January has already practically slipped through our fingers and February, along with Valentine’s Day, is fast upon us. This coming month, we would like to highlight pieces with gems that celebrate the rich colors associated with the most romantic holiday – ruby red, hot pink rubellite, juicy mandarin garnet, Mexican fire opal, in addition to a sweet assortment of tiny gold hearts (for your sweetheart).

Throughout history, red has been the primary color choice for conveying love, with it’s association to passion, fire, lust, heat, and  romance. Like a perfect crystalline drop of blood, the ruby bead is like a visible heartbeat. Whether playing up it’s vitality against snowy white seed pearls, or accentuating it’s dramatic flair surrounded by brilliant orange, peach, and golden sapphires – the ruby remains the symbolic queen of love.

Check out our Valentine’s Day specials! Up to 25% off select holiday pieces for a limited time only. January 25th – February 14th

The new shop will be featuring Holiday Specials, the Xeno Praxis Jewelry Line, and Limited Edition – a selection of one-of-a-kind pieces, for that extra special event… or that extra special someone.

A limited number of custom orders are still available in time for the holidays, so please email deb@debdurant.com or call 415.235.1551 during studio hours to discuss.

 
Please note * 

Special holiday sale prices are available only through Friday Dec. 18th, so don’t wait to place your orders! Expedited delivery will be available through Wed., Dec. 23rd.  
 
Wishing you all a happy & healthy holiday season!

Turquoise engagement ring with new wedding band

This past summer, my daughter Sadie and I had the pleasure of joining two of my clients at their wedding reception in Tilden Park. It was a wonderful affair, with piles of Cheese Board pizzas, kegs of rootbeer, and a field of smiling, laughing faces. It was that joyous kind of wedding event that felt like it had been composed of the hands of many happy friends and family. At the reception, I was introduced to a very sweet couple who had had their weddings rings made a few years prior, but had not been completely happy with the results. When they later came to the studio, they brought a lovely delicate 22KY gold engagement ring for us to use as the reference point for the new rings. It looked like a beautiful golden twig nestling a striking blue square turquoise. After much discussion, we went out into the garden behind the studio and hunted for just the right size, shape, and texture twig to capture the feel of the ring. Then I set to work carving both of their new wedding bands in wax. (the fun part!)

Once the rings had been cast into gold (we were able to preserve the gold from their original rings) the final results were surprisingly satisfying – our small nature expedition had yielded convincingly natural precious metal twigs.

Miranda and Brian's 22KY gold wedding bands

Deb Durant at Shreve & Co.

Last night I was part of the Women’s Jewelry Association’s Designers by the Bay – a fine jewelry showcase event celebrating its 13th year which was held at Shreve & Co. in San Francisco. www.designersbythebay.com.

Presented each year by the WJA’s Northern California chapter,this showcase is the regions premier fine jewelry event, featuring many exciting new collections from local designers.

I previewed my latest work made with Murano glass, which I purchased this past summer from a small family-owned glass beadmaking factory we found on the island of Murano, located in the laguna just north of Venice, Italy. It was wonderful to work with the beauty and saturated colors of this incredible art form of hand blown glass beads, a technique created in the middle of the last century B.C. We were shown old photos from the 50’s of the glassmaking factories, marvelling at their long and narrow shapes.  It was fascinating to hear the glass-blower explain exactly how the glass bead making technique worked. In order to create the tiny glass beads, the process begins with a glass cylinder called the cane, or cana in Italian. First, the cane is heated in the furnace; once molten it is removed from the heat and air is introduced into the cane to hollow the tube. Immediately afterwards, two men (running as fast as they can in opposite directions) stretch the cane aproximately 100 meters long, which they then carefully lay down into a long wooden receiving trough. Another person then cuts the cane into shorter lengths with a diamond saw, 100 at a time (eventually creating many thousands of beads) using calce (lime powder) to keep each piece from closing at the ends of the tubes. Finally, the beads are reheated, rounding the edges of each individual bead creating the smooth finished perline (tiny hollow glass beads).       

Their translucency and golden lustre add so much depth and dimension to each piece. It is a rarity quite unlike gemstones found in nature, reflecting the artistic hand in its beauty. I hope to work with Murano glass beads more in the future.

For thousands of years, the ruby has been considered one of the most valuable gemstones on Earth.  The birthstone for July, it is the gem most often associated with passion and fire.  Along with sapphire, it is from the corundrum family, and is one of the hardest gems known to man, second only to diamond.  The only thing that separates a ruby from a sapphire is trace elements within the crystals, but only red corundum is entitled to be called ruby, all other colors are considered sapphires.

Over the past few months I have had many different brides come into the studio to design a diamond engagement ring to symbolize their love.  Some have come with beautifully classic diamonds passed down to them from their grandmothers and aunts, in hopes of transforming them into clean modern designs.  Another was seeking to create a diamond ring that felt like an incredible ancient treasure recently unearthed.  Still another chose a diamond with perfect color, clarity, and cut proportions to celebrate the 25th anniversary of her marriage.

It is such an honor to be able to create rings which celebrate the sacred ritual of joining two individuals together, to play a small part in one of life’s happiest moments celebrating love.  To hear people’s stories about how they met, what it was that drew them together, and what remains most important to them, and then begin the process of transforming this information into an object of beauty using precious metals and gems, this is the wonderful challenge. Few things are more satisfying then witnessing the joy people feel when they’ve created their own diamond rings, as unique and individual as them.