Twig Weave Pendant – From Sketch to Sculpted Metal

The Twig Weave Pendant is a handcrafted concept that began as a simple pencil sketch and evolved into a fully realized piece of sculptural jewelry. Inspired by the organic flow of branches and roots, the design features a woven framework that gently cradles an oval gemstone at its center. Every line curves with intention, giving the pendant a sense of movement—as if it grew naturally into shape.

The journey starts with the original hand-drawn sketch, transformed into a wax model that captured the raw, rustic texture of intertwined twigs. From there, advanced digital rendering allowed the wax to be reimagined in precious metals, including 14k rose gold with an antique finish and sterling silver with a dark oxidized patina. The central stone—shown as an 8 × 10 mm moss agate—adds a natural, earthy elegance with its living green inclusions and unique patterns.

The final pendant measures 48 mm tall and 24 mm wide, creating a bold but balanced silhouette. This design will be available in your choice of solid metals, including:

Sterling Silver

14k or 18k Yellow Gold

14k or 18k Rose Gold

The Twig Weave Pendant symbolizes growth, protection, and the quiet strength found in nature. Every version—whether oxidized silver or warm antique gold—highlights its organic roots in a different way, making it an ideal piece for lovers of nature-inspired artistry and unique handmade jewelry.

Bringing a Wax Model to Life: A Nature-Inspired Ring in Rose Gold, Moissanite, and Sapphire

Designing jewelry is always a journey—one that begins with an idea, transforms through careful craftsmanship, and finally blossoms into a finished piece that reflects both imagination and artistry. Today, I’m excited to share the evolution of one of my newest creations: a wax model featuring a 6 × 8 mm pear-shaped moissanite, which has now been beautifully rendered in 14k rose gold, complete with two different gemstone options.

From Wax to Wonder

The first stage of every one of my designs begins in wax. This is where the organic shapes, branches, and leaves take form. In this particular piece, the center stone sits nestled inside hand-shaped leaves that curl upward as if nature itself is holding the gemstone in place. A small 2 mm round moissanite on the second band adds a soft touch of sparkle—almost like a dew drop resting on a petal.

These wax models capture the rawness and honesty of the design. They allow me to shape, carve, and adjust the details until everything feels true to the vision.

AI Rendering: A Helpful Preview, Not a Replacement

I often use AI tools to generate clean, metallic previews of what the final ring could look like once cast. This is especially helpful for showing customers different gemstone choices, metal colors, and setting variations before the physical piece is completed.

AI didn’t create the design—you’ll see that it simply transformed my original wax model into polished 14k rose gold renderings. This helps me visualize how the leaves will catch the light, how the prongs will cradle the pear-shaped stone, and how alternate gemstones might appear in the same design.

Two Beautiful Interpretations

Once the model was translated into a metal preview, two stunning options emerged:

✨ Option 1: Rose Gold & Moissanite

The warm glow of 14k rose gold enhances the organic details of the leaves. The moissanite center stone glitters with fire and brilliance, making the entire design feel romantic and timeless.

💙 Option 2: Rose Gold & Blue Sapphire

The same ring transforms dramatically when set with a pear-shaped blue sapphire. The deep, velvety blues contrast beautifully with rose gold—almost like a midnight garden wrapped around the finger.

Customizable for Every Customer

One of the things I love most about designing jewelry is flexibility. This ring can be customized to suit any preference:

• Metal Options: white gold, yellow gold, rose gold, or platinum

• Center Stones: moissanite, sapphire, morganite, lab diamond, or natural gemstone

• Accent Gems: moissanite, diamonds, sapphires, or any color that complements the main stone

Each version becomes personal—unique to the wearer, yet connected to the same artistic roots.

A Piece That Grows With You

Even in its wax stage, this design already held movement, emotion, and presence. Seeing it reimagined in rose gold with both moissanite and sapphire brings it to life in a way that celebrates the beauty of nature and the uniqueness of each client’s vision.

I can’t wait to cast the final piece and share the fully finished version with you soon!

 

The Floating Gemstone Collection: Crafting Nature-Inspired Jewelry With Heart

In the world of jewelry design, every new piece begins long before metal meets flame. It starts with an idea—a spark that grows, branches, and evolves into something tangible. Over the past few months, my creative journey has been shaped by a design that has quickly become one of my most requested and personally meaningful pieces: my floating gemstone branch ring.

This blog is a behind-the-scenes look at how these pieces are created, why they resonate with so many people, and how I use modern tools like AI ethically and transparently to help me refine ideas that originate from my own designs.

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Where the Design First Took Root

The foundation of this ring comes from one of my original pieces—an organic, branch-like design that wraps naturally around a gemstone. This style developed from my fascination with nature: twisting roots, growing limbs, and the way light gets caught between them. The first iteration was raw, wild, and textural, almost as if the ring had grown on its own.

Soon after sharing it, people were drawn to its shape and story. Customers began asking for variations—different stones, sizes, and moods—while still keeping the essence of that original, organic design.

