I have to admit it...I am obsessed with hydrangeas. They are growing all over my property and outside my boutique in East Hampton so inspiration is everywhere in the summer blooming season!

I carve the hydrangea blossoms out of wax and cast them in sterling silver and am having fun adding all kinds of gemstones to the centers of the flowers.

Looking for a large, light and lacy design I decided to create the blossoms through sterling outlines of the flower heads in full bloom. The 24K gold versions are on the studio bench right now, almost done!

Check out the entire Hamptons Hydrangea collection online or stop by the boutique and try them on!

Garden of Silver & Lazyjack Press, 55 Main Street, East Hampton, New York.

Today in the studio I have been working on some new jewelry that was inspired by the Hydrangea flowers in my garden and the Lily Pads in my pond.

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After making sketches of the flowers and lily pads I hand carve them out of wax and then cast the wax sculptures into solid sterling silver pieces. The silver castings need a lot of cleaning up and polishing, so I am currently covered in silver dust.

I decided to solder various arrangements of the Hydrangeas to resemble a natural looking cluster that you would see in the garden and the same with the lily pads. It's fun to come up with different ways to use each casting. These images below are the lily pads being soldered together with the torch and then a soak in the pickle which gets the pieces clean after soldering.

The various soldered arrangements will be made into earrings, necklaces, rings, and bracelets. And, the fun part...tiny blue diamonds are going to be added to the center of some of the Hydrangeas and tiny green diamonds will create a 'frog' on the lily pads! 

Another fun day in the studio.