Coming Soon: Ready to Cast

A sculpted original design, imagined in yellow gold—one of the designs coming soon to Ready to Cast.

A New Way to Wear My Designs

My work has always been inspired by nature: branches, leaves, roots, and the beautiful irregular lines that make natural forms unique.

With Ready to Cast, I’m opening the door for more of these existing designs to find their way into the world.

I’m excited about the possibilities—not because I’m changing how I create, but because I’m finding a new way to share the work I’ve already done.

Ready to Cast is coming soon.

I’ll be sharing more as the collection takes shape. Thank you for following my work and being part of this next chapter of Dawn Vertrees Jewelry.

Every original design begins with an idea. Sometimes, its next beginning is in your hands.

Every piece begins with a hand-sculpted wax model, where the organic details of the design take shape.

Introducing Ready to Cast

Coming soon to my Shopify store, Ready to Cast will feature original designs I have already sculpted and developed.

Instead of beginning with a completely new custom design, you’ll be able to choose from selected existing designs and explore the possibilities for making one your own.

Depending on the design, choices may include:

Metal: Sterling silver, yellow gold, white gold, or rose gold.

Ring size: A size suited to you.

Gemstones: Available stone options compatible with the design.

Each piece will be priced according to its materials, gemstone, casting, finishing, and the work involved in bringing the design to life.

A white-gold interpretation with medium oxidation, bringing out the natural texture and character of the original design.

From Sculpted Wax to Finished Jewelry

A sculpted wax model is an important part of my creative process. It holds the original shape, texture, and details that I worked into the design by hand.

The next step is imagining how that design will look in metal.

The visual examples accompanying this story offer a glimpse of that transformation—from the original sculpted model to a possible finished piece. Different metals and finishes can bring out different qualities in the same design.

The finished jewelry will be created from my original sculpture, preserving the character of the design while allowing for selected personal choices.

Coming soon: discover original sculpted designs and explore available choices of metal, ring size, and compatible gemstones.

A New Way to Wear My Designs

My work has always been inspired by nature: branches, leaves, roots, and the beautiful irregular lines that make natural forms unique.

With Ready to Cast, I’m opening the door for more of these existing designs to find their way into the world.

I’m excited about the possibilities—not because I’m changing how I create, but because I’m finding a new way to share the work I’ve already done.

Ready to Cast is coming soon.

I’ll be sharing more as the collection takes shape. Thank you for following my work and being part of this next chapter of Dawn Vertrees Jewelry.

Every original design begins with an idea. Sometimes, its next beginning is in your hands.

From an old piece of driftwood to a finished piece of sterling silver.

Driftwood Pendant: When Nature Becomes Jewelry

There are some pieces of wood that are beautiful simply because of what time has done to them.

This Driftwood Pendant began with that kind of inspiration.

The original piece of wood has been with me for more than 20 years. It has dried, aged, changed, and developed the kind of texture that can't be manufactured.

When I began sculpting this pendant in wax, I wasn't trying to copy the wood.

I was trying to translate what I saw in it.

The flowing grain.

The ridges.

The openings.

The movement.

I wanted the finished piece to feel organic rather than perfectly planned—as though nature had created the form and I had simply followed along.

Look closer. Every curve, opening, and textured line was sculpted to carry the movement of nature into metal.

Looking Closer

Once the wax sculpture began to take shape, the details became just as important as the overall form.

The texture needed to move through the pendant naturally. The raised areas needed to catch the light, while the deeper grooves would become beautifully dark once the piece was oxidized.

That contrast is part of what gives this pendant its character.

It isn't meant to look like a perfect piece of wood.

It is meant to feel like nature translated into metal.

And that's where the magic of lost-wax sculpting comes in.

I can take something I see in nature and work it directly with my hands in wax—carving, shaping, removing, adding, and following the form until it feels right.

Then the wax disappears.

The texture remains.

A Pendant for Anyone

I designed this Driftwood Pendant as a unisex piece.

There is something about organic forms that doesn't belong to one particular style or gender. The texture gives it character, while the elongated shape and oxidized sterling silver give it enough presence to stand on its own.

It can be worn simply, letting the pendant be the focal point, or layered with other pieces.

But either way, it carries the same idea that has been at the heart of my work for more than 20 years:

Nature leaves the imprint. I simply translate it into metal.

And sometimes, the simplest inspiration can become something completely unexpected.

