Tulips in Western Washington

March 19, 2010

After a long and hard winter for much of the country, the appearance of brightly colored tulips are a welcome sign of warmer weather.  In Western Washington, the Skagit Valley Tulip Festival is ready to begin.  A week early, the flowers should bloom the last week in March.  David Morgan is pleased to offer a selection of tulip jewelry handcrafted especially for the festival by Warren Jewelers in Kirkland, Washington.

 

 

 

pink diamond tulip necklet

 

 

One of the finest pink tulips, this late blooming Pink Diamond variety is grown in the Skagit valley. The tulip is portrayed here in full bloom with open petals. The leaves and flower are sandblasted for a textured finish.  Also available as earrings.

 

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The Dutch city of Delft created magnificent artwork from the 16th to the 18th century. Like one of their famous tiles, this piece captures the tulip’s graceful beauty. All but the leaves of this piece has a sandblasted finish.  Also available as a necklet.

 

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The tulips portrayed in this sterling silver necklet grow in Washington’s Skagit Valley. The flowers are sandblasted with a polished border. 

 

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Warren Jewelers has also created several Tenby daffodil pieces as part of its flower jewelry collection.  The Tenby daffodil is native to Pembrokeshire, Wales and blooms around March 1, St. David’s Day.

 

 

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Warren Jewelers

Lost Wax Casting and Stamping

March 5, 2010

David Morgan’s silver jewelry is made using one of two methods: stamping or lost wax casting.  Both methods have their advantages, and each piece is designed with those advantages in mind.

 

Most of our Northwest Native-American jewelry is made by stamping the metal.  First, a steel die with the piece’s reverse image is made.  The die stamps down onto a pre-cut piece of silver and impresses the die’s image into the metal.  This method also has the advantage of work hardening the metal.  A work hardened metal is stronger and more resistant to wear.  Once the piece is stamped, the recessed areas are antiqued.  An oxidizing solution is applied to the metal which turns it dark.  Since tarnish is an oxidized surface, antiquing metal is really just high-speed tarnishing.  Finally the piece is polished.

 

While stamping provides crisp detail and relief, it does not allow for deeper  three dimensional work and intricate detail.  For that, lost wax casting is necessary.

 

Lost wax casting begins by covering a model of the desired piece with a mold.  A tube is inserted with the model so that a passage into the mold is created.  This is called a sprue.  When the mold is hard, it is cut in half.  This mold can be reused multiple times. 

 

Next, wax is poured into the mold through the sprue.  After it cools, the mold is opened and the jeweler now has a wax replica of the original piece.  The replica is coated with a slurry of silica and dried.  Once dry, it is heated until the slurry coating is hardened and the melted wax runs out or is burned away.  The result is a mold capable of withstanding the heat of molten metal.  For greater efficiency, the wax replicas are often joined together into a ‘tree’.

 

The slurry mold is placed in a bed of heated sand into which the metal is poured.  Once cooled, the mold is broken off or dissolved in water and a metal replica, complete with spruing is the result.  If the replicas were joined together into a tree, the individual pieces are cut away and the sprues are removed to be used in another process.

 

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A tree of Everlasting Love pendants after casting.

 

The final steps are to remove oxidation and any signs of casting via sand blasting and hand polishing.  

 

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Pacific Northwest Indian Jewelry

Celtic Jewelry

Jewelry FAQs

 

 

For Valentine’s Day: Everlasting Love Jewelry

January 29, 2010

The Celtic symbol of everlasting love – in Welsh, serch bythol – is formed from two triskeles. The triskele, a three cornered knot, denotes body, mind and spirit. When two triskeles are joined together, they form an everlasting circle of eternity. Thus the figure represents two people, joined in body, mind, and spirit in everlasting love.

 

Everlasting Love Bracelet

Everlasting Love Bracelet: The three symbols entwined denote past, present, and future. Devolved length is 6-1/4 inches, width at the center is 3/4 inch.

 

Everlasting Love Earrings

Everlasting Love Earrings: These sterling silver fishhook earrings are double sided, about 1-3/16″ long.

 

Everlasting Love Necklet

Everlasting Love Necklet: This sterling silver necklet is double sided, about 1-3/16″ long. An 18″ sterling silver chain is included.

 

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Everlasting Love Jewelry 

 

Valentine’s Day Gifts