When I was younger I use to have a painter turtle as a pet. Painter turtles are among some of the nicest turtles out there. They are always curious, poking their heads up to investigate any visitors to the local pond.
I wanted to capture the idea of a pond in a ring without using resin. So I took some Pioneer Swirl and turned it into a cabochon. I then drilled three holes into the stone. The lily pads are curved under the cabochon while the main turtle is directly attached to a solid piece of silver. The stone is also secured with a non typical bezel of stones and a silver branch.
The pond is a spring and the water needs to flow somewhere so I carved/inlayed copper rivers flowing down each side of the ring. Aligning the rivers are stones with a couple trees that fell over to create little land bridges for squirrels and critters.
The stone I used is a very special stone called an Isle Royale Greenstone. Island stones are far more rare than any diamond. This color of stone is also the rarest and most sought after. This is old stock Isle Royale Greenstone.
Size 7 1/4
can be sized up to an 8