Sometimes a girl just wants to have a little fun. When my client came to me she had some eighties-fantastic opal earrings, a gleam in her eye, and one goal. She wanted to dust the eighties off of those opals.

I wish I had a before picture of those earrings, but take it from me, they looked like Liz Taylor and Lisa Frank joined forces to design some ready-to-wear studs. I could practically hear the White Diamonds ad in the background when she showed them to me. But eighties nostalgia aside, when I removed the opals from their dated setting, they were actually extremely pretty. They had an abundance of light play — a very desirable trait in opals. Their color was soft, with hints of pink and coral. And outside of the setting, the pear shape looked modern and interesting, rather than dated.

She gave me carte blanche to design something that was fun, flirty, and decidedly modern. I came up with a set of stacking rings that could be worn together, or separately. I used blue-green tourmaline, diamonds, and coral as accent stones, and put them in bezel settings to protect the fragile opal. The final product turned out to be modern, with a bit of flair. These rings are delicate, yet bold. My client loves them, and I may or may not be a little jealous that she gets to wear them all the time.