Silver Smokey Quartz ring

The first ring in my 52 ring project, a challenge I’ve set myself this year. This ring has an 8mm round smokey quartz and a simple silver band in size M.

Towards the end of last year, I found the 2 boxes of gemstones in the most atrocious jumbled mess still waiting to be unpacked since we moved to Dorset nearly three years ago. Some of them I’m very sure I can date to sitting in my collection for fifteen years. A meticulous evening was spent sorting each stone into a binder organised into colour, variety and size. This may sound boring to most but for a gem nerd like me, sorting lots of tiny sparkly things into stone type, size and colour with a bottle of red on the side and a supply of snacks and I’m as happy as a pig in mud.

Now what to do with them? I can’t continue to let them gather dust so an idea formulated. I would pick a stone from each page in the binder in turn and make a ring for it. A new ring for each week of the year, 52 rings in total. Why? Because I know me and if I don’t set myself a task they will linger again and they are too beautiful to remain hidden any longer. They need to be worn and loved.

The fist page in my binder were very earthy tones of browns and greys. This seemed perfect for the fist week of the New Year, grounding colours. In the page I had a few smoky quartzes. A common stone of no great value and although very popular during the 70s, 80s and into the early 90s, they seemed to lose favour which is a shame as the smoky brown of the transparent quartz is very beautiful. I choose a very simple ring for the first project of the year, a bezel setting for the stone and an elegant silver band