Ring in 18K Gold and Bisbee Turquoise

Ring by Sam Patania

It is such a beautiful day out, it is the day after Thanksgiving ‘08 and I am in my studio. Taj Mahal is playing blues on my IPod, it’s sunny and cool out. Most of the nation is in winter weather but in SoAz it is gorgeous. This is what we suffer through summer for. I have Christmas orders and some new clients who are interested in my work. The economic times are strange but, I have work for now. I don’t want to get too far in front of myself and start worrying. All I can do is work so that is what I plan to do no matter what happens in the future. I have too many designs I want to do, I bought some silver sheet two days ago to make some new bracelets. I need to get some of these orders farther along before I start to make the new bracelets though, I love this work.

I have a book about William Spratling which I look at often for inspiration. I was looking at it the other day when an all silver bracelet design came into my head and I had to run off and buy the silver for them right away. I drew out the design which is unusual for me and of course now the design is changing and variations are popping into my head. I’ll keep those bracelets on the back burner while I do my Christmas work, at least that is the plan. I may have to start them, I just never know.

I picked this ring to post about because it has the tactile element to it I try to impart to all my work. When you touch this ring it is smooth, the stones and metal flow right into one another. I made it out of 18K white gold with 24K gold bezels to hold the stones in. I made 18K beads to blend the stones together across the top. Picking a set of Bisbee turquoise is tough so when I find a set I try to keep it together. These stones are small and powerfully blue. I got these stones from Bruce Mead several years ago and waited to come up with a design to use them to their advantage.

I have some 18K gold to use and just got more Bisbee from Bruce a few days ago. The stones are large enough for a bracelet so I will have to design for them. Natural Bisbee is always cut in free form shapes so as not to waste any of the stone. The design has to be strong enough to stand on it’s own but take advantage of the free form shapes. I’ll think of something for those stones, it sometimes takes time for it to come to me, in the mean time I’ll work on the Christmas orders and I have the silver bracelets to look forward to making.

This ring is avalable at Mark Bahti’s store, www.bahti.com , 520-577-0290.

Tagged as: Bisbee, Bracelet, Bruce Mead, Gold, Mark Bahti, My Jewelry Designs : from Inspiration to Construction, Patania Jewelry, Ring, Sam Patania, silver, turquoise