ANDREA LI

Why Moonstone Is Cut Smooth

A dome works like a lens where a facet works like a mirror. Eight marquis cabochons up one side of a hand-formed oval, and a gemstone drop that keeps the pendant hanging straight.

The Last Kunzite I Had

Growth tubes like fine parallel needles, healing feathers that read as faint veils, and a vermeil oval folded over a dowel so the stone could hang between two chains.

Why I Made a Bangle Instead of Another Cuff

Two cuffs already in one collection, so the third bracelet had to be neither. A single asymmetric wave formed on a jig, carrying a cluster built for a different piece.

Why Matching Earrings Are Harder Than They Look

Both clusters are built at the same moment, every movement mirrored, so one is the other reversed rather than a copy. The three pairs that close Second Light.

What Kunzite Looks Like at the Bench

A stone like pale pink hard candy, striations shimmering as it turns, seated into a folded vermeil crescent because it had only one drill hole.

Why a Link Bracelet Takes Three Days

Seven hand-bent links, twenty-eight drilled holes that all had to align, and three days at the bench before a single stone went in.

Moontide: The Moonstone Necklace I Was Not Sure Would Work

The first piece of Second Light: a graduated fan of blue-flash moonstone, engineered a hundred moves ahead.

Halo: A Beautiful Contradiction

A shortage of 12-gauge wire became a floating pastel choker, given its spine by a clasp moved to the front.

How a Name Comes to a One-of-a-Kind Piece: The Fairy Dynamite Story

A pastel opal-and-topaz cluster, named by the community that watched it come together.

The Stone That Sat in My Drawer for Years: An Amethyst Stalactite Necklace

A Tucson geode slice, years in a drawer, grown into a one-of-a-kind pastel cluster.

The Choker That Floats: A Rainbow Moonstone Story

A rainbow moonstone cluster wound up one side of the base so it floats at the throat.

The Ovals That Found a New Home: A Vermeil Collar Necklace

Rehomed gold vermeil ovals, a mixed-beryl cluster, and angel-wing baroque pearls.

Fairy Dynamite's Sister: A Rainbow Pearl Lariat

A hand-bailed grey pearl lariat threaded through a gold vermeil oval, finished with an unplanned second drop.

The Wire That Found a Home Twice: Green Amethyst Hoops and Their Necklace

Orphaned square wire that found a home twice, as geometric hoops and a three-oval necklace.

Cascade: The Amethyst Stalactite Necklace That Falls Like Water

A second stalactite set point-down, with three rows of chevron chain that waterfall into a triple drop.

Ember: The Smallest Stalactite Became a Cuff

The smallest of three slices, wrapped into a fabricated gold-filled cuff with stones threaded through it.

When Monet Meets the BenchReading Sara Mrad's Fleur de Lumiere Through Tamar

Multi-Color Sapphire BriolettesMy Quiet Constant

The Amethyst ChokerWhen the Design Rewrites Itself

The Green Amethyst CollarDesigning in Three Dimensions

The Pink Kunzite ChokerA Wearable Rebellion

The Pastel Gemstone Multi-Strand NecklaceWhen Failure Becomes Two Designs

The Pastel Gemstone Statement CuffA Quiet Rebellion

The Pastel Gemstone Cuff BraceletThe Piece That Refused to Quit

The Pendant Pastel Gemstone Drop Necklace

The Topaz Gemstone Drop EarringsThe Art of Not Competing

The Green Long Gemstone Tassel Earrings

The Oval Chain Link Drop Gemstone EarringsThe Accidental Alignment

The Blue Gemstone Drop Choker

The Green Long Gemstone Necklace with Chain Tassel DropWhen the Circle Wouldn't Behave

The Gold Long Green Gemstone Y-Drop NecklaceThe Illusion of Simplicity

The Pastel Gemstone Ear Cuffs

The Green Long Square Gemstone Drop EarringsWhen It Finally Flows