What, you haven’t seen Jade? Spoiler alert: it sucks.
Let’s talk about another type of jade. I just finished a beautiful custom gemstone ring for a client who had me special order a badass piece of creamy jadeite and pair it with my solid sterling silver Torque bracelet for a “Full Right Hand Special, something I used to do for clients who wanted a ring and bracelet pairing. This particular client already has one of my Kingman turquoise Leonids rings, which has a different style altogether. We’d identified a really beautiful stone – a big gob of jade shipped right over to the shop to have a ring built around it.
And build it we did. I like the way the round cabochon sort of echoes the round forms of the torque. Repeating shape patterns is an important thing when you’re figuring out a ‘configuration’ (For lack of a better word) to wear. Jewelry addicts will know what I mean.
This pair is one of my favorites because it really just walks that line between something you can wear into a board room and something you’d see a rock star wearing as he’s being pushed into a squad car after burning down a hotel.
You can see the sub-surface scattering of light in the jade (and unfortunately a little extra polishing compound that I stupidly forgot to buff away before snapping my photos. Smart.
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I wear a jade gemstone very much in the same color family. That super lime green stuff is just not my thing. I like it pale and mostly opaque or otherwise that forrest green nephrite stuff like I tend to set in the eyes of my old King Skull.
Either way, you have to be careful when working with jade because so much of the material out there is not actually REAL jade. It’s glass, dyed quartz, or even plastic. I’m a fanatic about getting the real stuff (as many of you know who’ve followed my jade and amber exploits in Hong Kong and elsewhere.)
Speaking of King Skulls, the new King Skull is nearly finished. With the help of my man David and his mold-making crew, I’ve finished waxes for my first 10 pre-orders and they’ve come out beautiful. Like the previous model, all of the details are hand carved on each template so no two rings will be alike. For me, it’s the perfect jawless skull ring. I’ll always love the original, but I’m retiring her from the line to make it extra special for those clients who own one. All of my work is limited run and they all have an expiration date on them. So let’s say goodbye to the old King and welcome to the new.
I’m about a week or so away from finishing the silvers on the first batch. This piece isn’t available in the shop yet, but I’ll be making a big announcement once I’m ready to actually release her, so stay tuned.
Skullworks 