A hallmarked silver carousel candle holder decorated with the twelve birthstones, set in and hung from 18 carat gold chain, surrounding three jumping horses, embellished with gold tails and saddles. The carousel is housed in a handmade rosewood box with silver fittings. The rosewood box has a draw which holds spare candles and a letterpress handprinted booklet with a Gregorian birthstone poem which inspired the making of this piece.

Weight and Dimensions:

Carousel
47 grams, 45 x 45 x 85mm

Box
256 grams, 90 x 70 x 125mm

This is a very delicate object and should only be polished with the utmost care.

My discovery of a Gregorian poem on birthstones inspired me to make a candle holder for a celebration using the poem as the basis for my design, planning to use all the birthstones. I spent quite a lot of time thinking about how I might execute it. I I decided to make a small fairground carousel with the twelve stones and a some horses, in fairground style. The candle would sit on top. It would live in a lovely wooden container which would also hold the candles and a handprinted copy of the poem.
Carousels are generally quite ornate, so I used some gold to embellish the horses, set the birthstones in gold and decorated the carousel itself with various textures. I sourced the stones, found a furniture and box-maker with whom I collaborated and tracked down a printer who could handset the poem on a format small enough so that it would fit in the draw. From the initial idea to the completely finished piece took approximately 10 months.