Jewelry Art: Japanese Flying Crane Bracelet

 The flying crane has long been one of my favorite themes in Japanese Art.  This bracelet was carved with the crane in flight as its main image:  the crane's wingspread wraps around the bracelet as the bird rises from the water, surrounded by chrysanthemums and bamboo.

The large central stone is an inlaid mosaic composed of African sugilite, onyx and lab-grown opal.  Mounted on top is a rainbow moonstone set in a gold bezel, which is actually pegged to the stone to make it secure.

 

The stone in the body of the crane is a faceted amethyst, cut in a triangular shape, which creates beautiful patterns within the stone.  I think the Trillion shape is one of my favorites.

Completing the composition, carved Chrysanthemums spring up around the crane.  I set two of them with rainbow moonstones, and the third is set with a smaller amethyst.

At the feet of the crane, I carved water with a single lilly pad. On the other side of the bracelet is a carved cluster of silver bamboo.

This is a fairly heavy bracelet, with a lot of silver.  It weighs approximately 150 grams, close to five ounces!  It will fit a wrist about 6½ inches in circumference.  Every wrist is a different shape, but if you wrap a strip of paper around your wrist and mark it where the ends intersect, it will give you a good idea of your circumference.  This bracelet cannot be altered, but I can make one specifically for you!

I have sold a few of these bracelets at the current price of $3800, but with the price of silver going up, that price may have to be adjusted.  The one pictured above is SOLD, and I currently have another one in the works on order.  If you would like me to make one for you in a different size, measure the circumference of your wrist, and call me at the studio directly at (505) 296-1400 - I'll be happy to accommodate you personally.  We'll discuss your preferences for stone colors, and I'll make one just for you.  Or if you'd prefer, drop me an email at David (at) StewartArt (dot) com, and I'll get back to you right away!

DESIGN, PHOTO AND TEXT © DAVID LLOYD STEWART - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

Jewelry Art: Fetish Bracelet

I knew from its inception that this bracelet design was not going to be one of the most wearable designs I ever came up with. None of the compromises I conceived really made it any more practical - so I decided to procede with it anyway, and just build it so well, it would never come apart in use. The imagery was worth a little inconvenience - in short, it was just a neat damn bracelet. The fossil walrus teeth jutting out either side, one dark and one light, formed a really different line when mounted as a tangent to the curve of the bracelet - one I had never seen before.


Photo by George Post -click image to enlarge

The mounting structure that juts up from the center of the bracelet is inlaid with green fire agate and Faustite on the top, flanked by pieces of purple African Sugilite ... and then lower, by pieces of spiderweb chalcosiderite from Lander County, Nevada and more sugilite. The 18K gold bezels that seem to hold the walrus teeth belie the fact that there are heavy silver rods running inside the center of each tooth to ensure their stability. The transparent green stone on the lighter tooth is an emerald mounted in a gold bezel and inset into the surface of the ivory. The polished round "pebbles" of metal underneath the Fetish shape are made of bronze, copper, brass, silver and gold. The outer surface of bracelet between the polished rails is textured with stamps I made myself, evoking the feel of a fossil bed that might contain this artifact from another world.

There will never be another one just like this, but if you like the concept, let me design one specifically for you that's a variation on this theme. Call me at the studio to discuss the particulars at (505) 296-1400, or Email me at David@StewartArt.com, and play a part in its creation.

DESIGN, PHOTO AND TEXT © DAVID LLOYD STEWART - ALL RIGHTS RESERVED