what IS a bench?

a jewelers bench is a work bench designed specifically for a gold smith to use. this is a typical American style jewelers bench. see all the extra drawers and a tray to catch the filings.



this is my bench, messy when i'm busy. you can see i use a skirt to catch my filings.

radiant earrings

just finished these. 18k gold radiant errings with ideal cut (conflict free) diamonds for my friend

all designs © Alexandra Hart

reversable coin ring

here's a sterling and 22k gold ring holding an antique bronze Arabic coin. i made this so that you can flip the top of the ring to see the other side of the coin.



all designs © Alexandra Hart

what are conflict-free diamonds?

do you remember the movie "Blood Diamond?" for those of us who haven't seen the movie yet, a conflict diamond is mined and sold by rebels in order to fund armed conflict and civil wars. some of these wars are located in Angola, Liberia, and Sierra Leone. the Kimberley Process, started in 2003 by the jewelry industry, made it illegal to trade conflict diamonds and created a certification process. conflict- free diamonds are as beautiful and more valuable. you can be sure of buying clean diamonds by demanding from your jeweler a written guarantee on the invoice that his or her suppliers buy conflict-free diamonds. my guarantee (as recommended by Amnesty International) reads like this; "The diamonds herein invoiced have been purchased from legitimate sources not involved in funding conflict and in compliance with United Nations resolution. The seller hereby guarantees that these diamonds are from areas that are free of conflict, based on personal knowledge and/or written guarantees provided by the supplier of these diamonds." for further information, go to www.amnestyusa.org
i wish i could guarantee your marriage as conflict-free as these diamonds;)

all designs © Alexandra Hart

rainbow engagement

California now welcomes all marriages. here's the first rainbow ring i've made since the law changed, for a ceremony in october. 18k gold and multi-colored sapphires make for both a beautiful and colorful ring. yay!

all designs copyright Alexandra Hart

mabé pearl

mabé pearls are also called blister pearls because they are formed on the inside of the shell of the oyster. they come in various colors and this one, though white, has flashes of green and red, so i set it with a ruby.

all designs copyright Alexandra Hart

internet radio interview

i was interviewed on Art Rocks! radio on June 25th, 2008. it was really fun to share with 2 million internet listeners how i feel about metal smithing.

click on this blog title above, then to the right you will see the link labeled Alexandra Hart "listens" to the metal. click on this link to hear the radio interview and please be patient through the ads.

bling ring

i'm really excited about this amazing 4.5 ct natural Sri Lankan zircon. look into the stone: you can even see the double refraction-zircons are highly refractive, which means they twinkle a lot like diamonds. this one reminds me of a champagne diamond, set in an 18 kt hand made ring. available now for $1,920.00

all designs © Alexandra Hart

behind the scenes

ever wonder how a cast ruby ring was made? first you have to carve the wax...




here's the wax in process...




a mold is then made with the wax, the wax is then melted and burned out of the mold and molten gold is put in it's place at very high tempuratures. here's what it looks like fresh out of the flask.




now it's time to prepare for the stone setting... by burring out a "seat" for the stone.




stone is set by pressing metal against the stone...ta da!


all designs copyright Alexandra Hart