what I live for

A couple of months ago I was approached by a customer (Lili), who quickly became a friend, about making a ring for her inspired by her three dogs.  Hello!  This was made for me!  As we discussed the ideas for the piece she told me that one of her babies had TCC, the exact same cancer that Clarence had.  Over the next several messages I shared every up and down, every treatment, every food choice and holistic supplement, every. single. thing.  It was such a serendipitous thing that we found each other.  Of course I was even more attached to the project now.  I felt a connection with her and wanted to make her the most badass ring in the whole wide world.  Lili wanted me to incorporate their hair and she didn't mind going big.  Other than that she gave me free reign!  These are the projects I live for.  

Rings. Big Rings. Add in dogs. Done.

Making this ring was a joy.  I was all in from start to finish.  Her precious dogs, Zombie, Frakenstein, and Flower (cutest names ever) were blonde, black, and brown.  I ended up building a sterling silver half flower with a petal for each dog.  A blonde petal, a black petal, and a brown petal.  Each petal had the bit of dog hair and in the center I placed a mix of hair from all three dogs and then covered it with a vintage robins egg blue faceted glass cabochon.  The mix of hair is a little hidden secret, but Lili will always know that it's there.

Sadly, after a hard fought battle, sweet little Zombie passed away just a couple of weeks ago.    Having gone through such a similar fight with Clarence I was just crushed for Lili and her husband.  It is insanely hard to lose any of our babies, but somehow when you lose one mid battle it is more excruciating.  I don't know if I can articulate why...I think it just feels incomplete.  It feels like you were robbed.  I don't know if that makes sense.  Bottom line I suppose it doesn't really matter.  It always hurts.  It breaks our hearts every. single. time.  And we go back for more.  We go back for more because the love, the unconditional, unending love our dogs give us is worth every bit of the heartache.  And if I can make something for people to hold on to, to wear when their loved one is gone then that is an absolute honor.  These pieces are what I live for.