You will recall that way back in January I lost my wedding ring.  It has never shown up.  We ordered a new one, the exact design, from our favorite jeweler, but a) it had to be special ordered; b) the company that makes them waits until there are enough orders to fill before filling them; and c) our favorite jeweler decided to retire.  So we canceled the order and went looking.

Specifically we went looking in Asheville, our favorite new destination for art, food, and fun times.  There was one artist whose jewelry I really liked the last time we were there, and so while we looked at All The Rings everywhere we went, I had a gut feeling that we’d find what we were looking for at this young woman’s studio.

Alas, when we went to Cotton Mill Studios on Saturday, Christie Calaycay was not there.  Her studio was locked.  I was truly bummed.

However, when we drove by later in the day, lights were on in the studio and I did a quick U-turn to go check.  She was in, and indeed, her work was what we were looking for.  I picked a squarish ring (like my old one), with a bark-like finish, in white gold.  (I had been wearing a replacement ring from Wal-mart—it was silver and I got used to the color.  Plus, it seemed appropriate to shift tonalities.)

It took about a month and a half for her to craft the ring and get it to us, and it is a thing of beauty:

Here it is on the newly sealed and polished center of the labyrinth:

It’s not as square as my old one, and I will always miss it, but this is a beautiful thing and I love it.  Thanks be to my lovely first wife!

For the record, I also bought a square earring with much the same finish while we were there.