Bride's Engagement Ring Revitalised for the Renewal of Her Wedding Vows

Wedding Vow Renewal Ceremony

To celebrate their 25th wedding anniversary, Mark and Beth will be renewing their wedding vows.

Their vow renewal ceremony^** will take place in the romantic setting of Italy. Surrounded by friends and family, their minds will be cast back to the day they married.

The day when they uttered the words “With this ring…”

Silver Wedding Anniversary Ring

The 25th Wedding Anniversary is the Silver Wedding Anniversary and Beth’s engagement ring will be a significant part of this celebration.

Having been worn and cherished every day, some of the claws holding the diamonds in place had become worn. Then one day, some of the claws broke away completely, and a diamond was lost.

So Mark and Beth came to me to give the ring a new lease of life. They wanted to preserve the original ring and make it into something she could keep wearing without worry of losing a diamond again.

Beth wanted to wear her ring again without worry of losing a diamond

Designing the Ring

We decided to set the stones in new setting – a rubover setting. A rubover setting means there’s a gold frame holding the stone in place all the way around. Whilst it’s possible for claws to be replaced, a rubover setting gives a smooth and secure finish that’s more up to every day wear.

Diamond Engagement Ring is Restored

25 years of togetherness is something to celebrate. People change and grow, and it’s a joy when a couple can do this together in harmony. For Mark and Beth, having this ring restored to them for this special occasion means it will continue to carry their story into the future.

The original diamond engagement ring will carry their story into the future

Do you have a special occasion you’re looking to celebrate? Find out how we work together on your custom jewellery.

^**vow renewal ceremony … Have you noticed just how difficult that is to say?!

Gorgeous Photos by Kiff Backhouse

  Hand Made Gold Wedding Rings for the Bride & Groom

Unique Wedding Rings

Designed to mark the beginning of their married life together, the design of these wedding rings evolved into something unique and personal to the bride and groom.

When I’m asked to create hand made gold jewellery, it’s often for a special occasion – and this was no exception.

These matching wedding rings are significant to each individual and to the couple; the story of their life together and their wedding day are inextricably bound into the creation.

Hand Made Gold Jewellery – Design

It was a pleasure working with this lovely couple on their custom made jewellery and seeing how the ideas evolved.

With a fondness of Celtic design ideas in keeping with their medieval style wedding, they soon came up with other elements to add in to their wedding rings. When I invited them to think about a design for their rings and jewellery being truly personal to them and hinting at a Celtic style, the ideas really started to flow. They even threw caution to the wind and had a go at sketching!

Together we created wedding rings with dragons and the OM symbol woven into the design around the band; the theme for all of their wedding jewellery.

Custom Jewellery: Your Design, Hand Made

Custom jewellery is a fusion of your design ideas and my workmanship. Coming up with a design is all part of the journey and even if you don’t consider yourself to be much of an artist, it’s amazing how a few seeds of an idea can be turned into a treasure.

If you like the idea of having your wedding jewellery made then here are some useful links.

* See what some of my customers say – there are some very romantic stories.

* Find out how we work together to create your custom jewellery.

* Browse the gallery of handmade gold jewellery creations for some ideas.

* If you’re especially interested in rings, visit the ring room for inspiration.

  A Travel Journal with a Secret in the Pages

The Travel Journal

Here’s how one thoughtful, inventive and romantic man presented a compass pendant gift to his wife.

He began with a nicely wrapped parcel to reveal a small and unassuming Moleskine Travel Journal – in keeping with a travel theme.

He organised the journal to open at this page, which she read out loud to the family, but then she closed the book and started to put it down, clearly thinking it was just a journal. Their daughter, who didn’t know what it was, saved the day by saying “I think there’s a bit of clue there Mum – secrets in the pages.”

The Compass

So she turned on through the book until she found the pendant. Secretly embedded in the cutaway pages of the travel journal she discovered her unique compass pendant which she loves. She loved that her husband had put so much thought into how to give her this compass pendant. A Christmas gift she’ll remember and treasure.

  The Travel Journal Compass Revealed!

Feeling inspired to give the woman in your life a gift like this?    Browse the compass shop.

Your Compass Pendants – how big are they?

How big are your compass pendants?

Today I received an enquiry about the size of my compass pendant creations. It’s a great question!

To help answer that, here are a few photos of my compass jewellery creations with various ways in which I’ve chosen to help show you just how big – or small! – they are.

