Olopua Calabash KeychainMay 2023 Olopua, jade, sterling silver, Beadalon A friend came to me for a Mother's Day gift for his wife that would speak to her AAPI ancestry as well as to their daughter, Olive. His wife is ethnically Chinese by way of Kauai, so we wanted to include both Asian and Hawaiian cultural references in the piece. The centerpiece of this key chain is the calabash gourd bead, which I had custom turned by a local woodworker in Honolulu. As a nod to their

The yin/yang nature of the opposing textures even represent each night and day of the week

And here's Ralph's ring:

this is because using a cupful of burning oil to light the other flames would be messy and dangerous--but it goes deeper than that

we decided that the sides of the ring would have a moose-antler appliqué that stretched outward from the ring shank to become the prongs

as you can see I took the Zhou Dynasty bronze tribute a bit too far in one of them

Astrological signs: ♉ (Taurus) and traditionally ♎ (Libra)

A less-observed part of the ritual of Hanukkah is that one is supposed to light the hanukiah in view of a window

The Hebrew name Shoshanah is most commonly translated as "Rose

The text and symbol are represented in relief (raised letters) with a border above and below the text

but the 福倒 is especially popular at Chinese New Year when people are wishing themselves and each other a prosperous year to come

18 karat palladium white gold

but as I was shaping the business end of the tamper I realized that I had the opportunity to make something beautiful