Fordite Ring by Karen Gilbert

Lovely round cut antique Fordite bullseye 'stone' sits in a lightly oxidized, sterling silver bezel and band.

Fordite is made from cutting cabachons from hunks of paint layers built up over time from the old process of car part painting. When lapidary techniques are used to cut and polish a piece for jewelry, wonderful layers of color emerge, even glittery metallics! No two are alike and often nifty bullseye patterns show up when cut just so, like here!

Size: 8.25

Handmade by Karen Gilbert of Salida, Colorado.

As a young girl growing up in Iowa you would often find me sitting on my front porch turning my old gum wrappers into beads.  The love for creating wearable art has always been a constant in my life. I now live and work from my home studio in a small mountain town in Colorado.

I am for the most part self taught. Cold forging, lost wax casting, traditional silversmithing, lapidary and wire wrapping are all techniques I use in my work.  The oxidized metals include sterling silver, 14k gold-fill, bronze, copper and brass.

Prospecting is another passion of mine and you will often find some of my earthly finds used in my designs.    I have a love of the old world and it's history with beads and have been collecting ancient and antique glass & stone beads for over 30 years now. Nothing thrills me more than seeing one of my scarce beads side by side with a sparkling faceted gemstone or contemporary handmade lampwork bead!

Find more of Karen's work here.