The Sunday Times: Issue #12

This was a short work week for me as I just got back from visiting my family in North Carolina on Wednesday, so this will be a shorter than usual newsletter as well. I'm excited to catch you all up on the progress made on Paradiso and to show you a few other things I've been up to.

I was in North Carolina this week packing up the last few things I still had stored at my parents' house as they are preparing to move. This month feels like a lot of major things are changing, on the micro as well as the macro level. It feels like a paradigm shift is happening globally, nationally, and in my personal life as well. I wonder if any of you are feeling the same.

My parents' house is the one I grew up in and have always called home. It felt so strange to walk out of it with my boxes of things for the very last time. I had to make a lot of tough choices regarding what I would keep, what I would toss, and what I would donate. I ended up letting go of a lot of jewelry and artwork, but in doing so, I noticed what was really important to me. I guess that's the through line with loss.

Speaking of loss, one of my friends wrote to me this week about a question regarding jewelry and sentiment. She asked why it is that we feel so bereft when we lose a piece of jewelry. I think that's an important topic to discuss, so that's where we'll start!

So pour yourself a cup of tea and get comfy.

ON LIFE AND LOSING JEWELRY

A TRUE STORY

I mentioned in last week's newsletter that the black onyx moon ring shown above was a ring that was given to me by my mother who inherited it from her Aunt Aldea. I remember when I first laid eyes on it in her jewelry box and I remember the day I finally gained enough courage to ask if I could borrow it. My mom obliged and she eventually let me have it since she no longer wore it herself.

That ring hardly left my hand through my teenage and college years. It was the first and only piece of fine jewelry that I wore everyday. People began to associate me with this ring. I began to view it as an extension of myself. So imagine my panic when I was at a concert in Brooklyn, dancing under strobe lights to deafening music, and glanced down at my hand to notice that the gold band was still on my finger, but no onyx was in the setting.

I yelled to my friends, pointed to my finger, and we all opened our flip phones to start searching the floor. It was impossible to see anything amidst the chaos of shuffling feet and empty beer cans. I went to go sit on the stairs and weep; I felt so irresponsible, so stupid, and so sad.

Somehow, miraculously, my friend found the tiny onyx plaque, diamond moon still intact. I put it in my pocket and started to cry even harder from relief. For just a few minutes, I felt like I'd lost something intrinsic and doubted if I'd ever recover.

Why does jewelry hold such a sway over us, in a way that few other belongings do? In my experience, it felt like a loss of several things. I felt like I'd lost the only thing I'd ever been able to point to in terms of any kind of style identity marker. I felt like I'd lost a tether to my mother and my ancestors. I felt like I'd let my mother down, losing credibility as a grown-up capable of "having nice things."

If you've ever lost an important piece of jewelry, you might be able to relate. Maybe we feel this way about jewelry because the symbolism is so strong, compared to most other belongings. Jewelry can symbolize important moments in life like a wedding or a birth, it could be the only thing you have from a favorite relative, it could be something you saved up for for months symbolizing your hard work and dedication, or maybe it could be your good luck charm, the loss of which can feel like the worst stroke of bad luck.

Have you ever lost a piece of jewelry? Did you ever fully recover?? Let me know and maybe I'll share some stories in a future issue.

"The best work is the work you are excited about."

- Rick Rubin

PARADISO PROGRESS

TWO MORE DOWN!

Super excited that I was able to complete two more rings for the collection even though I was traveling most of the week. The ring above features a half-moon blue sapphire cut by Tatum Gems. The texture around the bezel was done by hand with an Xacto blade.

The below ring is something I've been looking forward to making for years as I've had this vintage coral from Out Of Our Mines in my collection since 2022. I think it'll fit in really nicely with the motifs of Paradiso.

I should have my castings from the first batch back in a week or so, so stay tuned for some finished rings showing up in the next newsletters!

SOME OTHER FUN THINGS

FASHION SKETCHING AGAIN

If you saw my stories while I was in NC, you'll have seen some of the work I did while I studied and worked in the fashion industry in the early aughts. Seeing all of my old sketches got me inspired to try and do some again, remembering how fun it was. I also uncovered my old marker collection and had them all shipped down to Florida. They arrived Saturday so I spent the day playing around with them and trying to get a feel for marker sketching again. Here are some of the ones I completed:

PRODUCT SPOTLIGHT