Can you imagine seeing a flower bloom? Not just happening by and noticing that a bud has opened, but actually seeing it happen, having your eyes on it at the moment of flowering?

So many things have to happen at just the right instant for such a thing to be possible. You have to be in the right place at the right time. You have to be aware of the plant and its bud. The bud has to be teetering on the cusp of ripeness. Your eyes have to be on the bud at the instant maturity is reached and the petals open.

In a way, that’s exactly how Ronda creates her unique designs. From the drawing table to the preparation of materials to completion and final polish, she visualizes each step. Says Ronda, “I can see the finished piece even before I start.”

Working with the 22-karat gold that is her passion, Ronda draws on the ancient technique of granulation to create jewelry with accents of tiny gold grains. These grains are so incredibly small that there are an astonishing 50,000–60,000 grains to an ounce of gold! On a sheet of gold, Ronda arranges delicate curves and curlicues of fine wire and intricate patterns of gold grain.

Each element—first the largest, later the smallest in size—is glued into place and heated with a hand torch. Ronda calls this operation “the ultimate in torch control.” She must heat the grains enough for the surface to melt, fusing them to the base form, but she cannot allow the centers to liquify, lose shape and merge together. This gives her, Ronda explains, a temperature window of only a few degrees, degrees that are the difference between elation and dejection.
She admits that, more than once, she’s “broken down into wracking sobs when hours of labor are destroyed in a fraction of a second.” Acknowledging the depth of her commitment, she realizes that “you become part of it. Your heart and soul go into every piece.”

For Ronda, the whole process pushes her skills to the limit—and she loves rising to the challenge, time and time again. “The excitement of taking it right to the edge, every time,” she laughs, “is worth the effort, every time.”

See Ronda’s designs at: www.rondacoryell.com.