Work in Progress: The Making of SS25

Sculpting the Growth Spiral Studs

This season’s collection came together in a rather powerful, symbolic way. After feeling stuck, stagnant, and overall a bit depressed by the state of the world this winter, the light came back to me by way of seeing how everyday humans were showing up for each other in crises. In short, I saw that through our interconnection, interdependence, mutual aid, and furthermore through love and joy as forms of resistance, ‘we’ve got us.’ As such, I’ve dubbed SS25 “We Create Our Own Utopia.” It is an homage to these concepts, and even more specifically it is an homage to queer joy as resistance. Because the queer community, amongst others, is no stranger to these realities, having been reliant on interdependence and mutual aid to get through centuries of hate and oppression.

Wax models for the Interconnection Ring

Follow along here as I begin the process of making the collection by first sketching and sculpting the pieces in wax. After that they’re cast in solid 14k recycled gold, and sometimes soldered together, followed by hours of refining - sanding, polishing, buffing - into the final piece.

Interconnection Ring during soldering, mid process, and after final polish.

Also, fun fact: you can watch my manicure progressively disintegrate before your eyes as my hands work to finish the collection piece by piece! Bonus.

The Journey Spiral Hoops, in process from wax to raw castings, and before earwire is soldered on

The Journey Spiral Hoops post-soldering, and after final polish

In any event, the joy of creating this body of work helped lift me up out of a funk and enabled me to see the light once again. I hope it can inspire the same in you too. That is, after all, the point ;)

New Diamond Sirius B and Diamond Sirius C Rings, both with inlaid reclaimed 2mm diamonds. Part of what I love about (ethically-sourced) diamonds is their ability to create prismatic light.

Research. The work of artist Charles Ross and his lifesize rainbow prisms have also been hugely inspirational this season… stay tuned for more on that front.

The Interdependence Ring from raw casting to finish

This conky guy will be a part of the Abundance Bracelet, where a portion of proceeds will go to charity. Keep an eye out to see how this piece develops ;)

Growth Spiral Studs in process. These were initially created by request of a special client, but I loved them so much I had to add them to the collection.

Turning Your Old Gold Into New Treasure

Custom 18k gold ring, handmade using the client’s own melted gold.

When three different clients approach you within a one month span, all asking if you can melt their old family jewelry down to make something new, you know it’s something you need to look into. While melting scrap gold might sound simple enough, in actuality it’s a little more complicated, and not all jewelers will do it. Most gold refiners won’t return you with the exact same gold you gave them - they’re far too busy for such “small” requests. And simply melting down aunt Judy’s ring in the crucible and throwing it into the new casting is both risky and very costly: not only can that metal become brittle and a little unpredictable, but when done this way, the jeweler needs to come up with enough gold to fill the entire “tree” and “sprue” in the casting (the lines through which the molten gold travels to get to your new ring)… aka that requires thousands of dollars more gold than is needed for the individual piece itself. Hence my earlier statement that many jewelers simply won’t do it.

Pre-casting, the ring is first carved in wax. I wanted this weighty cigar band to have a subtle asymmetry to it, playing on offset angles.

By happenstance, though, I discovered that I actually have a special connection to a gold refiner who WILL return your own precious family gold to you, in a chunk of solid, pure 24k. Luck? Coincidence? Maybe a bit of both. But all of this is to say, that after some time and research, I finally got the process down, and have been able to make these customers new gold jewelry that they’ll love and wear everyday, out of their old gold jewelry that, while heirloom, was wasting away in a box. So why not transform your old 10k, 14k and 18k gold pieces that you don’t love, into something that you do? Nothing more alchemical than that, I’d say. To inquire, just shoot me an email at vanessa@talismanfinejewelry.co.

Fresh out of casting, the ring still has bits of “sprues” attached to it that must be ground off, followed by multiple steps of sanding and polishing to get to the final product.

The finished product! Solid 18k refined heirloom gold. It will forever hold the energy of the client’s family heirlooms.

Another pic of the finished product.