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How AI Fits Into My Creative Process

I want to address this directly, because transparency matters: the designs you see here are mine—conceptually, structurally, creatively, and physically. Every ring I make begins with my own sketches, my own original finished pieces, and my own design language.

I sometimes use AI as a sketching assistant, not as a designer. By feeding the AI images of my own work, I can explore alternate angles, stone proportions, or textural variations. AI helps generate rough visual prompts so I can better imagine how a stone of a different size or shape might look in my existing design.

Another important way I use AI is to help customers visualize options. Once I complete the wax carving and later the finished cast, I upload a photo of the real piece into my AI preview tool. From that single real ring, I can show clients how the design would look in silver, white gold, yellow gold, or rose gold—without recasting it. I can also swap gemstones, such as previewing the ring with a white moissanite or a vivid green peridot.

This feature has become one of my customers’ favorites because it lets them confidently choose both metal and stone based on an accurate visual reference of their exact ring design. It saves time, reduces guesswork, and empowers them to personalize their piece.

But the hands that carve the wax, sculpt the branches, and set the gemstone—those are mine.

AI is a tool. The artistry is the craft.

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The Wax Carving: Where the New Piece Begins

With customer requests building around a white moissanite version of this design, I moved from concept to creation. Using jewelers’ wax, I began carving the branches—letting them rise, curve, and divide in a way that feels natural and alive.

The wax is where the gemstone first begins to "float." I carve negative spaces intentionally—allowing light to pass through, ensuring the stone is supported but not enclosed, creating the illusion that it hovers between branches.

This is the heart of my floating gemstone style. It’s not about making the stone sit higher—it’s about making it appear naturally suspended, like a drop of light balanced within the structure of the ring.

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From Wax to Metal: The Final Transformation

This design will soon be cast in Sterling Silver and set with a 1.5ct (6×8mm) white moissanite, a gemstone whose brilliance enhances the floating effect beautifully. The process takes about 3 to 4 weeks from carving to completion.

Once cast, the branches will gain strength and detail, the prongs will be refined, and the stone will be secured in its airy, living setting. The finished piece will retain the same organic motion as the wax—just crystallized into its final, lasting form.

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Why This Design Matters to Me

This branch ring is more than a commission or a popular request—it’s a milestone in my journey as an artist. It blends:

• my original design language
• my love for nature
• my carving work
• modern tools used ethically
• my customers’ trust

And most importantly, it represents the moment where an idea becomes a form—a place where a new piece begins.

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Thank You For Being Part of the Journey

To everyone who has asked for this design, who has followed its variations, or who has simply appreciated its style—thank you. Your support allows me to keep pushing my craft in new directions while staying rooted in the work I love.

More updates will come soon, including the finished cast and final stone setting. I can’t wait to share the completed piece with you.

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If you’d like to follow more of my creative process or commission your own variation of this design, feel free to reach out. Every ring has a story, and I’m honored to help create yours.

Where a New Piece Begins

It's usually right here...

It could be just staring at my mandrel visualizing what's in my head or sitting in my living room with a cup of coffee and a sketchpad.

Update:
I’ve started a new Studio Story series about how this design grows from sketch to wax to final piece. You can read the first chapter here.

Dawn Vertrees Raw Uncut Rough Engagement Wedding Rings: "Moss Agate & Oxidized Silver: The Twig Pendant That Captures Spring’s First Breath"

When I start a new piece, it never feels like I’m making something.

It feels like something is growing in my hands.

I work in soft jeweler’s wax — that deep blue-purple wax that gives just enough resistance to feel alive. When my tools touch it, the curves don’t feel carved… they feel grown. Roots begin to twist. A branch finds its direction. A leaf decides where it wants to live.

And if I’m holding a stone, the wax grows differently.

I don’t usually design a setting.

I let the twigs and leaves grow toward the stone, around it, sometimes lifting it.

As if the stone is a gift the piece is offering — a tiny present for whoever will wear it.

That moment — when the wax stops being wax and starts being alive — that’s the part I love the most. It’s where everything begins.

🍃

This blog isn’t going to be a tutorial.

It’s simply a look inside my studio: the sketches, the wax shavings, the experiments, the little frustrations, the surprises, the tools I return to again and again.

I’m dyslexic, so I speak best through my hands, my sketches, and my photos.

Think of this space as my visual journal — a trail of moments from the bench.

Welcome to my studio.

Let’s grow something together.

"Moss Agate & Oxidized Silver: The Twig Pendant That Captures Spring’s First Breath"

Available Spring 2026

Moss Agate Twig Pendant

Lost-wax cast in sterling silver, this pendant features hand-sculpted twigs that organically embrace an oval moss agate cabochon. The stone’s dendritic inclusions evoke a hidden forest, while the oxidized silver adds depth and contrast. A one-of-a-kind talisman of nature’s quiet magic.

My Sunday afternoon sketch.

What is Lost Wax Casting?

Men's Twig Band
with a single Oak leaf and two Acorns.

Lost-wax casting is a process of turning a hand-carved wax model into a solid metal piece, like gold or silver.

Rose Ring
with two leaves on each side.

