~The Spider Ring Project~
~ Sterling Spiderweb Ring with Detachable Spider~
By Mark Anderson, Jessica Dow and Jessica’s mother Martha Borzoni of Different Seasons Jewelry.
Different Seasons Jewelry is a multi-artist family business. We design, fabricate and do in-house casting of custom and one-of-a-kind jewelry. We also do lapidary arts such as cabochon cutting, gem carving and gem inlay.
I was expecting this ring to be bulky and awkward… but Mark did an extraordinary job of making the design remarkably comfortable.
The photos below show the ring progressing through concept sketch & the hand carved wax models to the final finished ring.Mark designed the ring to make the spider removable. The ring can be worn with or without the spider. This also opens up the possibility of having more matching pieces designed at a later date.
Wax Ring Model in Process. Carving by Mark Anderson.
~Similar opals to the opal Mark used for the spider ring..~
Wax spider model in process… we carved two for our client to choose from.
My mothr Martha is the spider carer in the family… Mark made the entire ring, did all the inlay but my mom hand carved this gorgeous spider…..she’s an extremely talented painter, gem carver and more. I’m VERY lucky to have her on our little family team!
Our hand carved spider in wax for casting, molded around the crystal opal inlay..the model had to be precisely carved to fit Mark’s hand cut opal cabochon for inlay.
The ring being worn with the spider attached.
Below are various photos of the finished ring~
Mark attached the spider in a manner that allowed the opal underneath to show from a profile view.
Another spider-related piece that I thought I’d add into the blog:) Our carved matrix opal pendant was in a full article in Art Jewelry Magazine.Photo courtesy of Art Jewelry Magazine September 2010 issue.
A Hand carved Andamooka Matrix opal spider ready for setting into a pendant, cuff or a large ring. This is the most colorful spider we’ve carved to dae. It has pockets of gem grade opal, making t more valuable than the other spiders. This photo doesn’t do it justice as it’s a bit over-exposed.
Carving the spider ( an excerpt from the article)
The pendant from the article and another spider my mother carved for a different project~
Other hand carved and cast spiders we plan on using for projects such as belt buckles, pendants or even a wild bolo tie!… we’re still not sure. Each spider is a bit different (these are obviously larger than the spider we cast for the ring).
Jessa Dow
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{ 1 comment… read it below or add one }
JD, love your work here. Got your blog site from your sig on ECF. As an ole lapidarist, no longer do it, but love opals, hence my ECF name(oplholik). I used to dig for fire opals in the Mojave Desert of Calif. But again, your work is great, and I enjoyed looking at it.
Paul