Tendrils Rings

Recycled sterling, merlinite (dendritic opal), green onyx and prehnite rings in the shop

I’ve been holding onto these merlinite cabochons for a little while now and I had this idea knocking around that I wanted to pay homage to those delicate little dendrites which reminded me of soft green shoots emerging from the snow, bare winter branches and ferny tendrils. These lines from Yeats’ “The Stolen Child” kept repeating in my head:

We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.

Yeats captured the image of curling fern fronds dipping into silvered moonlit water so beautifully. I wanted to create the feel of that with these rings, accenting the intricate lines with pops of fresh green. But when I started creating them, my elaborate design schemes sort of just fell away and in the end these rings ended up quite simple: single stones and chunky wide bands. I’m happy with them, but I’m also glad I still have a pile of merlinite if I ever want to revisit this idea.