|
Brent came to me with a wonderful story that he wanted represented in a ring for his wife Eldyne, to celebrate the birth of their daughter Amelia or "Millie"... "5 months before Amelia, aka 'Millie' was born, we were getting her room situated when we started to notice ladybugs flying into the through the doors that go out to a second story balcony. There would be 10-30 in the room (and often throughout the house) at any given time. This went on throughout the pregnancy." Brent wanted an elegant piece that spoke of this, but he didn't want the ladybug to be too obvious. He also wanted to incorporate Millie's birthstone - Garnet.
Together we designed this piece. The wings open and close over Spessartine Garnets around the ring. I chose Spessartine garnets since they were the color of his two favourite ladies' hair - both Eldyne and little Millie have the most wonderful flame colored locks.
Brent had read that Spessartine garnets were once mined in Amelia County in Virginia. Commercial mining at the Amelia mine has long since ceased, but the old mine was open to fossickers who scour the dumps in the hope of finding a facetable stone. It was a tall order, but we simply had to find a Spessartine garnet from Amelia County for Millie's ring...
After weeks of searching, e-mailing and posting on forums, a very kind man contacted me. Dick had a small amount of Spessartine rough he had found at the Amelia mine and was willing to facet a stone from his cleanest piece. The Amelia stone is set in yellow gold in the most open winged ladybug.
Thank you Dick Davies, you made the Millie ring very special; and also to Brent - it was a wonderful project to work on. |
