A new commission on the desk - both exciting and nerve-wracking, as I’m designing something I’m not all that familiar with. A half-soldered orchid. A CAD file finally resolved after three days of back and forth, with the wax arriving Monday. Helping my mentor update his new course plan.

It feels like I’m moving forward, but somehow not really moving at all. There’s so much plumbing work happening right now - figuring things out, fixing things, waiting for things.

I can’t wait until one of my pieces is finally ready for the world.

The second orchid I ever cast failed last week because a casting sprue melted through to the front of the piece. I was frustrated, but it was also a blessing in disguise. It gave me a chance to rework the orchid another round, make it feel more alive, and try a different way of making it.

Instead of casting the whole flower, I cast each component separately this time. This allowed me to clean and polish each part individually, and shape them further to give the orchid more movement.

Happy with the way it has turned out so far. Soldering such a big piece is turning out to be a challenge though. Halfway through now - no rushing. Hopefully everything works out in the end!

The plan was to make a signet ring with a concave face to hug the stone. Deliberately left a lot of metal around the stone, but that made everything feel too heavy.

Sat with ring for almost an hour, thinking about how to make this more light. Realised maybe the signet style just wasn't right for now - i needed more space, more movement.

Ended up finding some copper sheets in the studio and played around a bit. I think it led me somewhere quite interesting... like little origami boats, with the stone like a drop of water suspending on top of it.

Also, how nice does the copper tone look against the jadeite.

Tried on this emerald ring at Wave Antiques. The emerald was repurposed from an older ring and set in a modern style along with two diamonds on the size.

Origins of the stone are unknown, but sometimes, you just have to judge the stone on it's own. This is one of the most 'alive' emeralds I've esen so far. The blue tint that runs through it is absolutely stunning.

Sketch I did earlier this year of an orchid