Compass with a Coin

For a while, I’ve put a coin next to the compass in the photo. However, people from all over the world buy my compasses – so which coin should I use?!

Here’s photo of a compass pendant next to a 5 cent piece from the United States.

Compass with a Pencil

More recently, I’ve put a pencil next to the compass. Whilst so many of us use a keyboard, the pencil is something I think we’re still all familiar with, enough for it to give an idea of size.

Here’s a photo of a compass pendant with a pencil right beside it.

Compass in my Hand

I’ve also given modelling a go, well, in a minor way! Here’s a gold compass locket with my hand right next to it.

Oh, and here it is with a pencil, too.

Is this compass small enough to swallow? To read more about that, Click Here!.

The Jewellery Workshop

Welcome to my workshop.

Here’s where I spend many happy hours immersed in making unique creations. People rarely step into the world of my workshop, so here’s a short video showing you some of what’s involved in making a gold compass locket.

There are several stages in making a locket, each of which takes time so I’ll keep to showing you just the hinge for now. I hope you enjoy it.

Making a Hinge

The focus is on making the hinge and precision is paramount. Everything needs to be perfectly aligned and to fit closely. Here you’ll see me cutting the hinge seat and then soldering the cradle and the knuckles in place. After this, the hinge is ready for the hinge-pin.

If you’d like to see some of my finished locket creations, I invite you to Visit the Gallery of Lockets.

Share on Facebook

Today: Remember to Live

Life is a journey, right?

A journey where, from time to time, a bit of effort is needed to stop and actually live it.

The Future

There are destinations ahead of us. You know the ones, those places and stages we’re striving to reach.

We face decisions about which direction to go in. Which road to take and how far to travel along it. Decisions about whether to turn back, to give up.

It can be exciting and fun – an adventure – and yet sometimes we just don’t have the energy for it.

The Past

We draw upon a treasury of memories, stories we carry with us that make us smile. Moments of peace, moments of exhilaration, moments of love and laughter.

Then there are some of the turns we took, the one’s we dwell on and wish we’d chosen better.

Sometimes these weigh us down and leave us feeling stuck.

Today

Amidst the past and the future, there’s today. Today is always here for us to take just as it is, to live it right now. To pick up your smelly, wet and muddy dog and cuddle him without a care just because you love him!

If you’re anything like me, occasionally you need a little help remembering, remembering to live. It’s so obvious that it’s easy to overlook, but I reckon it’s worth the effort today. In fact, everyday.

What does today bring for you?

How are you living it?

Share on Facebook

Casting Off and Heading for Adventure

What to Take?

Your adventure is waiting for you just around the corner – but what to take with you?

I set out on this adventure with my husband, my dogs and and a mouth-blown torch!

Seriously, these were my essentials, my treasures.

Stood on the deck of the ferry, hair blown flat against my head, the salty handrail felt cold beneath my palms. Shoulders hunched and chin tucked into a scarf against the grey chill, my smile of exhilaration was only partly concealed.

As the Cliffs of Dover grew smaller, the deep roar of the ferry’s engines resonated with my excitement. At last, we were on that boat with a one-way ticket to France, heading for adventure.

Like a holiday … but not.

A setting free from the familiar. A loosening of ties.

A casting off.

Adventure and Uncertainty

How can you possibly know what you’re going to need when you change your life?

What lay ahead was uncertain. I’d never seen the property we’d agreed to rent, knew little about the region of France we were moving to and had no idea how my dream of creating jewellery in this beautiful part of the world would turn out.

When I looked too closely at what I’d done, I wondered if I was, well, nuts!

Our friends thought we were brave, but I didn’t feel brave.

Mostly I felt that I was living life. I was on an adventure.

Free Yourself Up

So where does the mouth-blown torch come in?! Well, it’s a kind of soldering torch for when I’m creating jewellery in my workshop. Yes, it’s a tool I need ~ but it’s also a treasured piece of equipment from my goldsmithing teacher and mentor.

Trimming down to the people you love and the tools you need is one way to free yourself up.

It can rekindle an understanding of what matters most to you.

It can make you feel lighter when you set out on your adventure.

Your Own Personal Adventure

What essentials and treasures will you take with you on your adventure?

How will you feel as you begin it?

Which direction are you choosing for your adventure?

What’s your first step in making that dream a reality?

