Made for an old friend’s big day — The flowers are Greek bougainvilleas for the bride, Eleni, and a Bosnian golden lily for the groom, Edvin. Above the flowers is an olive branch with peridot-olives. For “something blue”, we set two sapphire-olives to remember two of Eleni’s loved ones. It was an honor and a pleasure to work on such a special and personal piece for someone I love and admire so so much. 

The flowers and olive branch were sawed, hammered, soldered, and filed into their shapes.They were then attached to the silver backplate with rivets. Four peridot-olives and two sapphire-olives were tube-set on the branch with the guidance of my talented friend, Jakob Rosenberger. The piece was dipped in a liver of sulfur solution to give the metal a dark patina. It was then sanded and polished, leaving behind the patina in the low parts of the designs. Silver split pins were soldered behind the backplate so everything could be secured to the clip mechanism.

On a non-metal note –  It was such a JOY to watch my two friends get married in Greece! I met Eleni on our high school swim team 16 years ago and I met Edvin in college while lifeguarding and teaching swim lessons 12 years ago. Over the years, I’ve listened to them talk about getting married while being surrounded by their families in Greece and Bosnia. In the end, it was the most beautiful wedding celebration… and the most beautiful post-reception sunrise watch-party.