I love making jewelry, especially engagement rings, that are truly unique and fit perfectly for the person who will be wearing them.

A client contacted me several weeks ago for just such a job. His girlfriend wanted something floral looking and did not want a diamond for her center stone. He was debating between a sapphire and an emerald for the center but was still ok with diamond side stones, maybe. After hearing about emeralds being softer stones than sapphires and that an emerald could scratch or break, he decided to go with a sapphire for the center stone. He had seen this design of mine on a different website:

but he thought maybe larger stones that looked like leaves would be neat instead of the metal leaves. I sent him 2 different designs to look at.

He loved the second design and after some discussion, we decided to use tzavorites (green garnets) for the side stones.

I don’t always get excited when I see a casting because I did the design and know what to expect, but this piece was an exception. When I got the casting and stones I couldn’t wait to see the finished piece.

The finished piece turned out amazing. The blue of the sapphire and the green of the tsavorites fit together perfectly and the vine-y look of the metal was gorgeous.

I can’t wait to hear what she thinks of the ring and hopefully work on wedding bands!

Garnet is one gemstone that most people have heard of. They are one of the birthstones for January. What most people don’t know is how many kinds of garnet there are. I have 5 garnets in my possession right now and every one is different. There are 6 kinds of garnet (according to Wikipedia) and even more different name. Slight differences in chemical make-up result in different names and different colors.

The first 2 garnets in my collection are the type of garnet that most people think of when they think of garnet. They are almandine garnets which is the most common garnet.

The third garnet in my collection is a tzavorite garnet. This one is a cushion cut stone that is a nice green color. Tzavorites can get even more intense in color than this one but they are all stunning.

The last garnet in my collection, and my prize stone, is a spessartite garnet. It is a stunning orange color that is accentuated by the cut which was done by German cutter Tom Munsteiner.

I’m not a huge fan of the red types of garnet just because I’m a snot and I tend to love things that are super rare; but the other kinds–tzavorite, spessartite, etc.–are some of my favorites because their colors are so amazingly intense. Garnets have a type for everyone!

The stones above are all for sale. If you are interested, please contact me at leah@leahashley.com.