A pair of spring earrings
Spring 2021 was an amazing gardening year and my Peony was the star. There were 22 giant blooms and I feel lucky that I could enjoy the flowers for such a long time!
Thanks to my friend Judith Neugebauer, (who BTY is a great jeweler, go check out her work) for sharing this fabulous website with me. https://peonysenvy.com/ It is like a peony encyclopedia! If you are interested in growing these beauties, they have all the information you need to know about peonies.
It was in this beautiful peony season that Zoe asked me what I could do to make the raindrop earrings more special for her. The spring spirit kicked in right away! Everytime time I meet Zoe, she is alway bright and happy…and impeccably dressed. She is a huge fan of Anthropologie. (That's how I got to know her!) As an Anthropologie addict myself, I knew she would love floral designs. My lovely pink peonies popped into my head, and I went digging in the safe to find a perfect matching set of natural pink spinels for her! They are beautiful square cushion cut gems in peony pink color, for a total weight of 3.66 ct.
Fun fact about spinel
Spinel, MgAl2O4, has an isometric crystal structure and is ranked with a Mohs 8 hardness. This rare gem has beautiful brilliance with such rich hues that rival the color palette of sapphire.
In fact, for over 1000 years, spinel has been mistaken for ruby and sapphire. In large part this confusion was due to the color similarity between the stones. For example, the “Black Prince’s Ruby” set in the Imperial State Crown of the UK is actually a large red spinel. Today, spinel is a collector favorite and for Zoe, a perfect choice for a spring inspired jewel.
Photo credit The Historic Royal Palaces.
How we designed these Spinel Earrings to fit Zoe’s lifestyle better.
These spinels are much larger than we usually use to top the golden raindrops. To make the earrings more versatile, we designed the setting for the spinels to be detachable floral studs. Zoe will now have more opportunities to enjoy these earrings. She can wear the full design or remove the raindrop dangles and just wear the lovely spinels surrounded by 12 diamond petals. Please check out the video below to see how we created this beautiful pair of spring earrings.