Faceted Black Spinel & Reticulated Silver Statement Earrings

These earrings are built around a pair of faceted black spinels set within long, open silver frames filled with reticulated texture, granulation and individually fused silver details. The polished black stones create a sharp focal point against all of that irregular, deeply textured metalwork.

The reticulated silver is material I make myself, beginning with silver that I melt into an ingot and roll into sheet. From there, the metal goes through repeated heating to develop the ridged, almost geological surface characteristic of reticulation. It's a lengthy process, and because the texture develops within the metal itself, no two sections ever come out quite the same.

I cut and fitted pieces of that reticulated silver into the hand-fabricated marquise-shaped frames, leaving large areas of open space between them. Fine silver granules and larger fused silver bubbles travel outward from the textured sections and across those open areas, creating an irregular pattern that feels almost suspended within the frame.

The black spinels provide a completely different surface within the design. Their crisp facets catch flashes of light while remaining intensely black, giving the eye somewhere to land among the more organic silver textures.

Each earring was constructed individually as part of a mirrored pair, and the hand-fabricated ear wires are oriented left and right so the earrings naturally face forward when worn.

Black spinel is traditionally associated with grounding, protection, resilience and confidence.

✧ Stone: Faceted black spinel
✧ Length: Approximately 2 1/2 inches from top of ear wire to bottom of earring
✧ Weight: Approximately 6.8 grams per earring
✧ Ear Wire: Hand-fabricated fish hook wires with left/right orientation
✧ Metal: Sterling silver, fine silver and hand-reticulated silver
✧ Techniques: Reticulation, granulation, fusing and traditional hand fabrication
One-of-a-kind and made with care in my studio.