The air has become serrated and the leaves have all mostly tumbled from the trees.
And as it does every year, a Nocturne melody filled my studio and spun this collection into existence.
If you’ve been with me a while, you’ll know that I adore creating annual collections. To me, each collection feels like a living, breathing creature that I’ve coaxed out of a dark forest.
Hammered branch whiskers and glowing bellies of opal fire.
Feathers of green rutilated prehnite and faceted gemstone eyes.
Scales of deep garnet and a nose glinting with schiller.
Shimmering silver paws and fur made of peach moonstone.
Each unique, but echoing those that came before. And when I work within these annual collections, each year I am able to bring a new part of it into focus. As such, I prefer not to repeat specific designs from year to year.
However, if I know that a lot of people were disappointed to have missed out on a specific design, I will sometimes return to it the following year. And such was the case with this year’s Nocturne Collection.
“My sorrow, when she’s here with me,
Thinks these dark days of autumn rain
Are beautiful as days can be;
She loves the bare, the withered tree;
She walks the sodden pasture lane.”
- Robert Frost
My November Guest Rings
There will be 43 rings available.
Sizes available:
5, 5.25, 6, 6, 6.25, 6.25, 6.25, 6.5, 6.5, 6.5, 6.5,
6.75, 6.75, 7, 7, 7.25, 7.25, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5,
7.75, 7.75, 7.75, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8, 8.25, 8.25, 8.75,
9, 9, 9.25, 9.25, 9.5, 9.5, 10, 10, 10.5, 11.25,
Prices range from $153 – $168
I received so many messages from people since last year about the My November Guest rings and necklaces, hoping they’d return.
I wasn’t planning to revisit them again, but since so many people seem disappointed to have missed out, they will return for an encore!
And so I am sending the My November Guest designs off with a bang this year! Lots of rings and necklaces for those who missed them last year, or would like to tuck them away for a holiday gift.
And so a few weeks ago I put out a call for ring sizes these, and though I wasn’t able to make every requested size for the upcoming release, I tried my best to make as many of them as possible.
These rings are in a saddle style, therefore they are a bit wide. They should still comfortably fit if you purchase a slightly larger size. So I would say, purchase your normal size or a 1/2 size larger if you want to be to be safe.
As always, they will be first come first served.
With a bit a coaxing and promises of seeing the world, a swath of copper leaves now rest gently across a handful of labradorite gemstones for those of you who would like to wear the crackle of autumn atop the hand.
Made for you autumn souls who are seemingly made of cold night air and float above the curled maple leaves on forest walks.
A little bit mysterious, and a big bit magic.
My November Guest Necklaces
There will be 30 necklaces available.
Suspended from chains adjustable from 17″ – 20″
Prices range from $158 – $189
Necklaces for walks in sodden forests.
These necklaces consist of beautiful labradorites, ranging from deep blues to snakey greens to crackling golds to soft purples.
Some have a soft, smokey surface where to color is furtive and secretive.
Others have a color that is bright and searing. Some gemstones are striated with surface imperfections, and others are smooth and liquidy.
A stone to sing to each heart.
Each labradorite gemstone is held by straight sterling silver bezel.
Surrounding the gemstones are hand-textured branch borders.
And gently draping over the stones are carefully sawn copper leaves with a leaf-print taken from real leaves.
The backs of the pendants feature carefully sawn leafless trees revealing the backs of the stones.
As with the moon pendants, some of the windows reveal bright, flashing labradorite backs, while others remain dark and furtive.
My November Guest Earrings
There will be 30 earrings available.
Suspended from sterling silver french earwires
Price: $164
A brand new version of my classic earring design.
Smokey, purple labradorites cut into smooth pears set in sterling silver serrated bezels.
There is a rim around each gemstone, darkly oxidized to highlight the shimmer of the stone.
Below the gemstones are tiny copper leaves that have intricate leaf patterns taken from real leaves.
They are suspended in a graduated pattern to make the earrings look as though they are spilling from the stone.
They have been oxidized and hand polished for an organic look, and to bring out the lowlights of the texture on the leaves.
Measure roughly 2″ from the top of the earwire to the bottom of the lowest leaf.
Earrings made of maple leaves and midnight magic.
My November Guest Cuff Bracelets
There will be 10 bracelets available:
XS – 2 * SM/MED – 5 * MED/LG – 3
These are the approximate diameter measurements for the bracelets:
XS – 5″ + 1” gap
SM/MED – 6” + 1” gap
MED/LG – 7” + 1” gap
Price: $176 – $184
For this brand new design, I spent the last few weeks before the collection release catching the prettiest copper leaves as they fluttered through the air.
Then I smoothed down their sharp edges and brought out their warmth.
Eternal autumn to adorn your body.
Gently hugging the labradorites are sweet little copper leaves with leaf-print taken from real leaves.
And to either side of the gemstones are copper leaves in varying sizes, looking as though they tumbled through the air and affixed themselves to your wrist.
Set atop a sturdy rectangle band, rounded and smoothed for comfort.
Each has been oxidized and hand polished for an organic look, and to bring out the lowlights of the texture on the leaves
And this year I am debuting a fierce new design, one for fighting the darkness.
Things feel particularly dark these days, and not just because of our trudge towards the winter solstice. We can recognize it easily enough in the world. Callousness and cruelty go unchecked, and is often seemingly rewarded. Every black mirror reflecting current day horrors. Animals by the billions suffering and dying in agony for human convenience and pleasure. The future of the planet looks murky, especially to those with the sense to listen to the scientists who are yelling warnings into the cacophony.
