Jewelry and Easter Eggs

Yesterday I took a posted an accidental photo of my wedding ring and promised to post about it, so here we are. When my husband and I were dating and fairly sure we were getting married, we were in college in Lancaster, PA. One day while we were off doing something in the farmlands of Lancaster County, we wandered in to store that had a ton of silver jewelry, as well as leather clothes and an assortment of other things. Amid the silver jewelry was a beautiful basket setting ring with a piece of glass set in it. Now we had been going around to jewelers in town, but hadn't found anything I liked very much. But this silver ring was just gorgeous and what I wanted. The woman who owned the store told us that the company had found old ring molds and recasted them in silver. We didn't end up buying the ring because it was huge and I had no need for more silver rings. Oh, and we were on a rather tight college student budget.

Fast forward about 9 months. Now we live in New Hampshire. We have just gotten our first apartment out of college after having lived with my parents for a month. I get home from my crappy job as a receptionist for a car dealer and am greeted by a set of tasks to complete to find my ring. I opened the box, and there it was: the ring from the little jewelry store in PA. Only it's now white gold and has three diamonds in it instead of one piece of glass. K had gone back, bought the silver ring, brought it to a jeweler and had them make a mold, recast it in gold, then fiddle with the design to make the two flowers on the sides of the stone into little diamonds. Gorgeous, and so thoughtful. Clearly, I said yes. The band on top is my wedding band which had to be soldered to the engagement ring so the thin metal of the design didn't get worn away from years of clanking.This ring is the reason I have a thing for vintage basket settings in the first place. There's no casting and recasting here. This ring has been handed down in my family for many years, and will continue to be. It's also white gold, and the stone is very tiny and hand cut, rather than precision laser cut, so it has fewer facets than a modern stone. But I adore the setting. That's the extent of my pretty ring collection!I got my Easter package from my parents in the mail today. Yes, I'm 31 and my mother sends me Easter packages, what of it? ;-) Easter eggs are always fun to get in my family, because my dad draws little pictures on them that are relevant to our lives. One year we got Vantom on an egg. When we bought our house we got eggs with pictures of us gardening. This year: A white motorhome and a green car! So cute! Thanks, Dad!Have a great day!