(How I Got Started With Wire Jewelry)

I talked my husband into buying my original piece of ammolite for me in 1994, while on vacation. It was in a pendant and I asked the jeweler to reset it into a ring. (That was my first mistake!) When I got the ring in the mail, it was gorgeous. There was a slight flaw on one edge where a prong looked bent, but the ring was so gorgeous and I was so happy with it. I made a mental note to have the setting checked when we went on our next vacation, but the jeweler was out of business by the time we returned.

The stone was the most beautiful piece of ammolite I have ever seen. It was a very, very tiny dragonskin pattern that looked like stained glass. Most of the stone was a vibrant crimson red, with some emerald green poking through on the upper corner. When in sunlight, the stone displayed wonderful color shifting - the red and greens would shift to a blue and orange combination - then to a yellow and green combination. It was absolutely spectacular - even my husband enjoyed playing with it.

I wore the ring constantly. The spinel cap began separating from the stone and a little bit of fog started showing where the prong had originally looked bent. I started taking the ring off when I was anywhere near water.

I had two different gemologists tell me that "opticon" introduced under the cap in a vacuum would fix the stone. I agreed to have that done. (My second mistake!!) The stone was now so totally fogged, you could not see the color or pattern. I took it off, but it sat next to my sink, where I saw it every morning and evening. I had a sick feeling in my stomach every time I thought about the beautiful stone I had wrecked!

I started looking for a stone to replace it - but I still kept asking about the possibility of removing the cap and repairing it. No one could be bothered, until I found a wonderful husband and wife team. He took the time to take the cap off and repair the stone, so I can wear it once again.

In his opinion, when the stone was reset, the jeweler applied too much pressure and broke the back of the stone, thereby also breaking the seal of the cap. The stone had been a doublet (a spinel capped natural). The natural shale was no longer stable, so he had to grind it away and place the ammolite on a new backing material. (The stone is now a triplet.)

Unfortunately, either the original epoxy used or the first repair attempt or both left so much stuff on the stone’s surface, that he had to grind it down, to remove the old glues before putting the cap back on. The very, very tiny scales were ground off, leaving a larger pattern. The vivid reds also were in that layer and came off, exposing all of the scales that only used to just peek through and show their colors in the right light. The color shifting is basically gone, but there are lots of yellows and oranges showing constantly. I was so happy to have the stone back!

But, while I was waiting for the verdict as to whether or not the stone could be fixed, I was looking at the ammolite they had for sale. I developed a very bad case of ammolitus. Somehow, I just could not stop myself from buying. Which led to a new problem of finding a jeweler local to me to set my ammolite. It is near to impossible to find a jeweler that knows how to work with opal, let alone ammolite - at least in the states. So, somehow I stumbled onto wire jewelry. I took to it easily and enjoyed it thoroughly. There is minimal pressure put on the stones, so there is little danger of damaging the stone. It is also easy to cut off a setting, to replace it with another, should that be desired sometime in the future. I made myself learn on other stones before I would let myself touch the ammolite I had been collecting. And I kept buying ammolite. I soon realized that my hobby was much too expensive and I would either have to start a business or quit - and so, Espy Jewelry was started.

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