If you follow Rebel Soul Design on Facebook or Instagram you already know that I have been working hard over the past few weeks on a new collection of mostly one-of-a-kind designs that are inspired by the beautiful desolation of the winter landscape. This collection focuses on a limited palette of black and white gemstones, set in silver.
It began with an idea for a pair of earrings that could be worn three different ways. I don't know about you, but I love products that do double or triple duty. If I can use a product in more than one way, I'm in! So I started digging through my hoard of gemstones and came across some pretty black and white dendritic chalcedony stones I had purchased at a gem show a couple of years ago. I liked them because they reminded me of little winter vignettes and given that it was early in January, they seemed perfect. There were some matched pairs that were perfect for the earring design that I had in mind. I needed another pair of smaller stones too, so I started looking for other stones in my stash that would coordinate with them.
I found some pairs of rainbow moonstone and also some black star diopside that were perfect. Then I started looking at all of the other black and white stones I had squirreled away. Before I knew it, I had the makings of a whole new jewelry collection along with a bunch of design ideas swirling around in my head.
The stones that I ultimately decided to use are dendritic chalcedony, black star diopside, rainbow moonstone, tourmalinated quartz, and two types of obsidian: rainbow and snowflake.
I was excited - but I wasn't sure if what I was wanting to create would be of interest to anyone else. It is always a risk to invest time, emotion, and money into a collection of jewelry when there are no guarantees that anyone will like it.
I started posting the stones and my design ideas on social media, along with some process photos of the earrings being made. Turns out I wasn't the only one excited about what I was doing. The feedback I received was overwhelmingly positive and it gave me the confidence to move ahead with the rest of this collection.
Over the next six weeks, I diligently worked away at hand fabricating each piece, using sustainably sourced sterling and fine silver sheet and wire to create the settings needed for each of the selected gemstones.
I am absolutely thrilled with the final results! The collection includes eleven pendants, of which nine are one-of-a-kind designs, and seven pairs of earrings. Two of the pairs of earrings are the convertible style that can be worn three different ways. I had so much fun making the first pair, that I needed to make a second. This collection pushed both my creativity and skillsets and I am immensely proud of the body of work I have created. You can browse the full collection when it launches at noon, on Friday, February 19th. For early access to this collection, sign up to the Rebel Soul Collective email list before 8 am Friday morning, Eastern time, to get the exclusive priority access link delivered directly to your mailbox.
