More than any precious metal, the story behind a piece of jewelry makes it priceless. One of my repeat clients has a beautiful tradition of designing pieces to honor loved ones who have passed. First, we created the Timeless Trillion to remember her mother, and recently she commissioned a custom all-gold bracelet to honor the memory of her late husband.
This original piece presented a brand new challenge for me as a designer: building my very own gold chain from scratch!
The Origins of the Dandelion Chain
Because the client already wore a link-style bracelet, she wanted another chain bracelet that would pair nicely with it, rather than my standard cuff design. She wanted something very durable that she could wear on a daily basis, while also being stylish and elegant. We considered several different chain styles, but they were all too delicate for what she was looking for or lacked artistic personality. That’s when an idea struck for something I’d never done before: fabricate my own chain here in the studio from interlocking Dandelion bands! She immediately latched onto the idea, and we decided to run with it.
The Design Concept
For years, this client has worn a bracelet with the word “Believe” to honor her husband, but now she wanted something elevated that would last a lifetime. While I don’t usually incorporate wording into my jewelry designs, I knew this was something special that I wanted to honor. So, the first step in the process was to choose between several different nameplates for the central focal point of the design.
Once we had the nameplate chosen, I created a mock-up of the idea in Canva. These mock-ups tend to be rough, much closer to a sketch than a CAD model, but this one turned out to be pretty identical to the final project. It’s definitely my favorite Canva mock-up to date.
The two-toned design would incorporate 14K white gold marquise-shaped links and smaller 14K yellow gold oval links for a durable yet elegant chain. The “Believe” nameplate would also be two-toned and incorporate both laser and hand-engraving.
A Multi-Step Process
I was excited to use several different techniques during the build process for this piece. First, I fabricated a prototype in-studio to test my concept of the Dandelion chain, and was delighted to find that it worked great. Then, I had the individual parts cast into 14K gold. Next, it was back on the bench to laser-weld the interlocking chains together.
The word “Believe” was laser-engraved on the front of the gold nameplate, which would then be soldered into a wavy, textured white-gold backplate. I was able to melt down some white gold scrap metal from my studio to create the backplate. I always love recycling materials!
Finally, I hand-inscribed her husband’s initials and a cross onto the back of the nameplate and finished the piece off with an integrated yellow gold lobster clasp.
Joyous Delivery
The client came out to the Isle of Hope show to receive her bracelet and, oh my goodness, it looked incredible! It stacks perfectly with a two-toned bracelet she already wears and looks gorgeous with her trillion ring. I could not be happier with the way this bracelet turned out, and I’m so very honored to be a part of her precious memory.
