Harvest Season

October 2023 
Rose quartz, almandine garnet, citrine, 14 karat gold 

Chain is not included

While working on other projects, I randomly grouped these three stones together and was struck by their autumnal tones. I liked how the size and luminosity of the rose quartz allowed it to stand up to the intensity of the garnet and citrine, despite barely being in the reddish tone family.

The first layouts that I did were in the same order as shown, but with the stones centered to each other. It was pretty, but slightly boring. That got me thinking about cantilevers and counterbalancing: how far off the median as defined by the bail and the center of the top stone can I move the stones while still having all the entire piece balance vertically, while bringing center of gravity back to the median line?

These two themes—autumn and re-centering—got me thinking about Fall harvest festivals, such as Sukkot (Jewish) and Mid-Autumn Festival (中秋) aka Moon Festival (Chinese). These festivals are typically centered around gathering and thanksgiving, and offer a re-centering of the community and family before the harsh winter begins. And it wasn't lost on me that I had finally gathered all of the materials needed to finish this pendant this harvest season.