Front and back—because a pendant can tell more than one story when it turns.

Pendant Details

Collection: Driftwood Pendants

Metal: Sterling Silver

Finish: Oxidized

Size: Approximately 56 mm × 40 mm at the widest points

Weight: 0.27 oz

Style: Unisex

Process: Hand-sculpted wax / Lost-wax casting

 

Woodland Weave — where the beauty of nature becomes a piece of jewelry.

When the Woodland Weave Becomes Jewelry

There is a moment in creating jewelry that I never take for granted.

It is the moment when something that existed only in my hands, my imagination, and a piece of wax finally becomes real jewelry.

That moment has arrived for Woodland Weave.

For years, I have been drawn to the way branches grow around, over, and beside one another in nature. They don't follow straight lines. They twist. They reach. They intertwine.

That is the feeling I wanted to capture in this collection.

And now, I can finally show you one of the finished pieces.

Woodland Weave is no longer just an idea. It is jewelry.

The Woodland Weave ring begins in my hands, sculpted in wax around the stone that inspired the design.

From the woodland to the studio

When I begin a piece, I don't start with a computer drawing or a manufactured setting.

I work with wax.

I carve, bend, remove, add, and shape until the design begins to feel alive in my hands. The branches have to look as though they could have grown that way naturally.

That organic quality is important to me.

I don't want the jewelry to look like nature was copied.

I want it to feel as though nature found its way into the metal.

And then comes the stone

This particular ring became something especially beautiful when the green-and-beige stone found its place within the branches.

The colors remind me of things you might discover on a woodland walk—the greens of moss and leaves, the earthy beige of bark and stone, and all the subtle variations that make something found in nature unique.

I didn't want the setting to overpower the stone.

I wanted the branches to hold it, protect it, and become part of its story.

That is what I love about this ring.

Nothing feels separated.

The stone and the branches belong together.

The finished piece

Once the wax becomes silver, something magical happens.

The tiny textures become deeper. The branches become stronger. The oxidation settles into the details and brings out the lines that I carved by hand.

And suddenly, what I could see in my mind is sitting in front of me.

A finished ring.

A piece of Woodland Weave.

And this is where the collection takes its next step.

Not from nature into wax.

But from wax into jewelry.

A ring meant to be worn

There is another moment I love even more than seeing a finished piece sitting on my workbench.

Seeing it on a hand.

That is when jewelry becomes personal.

It stops being an object I created and becomes something someone can wear, live with, and eventually make part of their own story.

That is what I hope for every piece I create.

Not simply that someone will look at it and think it is beautiful.

But that they will put it on and feel that somehow, it belongs to them.

💚

A new chapter begins

Woodland Weave began with an idea that had been living in my mind.

Then it moved into wax.

Then into metal.

And now it is ready to leave my studio and become part of someone's story.

This is only the beginning of the collection.

There are more branches to weave, more stones to discover, and more pieces waiting to take shape.

For me, that is the joy of creating.

Nature gives me the inspiration.

My hands give it form.

And eventually, the jewelry gets to go out into the world.

A new chapter of Woodland Weave has begun.

— Dawn Vertrees
Dawn Vertrees Jewelry

Bogey, Lia & The Very Important Stick

Bogey found a stick. A VERY important stick. 😂 But Lia has some serious questions about his latest treasure. “What the heck are you going to do with that?” 🐾❤️

 

There are some things in life that require no explanation.

And then there is Bogey.

Bogey had apparently discovered something very important on his walk.

A stick.

Not just any stick.

A very important stick.

And naturally, once he had claimed it, he had to bring it home.

He carried it proudly toward the door, apparently believing that everyone in the house needed to see his magnificent discovery.

Unfortunately for Bogey, he had an audience.

Lia was watching from inside.

And judging by the look on her face, I could almost hear her thinking:

“What the heck are you going to do with that?”

Bogey, however, wasn't interested in questions.

He had a mission.

He had a stick.

And he was bringing it inside.

Meanwhile, Lia seemed perfectly content to remain safely on the other side of the glass while she studied this strange creature and his enormous piece of wood.

I have a feeling this is only the beginning of their adventures.

Bogey may think he's in charge...

But Lia is watching.

And somehow, I think that little blue-eyed girl is going to have plenty to say about whatever Bogey gets into next.

Stay tuned.

Because around here, the jewelry may be the reason you came to visit...

But Bogey and Lia might just be the reason you stay. 

❤️