I'm Ringing in the Rain, just ringing in the rain...

[howeird]

When I got back from Thailand in December with my load of sapphires, one of the first things I did was go to Goldfield's Jewelers with one of the bigger, brighter stones and ordered a ring for my Mom. I went to pick it up today.

Click on the images to see them bigger
   

And now a blatant plug. Steve Chang made this ring, he now runs the shop, a little hole in the wall half a block south of Murphy Street in Sunnyvale:

Goldfield's Jewelers
141 E. Washington Street
Sunnyvale, CA 94086
(408) 730-1344
goldfields141@sbcglobal.net

I found Steve about 15 years ago when he was probably the junior jeweler and Goldfield's was a couple of blocks away on Evelyn. A friend had graduated with a doctorate in marine biology after many years studying squid, and I had just been to Thailand and had a couple of small black star sapphires in hand. Steve made earrings from a pattern we worked up together, each one a squid with sapphire eyes.



They turned out beautifully. So the next time I had a special job, it was an easy choice.

Steve said the ring would be ready to pick up today, and usually I go there at about 2 pm, but since I had shopping to do and wanted to spend some time at the office tweaking the classroom for monday, I went at 1, after lunch at Turmeric on Murphy.  He wasn't there, but his wife was, and she commented on my Thai T-shirt. Turns out she is Laotian, and Lao is a dialect of Thai. She called Steve, he said he would be back in half an hour, so I went to cruise the weekend market on Murphy. Got back in about 40 minutes, Steve wasn't there yet, but his wife and I had a nice chat about Asian politics and history, and she told me they were planning on going to the Lao temple tomorrow for Songkhran. I didn't know there was one. It's in San Jose. I'm tempted to go there instead of the Thai temple in Fremont.

Anyway, I'm jazzed about how well the ring turned out, and now I have to figure out when I can get up to Seattle and give it to mom. Her birthday is not till the end of May, I don't think I'll wait that long. 

Comments

[pyrzqxgl.livejournal.com]

That is one fabulous-looking ring.

[edith-mf.livejournal.com]

What great fun both of those are. Very pretty! Maybe you could have a texas tie made for your dad?

[howeird]

Maybe you could have a texas tie made for your dad?
My dad doesn't wear jewelry, is seriously anti-bling. When I came back from Peace Corps I brought back a very nice ring for him which had a couple of colored star sapphires, and he just put it in a drawer. My mom wears it from time to time, though it is definitely a man's style ring. She likes the pretty gems.

Dad likes more brain-involving gifts. The one he's liked best so far was the book of make-it-yourself paper airplanes, something like this one. A close second was a rewood whirleygig, which prompted him to make all kinds of wind-activated spinner things out of used soda cans, a couple of them are still on the deck railing.

[scendan.livejournal.com]

Beautiful jewelry! I love the squid!!!! LOL!!!!!