Fiore d'Inverno Earrings in polished silver with citrine quartz, thirteen-millimeter corollas

How it is made

The words of the trade, one by one, explained to those who do not know them.

01

Corolla from a single sheet

The corolla is not an assembly of petals: it is a single sheet, hollowed until it becomes a shallow cup and left irregular at the rim, with the folds running out from the center. The wavy rim cannot be corrected twice — stretched silver does not go back — so the first fold is the one that stays. In the middle of the cup is the one point that has to stay flat: it is the seat of the stone, and if the cup has moved there the setting does not sit.

02

Lever back clasp

The hook passes behind the lobe and closes on itself. It goes on with one movement, has no screws to lose and carries the weight without pulling.

03

Citrine quartz

Citrine is quartz, the same mineral species as rock crystal and amethyst: all that changes is how much iron it holds and how that iron sits in the lattice. Yellow of natural origin is rare, and most of the citrine on the market is born amethyst and turns yellow in the kiln — a stable treatment, declared in the gem trade, which cannot be told by eye. At the seventh degree of hardness it stands up to daily wear better than almost any other colored stone; but the same firing that gives it its color can also take it away, and strong continuous light or the heat of a nearby flame will drain it. Yellow once gone does not come back.