The darkness also resides within us, the petty meanness or insecure jealousy or selfishness that hurts those closest to us. The dark bits that lurk where it’s easy enough to admit they do not exist. The darkness spreads, seeping into every corner of our homes. Anger, fear, and bitterness cling to the skin like wood smoke. It feels daunting to face such overwhelm. And it is so much easier to avert our eyes, to talk of other things, to convince ourselves we do not have the time, or the resources, or the energy, and the battles are for others to fight.
There is a saying I think of often: “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.” And this design is my attempt to bind up that sentiment. Reminders to grab ahold of the darkness and tear until it bleeds.
Vince Noctem Earrings
There will be 20 pairs of earrings available
Suspended from sterling silver earwires
Price: $148
These are made from beautiful onyx gemstones in sterling silver settings, held by hand-fabricated “claw” prongs made to look like something fierce is clutching the gemstone.
Below the onyx gemstones are little hessonite garnet gemstones freely dangling.
Like little drops of blood dripping from the darkness.
On the backs I have inscribed the words “VINCE NOCTEM”, an old Latin saying meaning “Conquer the Night.
Earrings measure around 2″ from the top of the earwire to the bottom of the garnet.
But be sure to look at the photo of the earring next to an American quarter for size reference.
Vince Noctem Rings
There will be 20 rings available
Sizes available:
6.25, 6.5, 6.75, 7.5, 7.5, 7.5, 7.75, 7.75, 8, 8.25,
8.5, 8.75, 8.75, 9, 9, 9.25, 9.25, 9.5, 10, 10.25
Size given as read on the mandrel
Price: $159
And here are the rings!
The same type of settings as in the earrings and necklaces.
Made from medium sized faceted onyx gemstones in sterling silver settings, held by hand-fabricated “claw” prongs, fierce and sharp.
Below the onyx are little hessonite garnet gemstones freely dangling, like little drops of blood dripping from the darkness.
Set top a split rectangle band. On the insides of the bands I have inscribed “VINCE NOCTEM.
A reminder to conquer the night.
These can be worn with the garnet dangling towards the end of the hand or the wrist.
☀ Note about the stones: A few of the onyx gemstones have etch marks from the cabbing that look like scratches on the tops. The marks are hard to see except in the right light. Normally for stones that show imperfections from the lapidarist I would refacet them myself, but since these designs have sharp claws wrapped around them, I kept them as is because they felt fitting. I did modify the price for these to reflect the imperfections. But be sure to look at all the photos to find the perfect onyx for you!
Vince Noctem Necklaces
There will be 9 necklaces available
Necklaces are meant to be worn high, so the shortest chain measures as adjustable 13″ – 16.5″
As such they, these should be considered choker length.
Price: $159
I chose my biggest slices of onyx in my collection.
Some faceted and slender, others smooth and domed.
All have the same settings as the rings and earrings.
The gemstones are held in the setting by a sharpened prong “claw” to make it look like something is clutching it from behind.
The backs of the pendants are textured to look like something rough and weatherworn, and there are the words “VINCE NOCTEM” inscribed in the centers.
These necklaces are double-stranded. The shorter chain, which is meant to suspend above the onyx pendant, is made from satellite chain, and from it are a selection of little hessonite garnet gemstones, like little drops of blood dripping from the darkness.
There will also be a variant of this necklace without the double strand. A simpler version of the necklace.
I was planning to make a few more but didn’t have time, so there will only be one!
This necklace is suspended from one of my classic adjustable chains, measuring 17″ – 20″
Gloaming Rings
There will be 30 rings available
Sizes available:
5.25, 5.5, 6, 6, 6.5, 6.75, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7, 7,
7.75, 8, 8, 8, 8.25, 8.5, 8.5, 8.5, 8.5, 8.75, 9, 9.25, 9.5, 10.5, 11
Rings fit true to size.
Price: $118
“Do you know me in the gloaming,
gaunt and dusty grey with roaming?”
- Robert Frost
Goodness how I love these gemstones. Dark and crackled, smokey and bright.
Some of the stones are like liquid magic, ethereal purple about the spill over the edge. Others are smokey and furtive, a whisper of color that hides from all by their familiars.
A dichotomous gemstone that encompasses both the deep of twilight and the cotton candy sunsets of winter.
For those of you who would also like a tiny drop of labradorite to wear upon your hand, I have also made a few dozen simple rings.
The kind of ring you might wear under knit gloves or stacked with other jewels, while pulling embroidery thread or kneading your weekend sourdough bake. Rings for every day.
These rings are made from beautiful round cuts of purple labradorite, all varying in their hue, level of iridescence, surface smoothness.
They are simply set in straight bezels surrounded by a pebble border, like the rocks that line an old forest path.
Made on simple half-round bands for comfort that have been lightly textured to make the rings look like something found at the bottom of a forest stream.
They have been darkly oxidized and carefully polished to leave shadows in all the little corners.
And that’s everything for this year’s Nocturne Collection!
Everything will arrive in the shop at the same time on Sunday.
I hope you catch a bit of autumn magic.
This collection will soar into the shop on
SUNDAY, OCTOBER 25th at 7:00 p.m. EST.
Click here for a direct link to where they will appear.
And remember, refresh your page often once the clock strikes 7:00 PM EST, until they all appear.