Herbarium in Amethyst

Sterling Silver & Lilac Amethyst Botanical Earrings

A leaf can disappear and still leave something behind.

Herbarium in Amethyst begins with real dried leaves and a sheet of sterling silver. Each leaf was placed against the metal and passed through my rolling mill under tremendous pressure, pressing its natural structure directly into the silver.

The leaf itself is sacrificed in the process. What remains is its impression: branching veins, delicate cells, and tiny irregularities preserved in metal like a botanical record.

After creating the impressions, I cut the sterling silver into disks approximately the size of a quarter and carefully formed each one into a shallow concave shape. Rather than using a steel dapping block, I worked with a wooden block, dapping punches, and a rawhide mallet, gradually shaping the silver while protecting the fine leaf texture from being flattened or marred.

The resulting disks have a gentle dimensional curve that catches the light while allowing the botanical impressions to remain remarkably crisp.

Above each disk rests a faceted lilac amethyst framed in sterling silver, its soft violet color shifting from lavender to deeper purple as it moves. A second faceted amethyst briolette hangs below, adding movement and a final flash of translucent color.

The contrast is quietly striking: the geometry of a faceted gemstone beside the intricate architecture of something that once grew.

Because the impressions were made from real leaves, the patterns are not stamped, engraved, or mechanically reproduced. Each is an actual record of the leaf that created it, and no two impressions can ever be precisely alike.

Herbarium in Amethyst is part jewelry, part botanical artifact: a fleeting piece of the natural world given another life in sterling silver.

Details

• High-grade natural lilac amethyst
• Faceted amethyst connector stones
• Faceted amethyst briolette drops
• Sterling silver
• Sterling silver posts and backs
• Botanical impressions created from real dried leaves using a rolling mill
• Sterling silver disks individually cut and hand-dapped
• Approximately quarter-sized silver disks
• Each botanical impression is naturally unique
• Handcrafted in Colorado
• One of a kind