Before I get into the story, I would like to say I’m sorry for not blogging in the last six weeks. Losing my Dad has knocked me off balance, and I considered quitting the blog.
But I’m not done talking yet. So…
I’ve been selling my handmade jewelry online for seven years now, and I cannot count how many times customers have told me they had lost a cherished cameo. Oh, that pit-of-the-stomach sense of loss.
Something similar happened to me: it wasn’t a cameo, it was a ring. I didn’t lose it, my grandmother did.
I had been seeing a guy named Steve for a few years when he gave me an antique ring. It had been his grandmother’s engagement ring, but he meant it as a token of love. (He wasn’t the marrying kind.) The setting was (probably) 12k gold filled, with two opals and five seed pearls. Very pretty and very old.
I’d been wearing it for perhaps 18 months when I noticed that the prongs were a bit loose, so I took it to the antique shop where my grandmother worked. The shop specialized in jewelry, and had a regular repair person. After the prongs had been tightened, Grandma slipped the ring into her pants pocket to bring it back to me. Well…somewhere between the shop and her car, the ring fell out of her pocket.
Gone.
I was heartsick, embarrassed, and a little exasperated with Grandma. Now I had to tell Steve, and his mother, that the treasured opal ring was lost.
When customers tell me how happy they are to have found me and my handmade cameo jewelry, it often comes with the story of a lost cameo ring or bracelet. I feel their loss right along with them, every time.
I have cameo jewelry, handmade by me, in my Studio now, and I will be adding more in the next couple months as I gear up for Mother’s Day. Unique handmade jewelry makes a lovely gift for Mom!
This blue agate cameo is just gorgeous, and so incredibly detailed. I set it in sterling silver wire, embellishing with Victorian swirls and Swarovski pearls.
At Home With The Wiresculptress 