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So here are the pics of the earrings that won the passion awards.
I also have an answer to my health problems. I have been diagnosed with pre diabetes.
Right now I'm working on a cool new idea with yellow milligram on a white ring.
Pics to follow.

The Bench conference.

Well I just returned from the 2010 Bench Jewelers conference in Atlanta where I was one of the instructors. I had a great time teaching polishing and Pave classes. The best news is that after taking a few years off from jewelry design competitions, my first time back was great. I won the overall Passion award for a pair of micro pave earrings. Ill have to post picks later. Overall the event is just what I needed to keep my excitement up about work. I came back and jumped on two new designs that came out great. One of them is a combination of old and new and I don't think it has ever been done before. The effect should be diamonds floating on the hand with no visible support.

Joel

So Friday I got the stones for the X ring. All the center stones worked perfect but the sides were smaller than I thought. That's a problem when you use customers stones. Oh well I could make them work but one thing you will learn about me if you read these blogs is that I LOVE precision.

So of to redesign and recast. I would rather start over then create a poor product.

On a personal note I have been rather ill. I'm having a blood test and hope that will give me some answers. I don't have health insurance..just cant afford it so I have to pay cash. Man this system sucks. Cant find a good GP doctor, and couldn't afford insurance if I did. Fortunately the business is growing and things there are looking up.

Curves

Well I still havent conqured the Skull thing but I did manage to take a very simple design and goto the next level with it. By blending the outside prongs with the sweep of the shank I was able to transform this ring into something really special. Less busy and more custom looking. The curve where the shank meets the outside stones is really cool. compare my design with a standard ring and you will notice how its more graceful, I spent all day yesterday on the computer doing cad.

X ring

One of the hardest rings to design is an x ring. I have done a dew and just finished one this weekend. Now we are casting and building this ring.
It would seem that an x ring would be easy but it is very deceptive. A straight x in the looking down view is so wide that its very uncomfortable, so I had to put a curve in the sides. It looks great from top bottom and sides and feels comfortable. Its not a perfect x either. Anyway here is the rendering. This is one of the best uses of CAD for the jewelry biz. If I had to build this from scratch it might be a killer. Seeing the project in a good render is the only way to do this.