, I began looking at the slab for Daphne's stone.
That's one of the things that fascinates me about cutting stones myself: the finished stone doesn't exist yet.
I could look across that much larger piece of palm rootâat its patterns, colors and movementâand choose the particular place that felt right for her.
Then I cut it out and began shaping it.
Little by little, what had been one small section of a much larger slab became the stone for her ring.
And throughout all of this, Daphne gave me an extraordinary amount of creative freedom.
At one point, when I asked her about the direction of the final design, she told me:
"You create it exactly how YOU feel best! Truly."
I replied: "Oh boy-the pressuređ°... OK-let's see what this ring wants to be."
Her answer? "Exactly, those are the best."
I think that little exchange says more about this commission than I could.
Because Daphne's ring wasn't a matter of choosing a design and executing it exactly as we'd planned from the beginning.
There was a conversation happening all alongâbetween Daphne and me, certainly, but also with the materials themselves.
The original plan couldn't work as we'd imagined.
But a completely different material opened another possibility.
And Daphne trusted me enough to follow it.
Because she did, I was able to create not only the ring specifically for her, but the stone that would become its center.
The result is quite different from what we imagined when we began.
But somehow, it's also more Daphne.
And perhaps that's one of the things I love most about Custom Commissions.
We begin with ideas, stories, stones, heirlooms, sketchesâor sometimes simply a feeling someone hopes a piece will have.
We don't always know exactly where those things will lead.
Sometimes the most meaningful part of making something specifically for one person is giving the process enough room to show us an answer none of us could have known at the beginning.
Have something you've been dreaming about?
If you've been thinking about having a piece created especially for youâor transforming a meaningful stone or piece of jewelry into something newâI would love to hear about it.
My commission schedule is currently filled through the Christmas season, but I'm beginning conversations for pieces to be created in the new year.
