What about this?

Remember the contest I ran in March to see who could identify the mysterious subject matter in one of my photographs? Wildly creative guesses came in, but, alas, the subject matter was not a galaxy, a burst of confetti, a drop of water magnified a 1000 times, or a flash freeze photograph of an atomization process. At long last I am happy to announce the winner of my mystery photo contest. Sorry for the delay in revealing the winner, but I actually had two winners which meant two prizes!

The sleuthing teamwork of the winning pair paid off. One day while sitting in class, obviously not focused on their studies, they noticed I had published a new post on my blog. After reading it they decided, since they were already on my blog, to go back to the mystery photo and examine it once again. Very cleverly they clicked on the photo to see if I had titled the photo when I’d saved it on my computer. Much to their surprise when they clicked on the photo the image became larger. They clicked on it again to see what would happen and it was even more magnified. They found themselves looking at honeycombed-type clusters of spheres – that’s when they knew the photo was of bubbles!

To my delight and my embarrassment, my son Adam and his girlfriend Melissa won the contest! Adam actually submitted the winning answer, but I learned later that Melissa was equally deserving of the prize. They live in another part of the state so they had no unfair advantage over anyone else. To those of you who say this is not fair, I can only respond by saying, they played by the rules and, in my mind, won fair and square.

Designing their prizes/necklaces was my next task. Adam’s necklace was the first masculine piece I’ve had to design. Not only did I want the piece to be larger, I also wanted it to look heavier. I accomplished this by incorporating different metals into the design. Cutting first a square out of copper and then a rectangle out of sterling silver, I was able to layer the two metals on top of one another and still have both metals show. After hammering the letters into the metal, I finished off the piece with a sterling silver leaf charm (to cover his words for privacy) and added a rustic looking Peruvian opal. Although, I presented the necklace to him on a stainless steel ball chain, this piece would also look great if worn on a leather cord.

As in the past when I’ve designed affirmation necklaces, determining the exact words to hammer into the metal is always my greatest challenge. This time was no different. How to encapsulate all the thoughts of what I want my son to hold in his heart forever – in only a few words? Besides my desire for Adam to “love life,” I want him to remember to always try, no matter the difficulty of the task, and to always try his best. This is all anyone can ever ask of another person. I want him to continue to dream and to always hold onto his dreams. And to support his dreams he must always believe in himself, no matter what others say or what obstacles are presented. Hence:  Always – Try, Dream, Believe.

Melissa’s necklace was also designed in layers, but this time with three layers of sterling silver. The simple heart frames the word “be.” After much thought and some discussion with my son, we decided our wish for her is to always be loved, to be endlessly happy, and to be strong in her beliefs. Hence:  Be – Loved, Happy, Strong. Her piece was finished off with a beautiful fluorite gemstone dangle.

With every piece of jewelry I create, I experience a huge growth factor. Outwardly, I am learning to manipulate the materials better and better, but inwardly, I am absorbing all of the positive energy that comes from deep thought and soul searching.

Desideri means wishes in Latin. Look for desideri . . . in all my  jewelry creations! Contact me if you have questions about my Desideri jewelry line or would like me to design a piece for you or for someone else as a gift.

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