I know I’ve been making a couple of unconventional pieces of jewelry lately.
It’s all for the sake of inner beauty. I love making jewelry. I love sitting down and designing around a stone, I love the process. It’s how I grow as an individual and it’s how I express myself. This ring is fiercely beautiful (to me). It holds light and darkness. It holds a space within (it’s hollow formed). It holds a message. I fought with it while I crafted it, persevered when the making was rough and finally finished it. I learned life lessons in the process. And the light really did pierce the darkness. I want pieces like this to intrigue you. I want you to be attracted to the design but to also be a witness to the inner beauty of the object you see here. I wrestled with this piece, I howled at it. I coaxed it into shape, I wooed it. I set out to prove something when I made it, to send a message, to conquer some unarticulated portion of myself. I don’t want you to always be comfortable with the things I make. Sometimes, I want you to meet each other and to feel a bit awkward for the first second of knowing each other. Is that strange? I love the idea of growing in love. I also like the concept of love at first sight, but the depth and understanding and TRUE love comes with time and the understanding of what something means to you.
Whoever wears this ring will grow with it.
She’ll love it at first. She’ll have to learn how to wear it.
And as she gets to know this ring more, she’ll begin to understand the depths of it, respect the message it holds, and she’ll slowly draw more understanding of the dichotomy between light and dark each time she slips it on her finger.
At least that’s what I hope for her. Some jewelry is just jewelry.
Some jewelry offers a sensory experience.
Some jewelry twinkles just so.
Some jewelry is for the soul.
7 hours
2 freshwater pearls
sterling silver
14 carat gold
and a filthy rich weight
Each and every component that makes this ring
was cut, sawed, soldered, formed, forged, stamped, textured and filed by me.
No shortcuts.
No cutting corners.
No cheap, dirty tricks.
Just the sweat off my brow and honest jewelry, crafted from scratch
from my original sketches and soul.
I HOPE YOU LIKE HER!
SHE WAS A JOY TO CREATE.
XO
:::EDIT:::
I’m not ready to sell this ring yet.
I need to have it around to hold and touch and look
at for a while longer.
Please pardon the delay.
STUNNING, TRUELY.
you don't cease to amaze.
Absolutely captivating, stunning and definately beautiful and unconventional in the finest way!! WOW!!! You never cease to amaze me my little chickadee…..hugs, Sal
I think it is funny that Lindsay and I used the same verbage and posted at the same time – now you have us all thinking alike as well:0)
strength, protection, courage and grace… your work offers it all.
Voilà! La pièce de résistance!!
Beautiful, gorgeous, unexpected.
I would take her to the ballet (Moulin Rouge, Royal Winnipeg Ballet), or a Cirque Show (O and Ka), or maybe just the couch while in my pyjamas if I needed a pick me up.
Ah, the times we would have together!!
xo
i'll just echo what everyone else said! quite unconventional and striking in this fact. thanks for sharing part of your process of creation with us, it connects us to the pieces we own and the pieces we may one day own in a new and different way. love!
… a work of art – truly!
… a work of art – truly!
Wow!!! Just wow!!! It's like a tiny little lighthouse for your hand.
I don't know how you do it, but I'm glad you can & you continue to show us your creations.
Pam
Hmm… now see, I must ask if this ring is necessarily a "she". Because I look at it and don't necessarily see a "she"; for the first time I think I'm looking at a "he" maybe? Or maybe the real key to answering that is to wonder what/who is on the INSIDE? I like the thought that there's some secret in there, waiting to be discovered. IS THERE????
I bet she was a joy, 7 hours of creating…all the special colors, the soft and the hard…did you put a message in there too? It is lovely…
RIGHT ON, Jillian, in your thinking, your inspiration, your labor (as in birth process), and what (who) emerges from all of this.
This is art as communication…as seen in the responses this ring is evoking.
Always, feel free, make sure you're free, to do what YOU are meant to do!!!
Love,
D
…and oh yeah, I like her, from ever angle!
(Or him, as wonders John?)
XO
Very special…and really, really cool too! I love the pearls!
And I can relate with trying to learn how to wear something…I'm in the midst of doing that EVERYDAY right now! LOL!
Beautiful work Jillian! 😉
BRAVO!
A really cool piece really like that you step outside the box.
It's love at first sight for me……………..
….
…
..
and I am speechless.
I saw this ring in a dream many years ago, but it slipped away on a moonbeam and just resurfaced today. Phenomenal, Miss Plume.
Thank you all for these lovely comments! I want to reply to one specifically:
John, it's funny you mention that this ring might be a he and not a she!!! Because while crafting it I thought it started to resemble, more and more, some sort of: gizmo, gear wheel, gadget, machine, steam punky widgit, sprocket, tool in a tool box, bits spread over a workbench in a clock repair shop……….
It DOES have a really masculine, almost HARD edge to it, doesn't it? It has a very strong presence. I didn't feel like I was really able to capture this side of it in these photographs but YOU caught a hint of it…which is VERY interesting to me.
Very interesting indeed.
You asked: "Who is on the inside?"
That's for the wearer to say actually. I can't define EVERYTHING about this piece for you.
Perhaps this question needs to be asked to a greater audience?
Everyone: What do YOU think the gender of this ring is? Is it female? Is it male? And what do YOU think is inside???
Well, in my not so humble opinion, I think it is a she because of the pearl presence. Maybe that is a lame reason but it is all mine:0)
Now on to my life in the snowy White Mountains of Arizona – I just returned from my mailbox (I could hear a little screaming voice outside and went to investigate). I opened the door and yippers, wowzie, OMGosh, guess what jumped into my waiting arms??? Well, I excitedly took this little brown square box into my studio to be opened in private because I didn't want dh to wonder what I was up to now. I carefully pulled out my box cutter, ever so precisely cutting the packing tape away from the top to reveal a beautiful card and a spot of luscious, mouth watering Ginseng Green Tea bag, just waiting to be sipped. I very quietly pulled away the packing papers and crikey—-there was the most beautiful object I have ever seen, my very own inbetween ring from my dearest Jillian. The turquoise and copper are so stunning along side the very darling baubles and other stones. I purchased this last Friday, Jill mailed it on Monday and here it is on my finger Wednesday. Wow, the postal service must have known my anxiety and hand carried it all the way from Pokey to me……Jill, you are the best and I am so lucky to be able to call you my friend…..Love, Sally ring-a-ding-ling!! Good luck to everyone in waiting for this Friday or whenever the next upload is – it is really worth the wait:0)
I love the way you built that ring! What??!?!?!!! (No cheap tricks? Drats…)
It is AWESOME you put the number of hours down Jillian!!!!
Honest woman! A well made piece is a work of art 🙂
There's an old Genesis song called "You've got to get in to get out…" and it suits this ring so perfectly and powerfully. In my experience, you have to delve deep to release yourself from your self – your fears, your worries, your heartaches. And this ring goes there for me. To the heart of it all. It's where I often find my truest self and the clarity to speak. This ring is neither male nor female. Instead, it's the best of all us – inside and out.
You are such an inspiration to me! What you do a is a work of art! Gorgeous!
Thank you again, you lovely lovely ladies, for these kind comments:) I read and take to heart every single word you write!
XO
wow wow and wow, what an amazing work of art