{"id":14689,"date":"2012-03-03T00:01:24","date_gmt":"2012-03-03T05:01:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendybrandes.com\/blog\/?p=14689"},"modified":"2012-03-04T14:55:42","modified_gmt":"2012-03-04T19:55:42","slug":"livia-ring-in-marchs-birthstone-aquamarine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wendybrandes.com\/blog\/2012\/03\/livia-ring-in-marchs-birthstone-aquamarine\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewel of the Month: Aquamarine, March’s Birthstone"},"content":{"rendered":"

All you March babies are entitled to a fabulous birthday gift this month, and I’ve got the perfect thing. I made one of my 18K gold Livia poison rings<\/a> with March’s birthstone, aquamarine. My aquamarine is a curved, polished cabochon<\/a>, rather than the more typical faceted<\/a> gem. The cut gives the stone a soft, gorgeous color that complements the satin finish of the gold. This ring is $6,000 and available exclusively at Broken English Jewelry<\/a> in Santa Monica, Calif. It’s the Jewel of the Month!<\/p>\n

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Aquamarine Livia ring shown closed. Click to purchase at Broken English Jewelry.<\/p><\/div>\n

The ring opens up to reveal a secret compartment.<\/p>\n

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Ring shown open. Click to purchase.<\/p><\/div>\n

The aquamarine ring is one of only two Livia rings that I’ve done with a cabochon stone. The other one is set with a moonstone. It is also available exclusively at Broken English.<\/p>\n

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Moonstone ring shown closed. Click to purchase.<\/p><\/div>\n

Once these two are gone, they’re gone! I won’t be making any more like them.\u00a0 Whichever ladies are lucky enough to get these will have one-of-a-kind pieces.<\/p>\n

The Livia ring is named for the wife of Augustus, the first Roman emperor<\/a>. Some (male) rumormongers claimed she killed Augustus by feeding him poison figs<\/a>. Seems to me like a strange thing to do after 50 years of marriage, but maybe he left the toothpaste cap off the tube one time too many, and she cracked. No, I don’t really believe that. I believe that the historians were jellus h8ers, but I can’t resist a good poisoning myth when it comes to designing jewelry. Livia and Augustus never had any children, but her son Tiberius, from a previous marriage, became emperor after Augustus. I wrote more about Livia in this post<\/a>, where you can also see my Livia poison ring in 18K gold and diamonds<\/a>. That’s the style I’ll be continuing with after the cabochon Livia rings are sold.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Romans, albeit pre-Augustan Romans, I’m obsessed with the second season of Spartacu<\/em>s<\/a> on STARZ. I didn’t think I’d be able to carry on after the death of Andy Whitfield<\/a>, the actor who played the rebel slave in the first season. But MrB and I invited gorgeous designer<\/a>\/blogger<\/a> Stacy Lomman over last night for a marathon of four episodes, accompanied by\u00a0 Champagne. (Actually, I tweeted that we were about to watch it and Stacy saw it and asked to join. She only lives two blocks away so she came right over. I said to MrB, “Finally! Something great has come out of Twitter.”) Anyway, we think the women’s roles on Spartacus<\/em> are some of the best on television right now. Sure, there’s a lot of gratuitous nudity, but it is equal opportunity: both genders go full frontal when they’re taking a break from killing each other in the goriest ways imaginable. We can’t wait to see what happens with Ilythia<\/a>, now that she’s stuck with her husband after the failure of her plan to abort her baby and run off with a new man!<\/p>\n

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Ilythia wonders what to do next.<\/p><\/div> <\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

All you March babies are entitled to a fabulous birthday gift this month, and I’ve got the perfect thing. I made one of my 18K gold Livia poison rings with March’s birthstone, aquamarine. My aquamarine is a curved, polished cabochon, rather than the more typical faceted gem. The cut gives the stone a soft, gorgeous…<\/p>\n

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