How to Make a Ring

It's wedding season and Lori's been busy carving wax for wedding bands. We thought we'd show you how it's done.

The method we use is lost wax casting. That means first we have to carve the ring out of wax and then send it to the caster who replaces the wax with metal.

First, you slice a ring of wax from a long wax tube. This should be a bit bigger than the width you'd like the ring to be.

These are the wax rings ready to be carved down into the shape of the ring to be cast.

This electric tool helps to grind away the top of the ring quickly.

When the wax form is getting closer to the size you want it to be, you use less aggressive tools like a hand file. See all the pink shavings!?

The inside of the ring is a size five, so you have to use this sizer with a blade to slowly carve out the center of the ring until you reach the size that you'd like.

It's important to carve away all sides evenly to slowly arrive at the perfect size, width, and height. There are finer tools that resemble dentists tools and picks that allow you to add detail to your ring or to smooth out the surface of a plain band. Anything you can carve into the wax can be carved!

When you're finished, you have a wax version of the ring ready to be sent to the casters. When it comes back you must cut off the sprue (a metal bit left over from where the molten metal was poured into the mold) and polish the metal.

In the end, you may have something like this platinum wedding band by Lori McLean herself!

A Video Tour of Lori McLean's Jewelry Shop!

Here's a quick little video tour of the shop!

Alexander Stadler Draws on Our Wall!

Alexander Stadler, author of the brilliant book, What Willie Wore: Scenes from the Life and Wardrobe of a Very Fashionable Dog comes to draw his dog Wilhelmina on our wall as the seasons change. Depending on the time of year she is depicted having a picnic on Governor's Island or delivering Chanakwanzmas gifts to Lena Horne. Sometimes she is accompanied by our shop dog Gidget. See the progression to gorgeous wall-art below. To catch up with Alexander himself check out his blog here.

The wall, pre Alexander. Lori put up these embroidery hoops to hang lovely long Dennis Matthews necklaces. But they needed some company from the glorious Willy who, sadly, recently passed away. The wall is in honor of her and her amazing dog-ness.

Getting started...

A winged Willie emerges to look over the jewelry and the shop...

The finishing celestial touches...

And...voila! Our beautiful wall. Thank you Alexander!

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Mother's Day Personalized Jewelry!

Mother's Day Gift Ideas

We're excited about anything personalized for mother's day this year as well as modern takes on timeless pieces! Check out a selection of what's in shop below:

Personalized Keys

Keys have been a big trend lately and a designer we carry, Emily Rosenfield, can make you keys that say anything you want! Engraving children's names and dates of birth is always a good option or a sweet message of appreciation. We have ones in the shop inscribed with "XOXO," "Love," and "Mom." It's also a nice idea to pair a larger key with a smaller key and have two words together. Or a key for each child, the largest key being the oldest child and so forth.

Timeless Lockets

It's also a timeless gift to give a locket with an engraving. We like these 14K gold ones with a little star set diamond. You could have the back engraved with fancy vintage style letters. On the tiny ones that seem a bit small for a photograph we like the idea of engraving the inside with initials and a date. A locket like this is will become an heirloom, passed down and remembered always.

Updated Pearls

Pearls are a traditional motherly gift, but why not give her something more updated like these pearl drops and pearl necklace in a star-like 14k gold setting from our dear friend and jewelry designer, Carla Caruso.

We also think a simple pearl teardrop on a 14k gold chain is a modern take on the traditional pearl choker and a bit easier for a modern mom to wear.

If you do want the traditional look of knotted pearls we like them long, almost flapper style. You can tie them in a knot or wear a few layered together. The ones we have in the shop are high quality glass pearls which means you can buy them in the bunches! (Let me preface the picture below, by saying, yes, the lady wearing all the pearls is a smidge scary, but she's a very cool old lady that we use for display. It makes more sense when you see her in context, I promise.)

Over-sized studs are coming back and a large, unusual colored pearl stud would be a great look for a Mom. It's easy-style!

We'd love to help you pick out something special for mother's day so drop by and see what we've got.

Vintage Lockets

Vintage Lockets

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The Hexagonal Locket

This is a sterling silver locket with six sides and the most adorable photos!

Baby Locket

A tiny baby locket inscribed with a fancy script "R."

Keepsake Glass Lockets

Glass lockets became popular so that you could see the keepsake without having to open the locket repeatedly. This ensured that the item inside was safe, but still showcased a lover's photo or lock of hair.

The one below shows a Scottish soldier.


This one we filled with our star paper as a placeholder.

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Next we'll be posting ideas for Mother's day gifts! It's coming up... May 9th!

Vintage Charms

We're so excited about our collection of vintage pieces right now! What's so exciting about these pieces is that they carry a history that we can only imagine from the photos and inscriptions left inside them. They've lasted so many years and somehow made it to our little boutique. They're on their own journey that has lasted and will last longer than most of its wearers and admirers. Here are a few highlights of the collection, some gorgeous antique charms, but remember to come in and check out the rest if you live here in town.

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A carved amethyst wax seal fob with an ornate setting. When this item first came in you could see red wax in some of it's grooves. We cleaned it up and the carving in the amethyst became even more beautifully defined. It's a leaping fox with the words "TALLY HO!" written above.

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This tiny book reads "Souvenir" in blue and white enamel. It opens and contains a few photos of a town in England called Worthing. It is sweet as can be. I am constantly amazed by the moving parts in vintage jewelry.

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A sterling silver "good luck" letter charm. The bee is contemporary, but don't they look so cute together? I like to think someone gave this charm to a friend going on a long journey...

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This fob has a compass on one side and a carved carnelian portrait on the other. It rotates in its setting which is an intertwined pair of serpent-like bodies with eagle-like faces. It's beautiful and unusual, a keepsake and yet functional.

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This is a jet charm with a rhinestone in the center. Rhinestones were originally names for rock crystal found in the river Rhine.

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Stay tuned for future postings on Memorial Jewelry and Vintage Lockets!

Hello!

At Lori McLean, we like jewelry made by hand. We like the stories behind beautiful objects. We like writing with pens and paper. We are a little bit old school.

Maybe the thought of a computer was a little intimidating, but now that we have it we're blending the digital and the hand made and realizing what great things we can accomplish, like our very first BLOG.

The blog is our way to involve you in our daily conversations, the facts we discover about jewelry, the history behind the vintage pieces that come in, the trends we are excited about, and the little stories and conversations that fill up Lori McLean's jewelry shop.

We hope you'll follow our blog when you need a little jewelry fix. We'll be posting images from the shop: the new items that come in and selections from our ever changing vintage collection. Stay tuned for a post on vintage charms and Lori's fabulous trip to Paris! Ou La La.