  Custom Made Wedding Anniversary Bracelet

50th Wedding Anniversary Story

A design idea that I’ve never encountered before! Romantic and amusing, this is a story of how the memories of 50 years were captured in a unique Golden Wedding Anniversary Bracelet. I was approached with a bracelet idea that I’ve never encountered before – nor since!

Gems for the Anniversary Bracelet

Jim and Betty’s 50th wedding anniversary was celebrated in style including a sumptuous stay in a hotel and a trip to High Force Waterfall with family.

Jim also wanted to give Betty a Golden Wedding Anniversary gift and thought of custom made jewellery – something that would be of extra special significance.

A few days after the High Force Waterfall trip, Betty was finishing her unpacking at home and cleaning her walking boots. In the tread, she found that three stones remained from their day out. These three little stones were saved – saved from that day when they celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary.

Betty’s idea was that she’d like a custom made bracelet and for it to incorporate the 3 stones that were in her boot. She said she thought I might say it was a daft idea – but, of course, it wasn’t ~ the things we cherish most in life are those with meaning, and these three stones had a very special story to tell.

Since the 50th Wedding Anniversary is a Golden Wedding Anniversary I suggested weaving exactly 50 droplets of gold into the bracelet and showed Betty some sketches of what I was talking about. She loved it!

  Special gemstones wit a story to tell!

The Bracelet Arrives

“My bracelet is beautiful and I’m almost in tears looking at it. I’m amazed at what you have created from the 3 stones I found in the tread of my boot! You have created the most beautiful piece of jewellery that I could ever have imagined. I’m so very thrilled about it and was reluctant to take it off to go to bed!

It is unique to me and will be so very precious because of the sentiment behind it and the way in which you have incorporated all the important elements of our special day. I can’t thank you enough for making it so special for me.

I shall treasure it always as it means such a great deal to me. So many memories and my bracelet encompasses all our years together. Thank you so much Gee for creating such a precious piece of jewellery for me.”

It was a real pleasure to work with Betty on the design for this Golden Wedding Anniversary Bracelet.

  Personally Engraved Anniversary Bracelet

* Click Here To see what my customers say.

* Click Here To find out how the custom jewellery process works.

* Click Here To browse the gallery of handmade jewellery creations for some ideas.

* Click Here To see more pictures of this bracelet in the story.

  A Treasured Compass from Father ~ to daughter ~ to niece

A Compass with Happy Memories

Usually my compass creations are destined for just one wearer.

But not always.

This custom made compass pendant was for a lady in Australia. It was especially made for her to replace the one that her late father used to wear, but which had been lost for over 15 years.

She shed tears of joy when she opened the velvet bag. The compass brought back so many happy memories of time spent with her father.

Compass Timeshare

The lady’s niece saw the compass at Christmas, and instantly fell in love with it. Being such a kind aunt, she gave her precious compass to her niece in the knowledge that she’d treasure it.

Come April, her niece gave the compass pendant back to her aunt for her Birthday! She knew how much her aunt loved and missed her compass so decided to return it to her.

Yes, you know what’s coming…

The following May, the compass was given back to her niece for her Birthday!

It has become a shared treasure ~ two compasses in one.

To find out more about my compasses, explore compass gallery or visit the compass shop.

  Pat Benincasa ~ Award Winning Sculptor

Meeting an Artist

I am extremely lucky to ‘meet’ so many people all over the world through my creations.
Pat Benincasa is an award-winning sculptor I ‘met’ when she asked me to make a
Custom Made Compass for her.

Pat’s creations are based on the potent language of geometry expressed in multifaceted ways with dimensional glass, painting and sculpture ~ using materials in non-traditional ways. She describes her art making philosophy as being inspired by Martin Heidegger who speaks of a ‘thing’ as follows:

“You know what a thing is by the way it gathers the world unto itself”.

I certainly feel inspired by this, too. Don’t you?

Connections

It’s been a pleasure meeting and working with Pat, and here’s what she had to say!

As an artist I am extremely picky about quality and creative inventiveness. As soon as I saw Gee’s compass pieces I was smitten! In addition to ordering an exquisite compass pendant with a twist, I found Gee to be delightful to work with. She was open to a stylistic request and graciously showed me an example of what it would look like. If you are looking for an unusual, beautifully crafted piece of jewelry-look no further than Gee Backhouse! From one artist to another-her work is amazing!

Turns out we both delight in walks, too!