14kt White Gold Bypass Wedding Ring

This tricky commissioned piece was a compliment to an existing engagement ring. The challenge was to make a wedding ring that would match a bypass ring band, as opposed to a normal round band.

The first step was to make a wax model that wrapped around on opposite sides of the existing ring. My solution was to make a bar at the base to hold the two pieces together.  The ring was then cast, using the lost wax process, then pave set with small round diamonds. Challenge met!

Grattitude

I wanted to share this letter of gratitude with all of you that I wrote to a very special woman in 2008. This woman, Lucille, had been in the jewelry business for many years. Later in life, when she became too old to do jewelry, she very generously donated a tub of tools to me and gave me the jewelry commissioning account at the Pacific Asia Museum to do their award jewelry every year. She was very sweet woman, and I thought you as a reader might enjoy hearing more about my career in the jewelry business.

September 11, 2008

Dear Lucille Lee Roberts,

I thought I’d write you a note to let you know how jewelry and the art of metalworking have been such a significant part of my life.

My interest started in 1974 when my friend and I started making hair ornaments with feathers and sterling silver. I continued my creative outlet at PCC and received honors for Superior Achievement in Jewelry and an AA degree with an emphasis in Jewelry Making. I sold my pieces at art shows from Santa Barbara to San Diego and had a consistent following of clients who continually encouraged my artistic capabilities. In 1981, I graduated from California State University at Long Beach with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Jewelry and Metalsmithing. From 1982 to 1984, I attended the Gemological Institute of America at Santa Monica (Graduate Gemologist Resident Program, Jewelry Arts and Gem Identification and Diamond Grading) where I absorbed the knowledge to attain the degree of Graduate Gemologist.

In 1985, I began working for a very special woman named Joyce Mitchell. She and her husband Sam, had a jewelry store named “MePohaly Jewelers” (meaning “We Push” in Polish) located in Covina. Joyce and I still work together on many projects even though her retail store closed in 1990.

In 2005, I decided to find a job that gave me a steady paycheck. Boxx Jewelers in Monrovia was just the place. We have a very established customer base since the business has been there for 86 years! Throughout the whole time I have kept my own business, which includes working for several other artists, doing casting, fabrication, piecework, setting, custom jewelry, and repairs.

At the end of this month, I will be teaching a beginning jewelry class at the Creative Arts Group in Sierra Madre, where I can share my knowledge of jewelry making and hopefully inspire others to find the joy and the excitement of the creative process.

Thank you for your generous donation of your precious tools to the Creative Arts Group.

With sincerity,
Kimberly Munson Nicholson
P.S. I use your bone handled burnisher every day…
Using Lucille’s tools to teach jewelry at the Creative Arts Group

Stunning 14kt Yellow Gold Enamel and Amethyst Pendant

Magic happens when two artists collaborate! The rich colors and stunning textures of this pendant blow me away every time.

What a success! My gemstones and cuttlebone casting combined with my fellow artist Ligia’s purple iris enameled piece create a fabulous pendant.

In this commissioned piece, a talented friend of mine that I have worked with for many years came to me with an enameled purple iris of hers to set into a pendant. I designed a setting for her beautiful enameled piece that incorporated the organic forms from the cuttle bone casting technique. I feel this setting really highlights the natural beauty of the subject. I accented her enameled piece with a bezel set oval faceted amethyst at the top of the pendant.

I have worked previously with Ligia, a miniature artist, several times. Her talent for enameling, paired with my metal work has created some very stunning art pieces.

I have worked together with many other artists over my 40 years of experience, setting their creations to complete the design. Would you like to collaborate?

If you are also an artist and have ideas for working together, please send me a DM with a proposal.

.

14kt Yellow Gold Diamond Ring Reborn

What once was lost, has now been… re-made!
Original mock up before converting the settings!
I made this commissioned piece in September 2016, when one of my wonderful customers came to me heartbroken! Her beautiful diamond ring slid off her finger, without her knowing it, when she removed her golfing glove! Years before I had worked on the original ring, so I knew just what was involved to remake it. I was able to modify a blank mounting of a bypass ring and add on two pear shaped heads for the two main 1 ct. diamonds to sit in. It came out spectacularly, and she wears it everyday. What a success!

Sterling Silver and Tigereye Hide Away Box Pendant

Yo HO Yo HO… a pirates life for meeee!

This commissioned piece is a good example of how existing jewelry can be turned into something new! My customer had a large green tigereye stone ring that broke at the shank. We came up with a fun solution to use the stone as the centerpiece for a sterling silver box pendant, that could open up! When opened, the hinge allows the pendant to reveal a small space. It’s perfect for hiding secret pirate treasure!

We even added a skull and cross bone design to where the secret box snaps shut, completing the pirate design.

Hmmm, I guess it’s Yo HO Yo HO, a pirates life for Ron!

    

14kt White and Yellow Gold Diamond Anniversary Pendant

Anniversary Pendant
A portion of the track mechanism is visible just below the bail
Original sketch, diamond position later changed
This was one of my more challenging commissioned pieces from October 2016. One of my long time clients wanted a special pendant for his wife to celebrate their wedding anniversary. He wanted to use both of their initials (N and Z), and to have a diamond set within a 14kt pendant of both white and yellow gold. The mechanics were challenging to design, as he wanted the letters of their initials to be able to be interchangeable by rotating. I came up with a design that would allow that interchangability by creating a track on the back of the pendant, in which the bail is able to change positions, which in turn rotates the whole pendant, and gives the impression of the “Z” changing to an “N” and vise versa.

Show Stopper Sterling Silver, Moorsinite, and Yellow Citrine Pendant

Moorsinite stone elegantly balanced with a citrine

Elegant balance achieves show-stoping beauty…

Ribbons of silver gently accentuate the curves of this triangular moorsinite stone. A citrine balances in the corner, tantilizing the movement of your eye.

I bezel set this shield style Moorsinite stone and surrounded it with a curling ribbon of sterling silver. I accented the corner of the piece with a pear shaped yellow citrine for off balance charm.

Priced at $350. Unsurprisingly, this show stopper found a home very quickly and is SOLD.

While this piece has SOLD, we can always design a similar one together! Contact me!