Special Gift

A call came in a few weeks ago from my older twin's school nurse. As she will always (and thankfully) do when applicable, she immediately said, "There's no problem here at school." Whew! With that out of the way, she asked if I might be able to help her out with an 8th grade graduation gift that she wanted to give to her daughter. She had her mother's wedding band and thought it would be nice to turn the band into earrings for her daughter. I said that yes, that was something that I could do and explained how a band could be saw cut and then shaped using a mallet. I made up a mock pair of earrings with copper to illustrate what I described.

I brought the mock-up to school when I dropped off my son, saying "I can do this, but I would prefer not to." It made me cringe to think of cutting a wedding band that represented family history. I presented the idea that the ring be kept intact and made into a necklace allowing a part of Grandmother's story to remain more intact. The idea was embraced, and I waited for the ring to be dropped off at my house.

When mom and daughter dropped off the wedding band, I asked daughter what her favorite color was. "Black," she answered. She is thirteen. I told her that I was very sorry, but I was not going to be accenting the wedding ring necklace with black stones. Next choice?....blue.

I used heavy gauge sterling wire to wrap around the ring because it is a wide band. Faceted rondelles of aquamarine, prehnite and quartz crystal were wire wrapped and accented with sterling spacers. One large tear-drop shaped crystal hangs with the other semi-precious stones. I used a long sterling chain and accented the clasp with more pieces of aquamarine.

Mom presented the necklace on the afternoon of graduation so daughter could wear it to the ceremony. I got a call the following Monday telling me that the necklace was loved by daughter. Wearing it to graduation was like having Grandmother there.

That brought a smile to my face.