SHOOTING STAR BRACELET

When You Wish Upon a Star

“To Cynthia, Enjoy the Heavens – Warren Bopp”. One of my treasured possessions is the photo of the Hale-Bopp comet backlighting a forest of Saguaro cactus signed by Warren Bopp. Star Trek still reigns, and now Shatner and I have some heft to throw around. Most nights, my 89-year old father slips out to the back patio, a silent witness to the marvel of the night sky’s wonder and how we’re all a part of it.

I think of motherhood as a shooting star. Consider the continuity implied: A shooting star carries the history of the heavens, travels on its own voyage and leaves itself behind in the meteorites that land on earth. The same with us humans: we are here for a brief time, blaze through life and leave ourselves behind in others. Life is ephemeral. The feelings are enduring. It is a bit sad. Beautiful-sad.

I thought a “shooting star” motif bracelet would be poignant for a mother, especially one who would eventually hand the bracelet over to her daughter to wear and pass down the line. I imagined something warm, strong, layered and luminous – like a mother’s heart.

To achieve that, I started with a 17 carat, unheated, Yellow Sapphire – the subject of a previous blog – and set it with 14-karat rose and 18-karat yellow gold. The colors of golds and Sapphire have a warm, almost soft, feeling when combined. Against the Yellow Sapphire’s sharp rays of light, the textured golds are diffused and subtle.

I’m not much on literal translations. I wanted a bracelet design with a stylized translation of a shooting star – inspirational with the lines clean, yet suggestive and dynamic. I started with a simple sketch of my idea.

Which, then got more refined:

We went with Design #1. I liked the lines and movement plus it could be turned and worn “upside down” for a very different look.

A wax was carved from two pieces. The waxes shown below are painted rose and yellow to help communicate with the client.

After the wax was cast, a satin finish was applied to the yellow gold giving it a softer appearance next to the Sapphire’s crisp yellow. There is also texture inside the rose gold concave form.

The bracelet’s inside was as well finished as the outside. Several stars were cut from one piece of gold and added to the bracelet’s under-gallery. One star for each child, and a larger star for the mother. It was important to cut them all from one piece of metal to further express the feeling of continuity.