Skull-imanjaro

This is our latest, customized, Ruby Crush, Absinthe Skull ring. It was created for the charming and delightful Fearne Cotton, who had successfully scaled Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, and in doing so raised a HUGE amount of money for charity. Read Fearne's review here

The brief was to create a piece that would somehow reflect this amazing achievement and evoke a "physical link" to the mountain itself, whilst keeping the shape and "feel" of the skull still visible.

So the brief was actually quite a challenge, but I knew straight away that the forehead of the skull would have the points of the compass engraved into it ... a good starting point.

Next came the engraving on the sides of the ring. I'd decided it would be pretty cool to engrave the imperial, geographic co-ordinates of Kilimanjaro, as a way of visually balancing the compass points. Job done! Things are looking good.

The "physical link" to the mountain was achieved by adding Tanzanite gemstones to the eye sockets of the skull. Tanzanite is a real beauty of a gem stone, with a colour that borders, blue and purple both at the same time. (Similar in colour to the foil wrapper of a Cadbury's milk chocolate bar) Here's the fun part..... Tanzanite is found in only one location on earth....Mount Kilimanjaro!!

I couldn't believe my luck. It seems this stone is mined from the foothills of Kilimanjaro and nowhere else, which broadly speaking makes it one of our planets rarest gems.

"Physical link" established !! 

From here on, I knew it would be plain sailing... Next came the addition of a pear shaped Ruby into the nasal cavity, along with a dark satin finish, with teeth and engraving, highlighted with 18ct gold accents . 

This particular finish has become a firm favourite with customers ...I'll be posting photo's of those pieces in the near future. Until then...

An ancient skull.

This amazing photo was sent to me by family members who'd recently travelled to France....
Now this really got my creative juices flowing.

If you look closely, you'll see that there's a skull (minus it's lower jaw.)
The whole thing blackened with age and beautifully mounted with sheet gold, gem stones and set on a silver platter.

Here's the story ....

The relic is reported as being the skull of Saint John the Baptist , (beheaded by King Herod at the request of Salome.)

Legend states that it was "recovered" by the Knights Templar from the Holy land, brought back to France and delivered into the care of Notre Dame Cathedral in Amiens, in the mid 1200's, where it resides to this day.

I imagine, not all of this story can be substantiated ....nonetheless... a tantalizing story and a beautiful (if somewhat macabre) holy relic.