Rings

Day 166: The rings you see here were made by my late husband, cast in gold or silver using the lost-wax process and set with gemstones he had faceted himself. The few exceptions to that were star sapphires (my favorite regardless of color) and cabochons which I'd cut from agate and a variety of other materials. I did not have the eye to detail which he possessed, nor the patience, and it always astonished me that his large, ungainly hands could craft such exacting beauty. I could name these stones if my memory was younger: tanzanite, ruby, alexandrite, gallium gadolinium garnet and the like...exotic stones from faraway places and man-made synthetics straight from the laboratory, purchased as thumb-sized boules and sawn into smaller pieces with a diamond blade. His craftsmanship was perfection, each meet (the point at which the angles intersect) sharply accurate and each face flawlessly polished. Ironically, he added each one to my collection knowing that I seldom had occasion to wear jewelry. Even now, I admire them only in the box and rarely put one on my hand.