Hawaii Moon Rabbit Necklace

Recently I was asked to create a very special piece for a wonderful woman whose birthday happened to land on Mother’s Day this year! Her husband asked if I could create a piece that incorporated their two little girls and their life together. He told me that their oldest daughter is their bunny baby and their second daughter is their moon baby. The girls’ birthstones are emerald and garnet. They also live in Hawaii so I wanted to incorporate the ocean into their design as well. Hence the birth of the Hawaii Moon Rabbit Necklace.

Here’s the initial design sketch of the moon gazing rabbit. Her name starts with an ‘S’, so I created the bunny in an abstract ‘S’ shape. I love all the symbolism in this piece!

Here the rabbit is formed out of mitsuro wax. I was SOOO excited about the design when I figured it out. I ADORE that little bunny tail, it’s the cutest thing! Here the rabbit and wave have been cast in metal and the garnet has been set in its tube. I was looking at the placement, nothing was attached together yet. I always think it’s fun seeing how my pieces look next to their sketches. Here is the sketched layout of the starry background before etching the stars onto the back plate.

Here I’m checking the placement of the rabbit, moon, and wave in relationship with all the stars before etching.

Rabbit, wave, circle, and garnet all have their own unique finishes and are all attached together here. And the bunny is finally awake with its little Chatham emerald eye!

Finished piece!

The star background was etched, given a black patina, and each star was carefully polished to remove the patina and give the stars some sparkle. This was the first piece that I’ve ever created that I set a precious stone in! That tiny little Chatham emerald sure does sparkle a lot!

It was such an honor to create such a personal and special piece. She loves it and let me know that the stars and gems equaling 8 was also special because they were married on 08/08/08! She sent me this special story about her necklace and her little one: “Wearing my new necklace today (and basically every day since getting it 🙂 ) My 2 yr old pointed to the moon and said “Me?” and I said yes and then she pointed to the bunny and said “That’s sister?”. Amazing she got it from one time showing her days ago. So treasured!”