Birkat Kohanim Coin PendantSeptember 2022 Sterling silver, 14 karat gold To commemorate the bat mitzvah of a friend's daughter, I was asked to come up with a special piece. The commission had competition from the simchah itself, in that the ceremony was held in a synagogue in Rome that dates to the first century c. e.it was going to be difficult to get as special as that. To keep to the theme, we created a pendant modeled after a first century rebellion coin. We kept the image

lapis and cloisonné beads

and the name of the hand-shaped amulet actually comes from the Arabic word for "five" (a reference to the five fingers)

Planetary symbol: ☉

the left half is made of a thick piece of fine silver whose surface has been beaten and artificially blackened with patina

It seemed like an artistic way to deal with the two greatest anxieties in my life

and the two of them should always be a source of peace and comfort for each other

Kauaʻi sunrise shell

or at least just a piano-force

As an added bonus

detailed design that fully covers the top of her finger and the clean narrow shank reminded me of a spoon ring—which I was confident is a kind of jewelry that the bride might actually wear—so I added raised rounded borders to the shank to emphasize that motif

Photos of installed Ner Tamid by Stephanie Foti

Since the most common meaning of 陽 (yáng) is "sun