do you know the story of my engagement ring? now it looks like this

it used to look like this

the picture is terrible (need a tripod!) but you get the point. it was my grandmother’s ring, her original engagement ring diamond that my grandfather had reset with sapphires when he “upgraded” her engagement ring. it is one of the key memories of my childhood, that ring and the matching necklace, which my mother gave me as a gift on my 25th birthday. she told me the ring had been lost, but she was secretly saving it for drew…

when the diamond was reset for me (oh, how i love looking at it and thinking of my handsome young grandfather picking it out nearly 70 years ago!) we had 6 sapphires left over, and i knew i needed to use them on a special project. i also knew that a girl who calls herself a jewelry designer should make something for her husband to wear on their wedding day. with the help of the fabulous ashley brodie, i made drew a set of cufflinks using 2 of the sapphires.

on the backs, i stamped our initials, and wedding date. no excuses for forgetting the anniversary!

he was super excited to receive them. it wasn’t a total surprise, given the shouting match we had the previous week  when he talked about looking for cufflinks. it was quickly ended with these words “maybe if someone has told you to buy a shirt with french cuffs, maybe they already spent 4 days making cufflinks for you!” the sapphires were still a surprise, and i’m told he recognized them right away.

all through the day and night he was seen adjusting his cuffs to show them off …

i think he represented “the brand” well! i had so much fun making these, but don’t think i’m quite ready to make menswear pieces for the general public. maybe one day!