Despite the twinkling holiday lights and festive Christmas garlands adorning the streets, New York City has been quite dreary the past few days. Icy rain, coupled with the nasty cold I am currently suffering from, have kept me largely indoors.
On the brightside, while staying home-based I have had plenty of time to work on my jewelry collection, Nicole Weiler Fine Jewelry.
Beyond designing a few custom holiday gifts for friends, I have been re-photographing and properly editing my main jewelry designs. And falling in love again with each and every special piece.
My very first fine jewelry design was this Watermelon Tourmaline Bark Pendant.
I happened upon the tourmaline slice while attending a jewelry buying show a few years ago. While I was on a very strict budget (NYC rent is a killer… and at the time I considered it a luxury to even be able to spare cash for the occasional cab ride), I could not resist the vibrant magenta center, deep green halo, and sparkling inner crystals of this natural gem stone. I splurged and spent months agonizing over how to create the best design for such a special gem.
Ultimately, I opted for a simple bezel design that referenced nature. Because the watermelon tourmaline slice reminded me so much of the inner circular patterns of a tree trunk (a very colorful one at that), I drew up a design for a heavy bezel setting that mimicked the texture of tree bark. Diamonds were added to give the hint of growing branches (albeit sparkly ones).
Interested in learning the entire jewelry process firsthand, I worked with my jeweler, Tony, to build the “bark” bezel for the tourmaline. We melted wax directly onto the tourmaline slice, slowly building up the thick bezel wall. Eventually, this wax enclosure was carved to resemble the texture of bark and little knobs were carved out for the diamond “branches.”
Once the wax was finished, a mold was taken of the final product. 18K gold was then poured into the mold, creating the casting. Tony polished the rough casting, set the three diamonds, and placed the tourmaline slice into its new home. Chain was added to finalize the necklace.
Since then, the Watermelon Tourmaline Bark Pendant has been one of my defining style staples and a piece that garners attention daily.
The bark pendant is available in 14K or 18K gold as a custom order with your choice of stone. Write me for details: nicole@weiler.am