Early this year, I unveiled the first part of a mini-collection inspired by FitzRoy, my cat who is Instagram-famous for sitting in a big orange bowl.
FitzRoy in his bowl.
Cartier has its iconic panther designs, but the Exotic Shorthair cat demographic was sadly neglected by the fine-jewelry industry. I had to come to the rescue.
First, I did FitzRoy earring jackets with birthstone studs.
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Then I did 18K gold FitzRoy ear climbers.
Modeled by Alyssa of the Jewelry Altar.
Jennifer Heebner of JCK Magazine wrote about those designs in April.
At the time Jennifer did that article, I was already at work on the pièce de résistance of my cat designs: a FitzRoy-in-his-bowl pendant. This is one of the photos I used for inspiration.
Here’s the original sketch.
The next step after the sketch was a wax carving.
After I did the wax, I was able to figure out how many orange sapphires I needed and what size they should be. It can be very challenging to find extremely small but high-quality colored stones. I finally found a good source for tiny sapphires at the Tucson Gem Show in February.
I looked at this for a few days and then realized I needed to turn the design into a Y-necklace, which required more than 30 additional sapphires.
I’m so much happier with this version! I like the way the new orange sapphire ball echoes the shape of the opal clutched in the cat’s paws.
Click to enlarge.
This necklace isn’t on my website yet, though it will be soon. It’s a luxury design, so the price is only available upon request. Email me at info at wendybrandes dot com to ask.
You also can use the same email address to contact me about designing a one-of-a-kind jewelry tribute to your own pet. I’ve already done custom dog cufflinks; it’s time to do a gorgeous client’s cat!