Retablo Reliquary Ring

At some point last year, I was trying to figure out a way to use my tiny faceted gemstones. I had never really liked how traditionally faceted stones looked in my work, so I held onto them, waiting for inspiration to strike.

I found myself asking, "Why do gemstones have to be set in the traditional way?"

I keep returning to the idea of reliquaries. Traditionally, reliquary objects preserve ashes, bones, earth, cloth, or pressed plants, tangible reminders of what we hold sacred. As I reconnect with the home my late father built by tending the garden I created around it, I realized that what feels most sacred to me is the earth itself.

The faceted gemstones became a symbol of Mother Nature, each one reflecting a different facet of the landscape. I nestled them upon a bed of deep red satin velvet, preserving this small sanctuary beneath a rock crystal cabochon and surrounding it with sterling silver. It became a reliquary, not for a saint or a relic of the past, but for the living world that continues to sustain us.

Sterling silver, satin velvet, faceted gemstones, rock crystal.

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