Picture that glorious green hue of a meadow in summer, that's what I think of when I gaze into an emerald. Captured within every stone is the very essence of a summer's day.

It's mesmerizing.

Handmade Emerald Jewellery

I've been lucky enough to work with some uncut emerald crystals recently. I bought them from a German trader and before reaching Europe they'd made a long journey from Colombia, no doubt passing through numerous hands before reaching mine. I originally received a parcel of two, one of which ended up inside a custom ring and the other one is sitting in my stock collection waiting to be made into something great.

The custom ring I made was to be an anniversary gift to the customer's wife who had Irish lineage and he had noted some of her past purchases of wire wrapped jewellery. And although it was a carefully thought out gift he was generally quite relaxed about how it would eventually look, leaving the small design details to my own judgment. He also took the time to leave me some really lovely feedback.

The general purpose of cutting a stone is to enhance it's sparkle, but even as uncut crystals, emerald has a fantastic light that just seems to come from within. It's as if it doesn't merely reflect light, but actually produces it.

I sometimes work with tiny little faceted emeralds that I get regularly from Cookson Gold. They're perfect because with them being small (1-3mm) they're relatively inexpensive but their glow is still hugely noticeable due to the cut. They can take a lot of fiddling around with though and I've lost more than a handful that have disappeared into the carpet.

Emerald has long been a favourite gemstone for the rich, famous and the not so rich and famous alike. Like diamonds, sapphires and rubies, emerald is regarded as a high end luxury gem. People love it for it's true green glow. I love emeralds for the way they make me feel a little bit magnificent.

#handmadejewelry #emeraldrings #emeralds #emeraldjewellery #handmadeemeraldjewellery