It’s called “lost wax” because the wax model is melted and “lost” during casting — replaced by molten metal.

Lost-wax casting (also called cire perdue) is an ancient metalworking technique used to create detailed, one-of-a-kind jewelry pieces. It’s been used for thousands of years — from ancient Egypt to modern fine jewelry — and it’s especially popular among artisan goldsmiths and handmade jewelry brands. 

At DV Jewelry Designs, we use the ancient lost-wax casting technique to craft each unique, nature-inspired statement piece by hand.

https://dvjewelrydesigns.shop/

Enchanted Midnight Bloom: Pear-Cut Blue Sapphire Leaf & Pearl Engagement Ring Set in 14K Rose Gold

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Product Description

A breathtaking symbol of timeless romance, this engagement ring features a 1.5ct pear-cut deep blue sapphire cradled in delicate, hand-sculpted leaf motifs crafted from 14K rose gold. Tiny seed pearls nestle among the foliage, adding a whisper of vintage charm and ethereal elegance.

The organic, nature-inspired band flows seamlessly into a contoured leaf wedding band, adorned with a single flush-set sapphire accent—designed to hug the engagement ring perfectly for a harmonious, stacked look.

Inspired by moonlit gardens and secret vows, this set is for the bride who dreams in twilight hues and golden whispers.

This is a one-of-a-kind, custom designed ring.

Center Stone: 7x5mm pear-cut natural blue lab sapphire (~1.5ct)

Metal: Solid 14K Rose Gold

Accents: 2mm seed pearls, 1.5mm blue lab sapphire

Band Width: 1.8–2.2mm (tapered)

Finish: High polish with textured leaf detailing

Each piece is handmade to order—allow 3–4 weeks for production.

Handmade with love. Worn with forever. 🌿💙

Oval Moissanite Twig Engagement Ring – Nature-Inspired Branch & Leaf Design

 

Moissanite Engagement Ring

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Highlights

Ships from North Carolina! Shorter shipping distances are kinder to the planet

Materials: Gold, Rose gold, Sterling silver, White gold, Yellow gold.

Sterling Silver Engagement Ring

Sustainable features: recycled metal. Items may include additional materials or use methods that aren't considered sustainable features on our site. Learn more

Style: Gothic

Recycled

Made to Order

Embrace the beauty of the wild with this enchanting oval moissanite twig engagement ring, where delicate branches and intricately carved leaves cradle a sparkling 6x8mm oval-cut moissanite diamond (shown). Handcrafted with organic texture and flowing vines, this nature-inspired piece evokes the timeless romance of a forest fairy tale—perfect for the bride who dreams in whispers of woodland magic.

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Key Features:

Center Stone: 6x8mm oval moissanite (colorless, VVS clarity, ethically sourced and twice the fire of a diamond)

Band Design: Twig branch shank with detailed leaf accents and subtle bark texture

Metal Options:

Sterling Silver - with light oxidation

14k or 18k Rose Gold

14k or 18k White Gold

14k or 18k Yellow Gold

Customization: Other gemstones available (sapphire, morganite, aquamarine, etc.)—message us for options!

Additional Pictures & Prices

Each ring is made to order in your exact size, ensuring a flawless fit. Moissanite’s superior brilliance and durability (9.25 on the Mohs scale) make it an eco-conscious, conflict-free alternative to mined diamonds. Whether in warm rose gold that glows like sunset on bark or crisp white gold that mirrors moonlight on leaves, this ring is a wearable love letter to the earth.

Your ring will come with a small ring tote and ring box.

Handcrafted Rose Gold Twig Heart Ring - Nature-Inspired Promise of Love

Highlights

Ships from North Carolina! Shorter shipping distances are kinder to the planet

Materials: 14k/18k Rose gold, Silver, Sterling silver, White gold, Yellow gold

Sustainable features: recycled metal. Items may include additional materials or use methods that aren't considered sustainable features on our site. Learn more

Band color: Gold

Can be personalized

Recycled

Made to Order

Additional Pictures & Prices

Embrace the wild beauty of love with this handcrafted Twig Branch Heart Ring. Inspired by intertwining branches forming a delicate heart at its center, this nature-inspired promise ring captures the organic elegance of a forest romance.

Each ring is meticulously sculpted to mimic the textured bark of real twigs, with fine details in every twist and curve. The open heart motif rests gracefully atop the band, symbolizing two souls entwined. The interior is polished to a smooth, comfortable finish, while the exterior retains a rustic, matte texture for an authentic woodland feel.

Details:

Material: Sterling Silver 925, 14k White, Rose or Yellow Gold & 18k White, Rose or Yellow Gold

Top Band width: ~8.6mm (tapers naturally)

Heart motif: ~10.6mm wide

Finish: polished textured exterior, polished interior

Made to order in your exact ring size

Perfect as a unique engagement ring, promise ring, or anniversary gift for the nature lover. This piece pairs beautifully with woodland wedding themes or as a standalone statement of earthy romance.

Handmade with love in our small studio. Each ring is one-of-a-kind due to the organic design—slight variations ensure your piece is truly unique.