#would anyone like sketches of spinel

[spaciebabie]

spinel is so jaspercore

[love-takes-work]

The Art of Steven Universe the Movie: Outline & Review

The Art of Steven Universe The Movie was released March 3, 2020. It's a wonderful journey through the concept art, character development, and experience of fashioning these ideas into the movie we all love.

Nuts and bolts: The book is published by Dark Horse, and it was designed by Ryan Sands (a zine specialist), with commentary by Takafumi Hori, Kat Morris, and Rebecca Sugar. It includes art by Rebecca Sugar, Kat Morris, Takafumi Hori, Alonso Ramirez Ramos, Angie Wang, Ashley Fisher, Becky Dreistadt, Chromosphere, Danny Cragg, Elle Michalka, Hilary Florido, Ian Jones-Quartey, Jasmin Lai, Jeff Liu, Joe Johnston, Julian De Perio, Katie Mitroff, Leonard Hung, Miki Brewster, Patrick Bryson, and Paul Villeco.

Full review below with low-quality images.

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

An introduction explains the same origin story that Rebecca Sugar told us in the movie DVD's commentary: that she accidentally restored her phone to factory settings and lost years of important stuff, and she ended up applying that devastating premise to her movie. That combined with the concept of "breaking" the main premise of a TV show to make a movie was how she got started developing the story. The opening of the movie styled like a storybook is blocked out with some great drawings and breakdowns of which narration would go to what storybook pages. This is combined with some partial sheet music for "The Tale of Steven." Rebecca writes about how she felt having to wrap pre-production on Season 5 only to take on this even bigger movie challenge. The biggest challenge was writing all these songs in such a short time--six weeks--and having to deal with the stress, being crushed under all that pressure while still wanting to do this story so badly, and it was humbling to still have to work so hard to sell the idea. The feeling of relief to finally be done that Steven expresses in "Happily Ever After" is very similar to what Rebecca went through feeling like she wanted to be finally done but still knowing what she had to do to climb an even bigger mountain. Some very cute Steven-at-age-16 and Connie in Space Camp clothes follow. Notes indicate that Steven and Connie are the same height now, but his poofy hair is just slightly higher than her head.

Notes from 2017 also give us the "Neckstravaganza": design notes on Steven's new form, with a neck and a jacket. It's very cool.

Some beautiful Joe Johnston boards follow, with sequences from the "Happily Ever After" song. We also get Angie Wang's final design (with Ashley Fisher's color) of the injector, including some sketchy concept art for it from Rebecca Sugar and Hilary Florido. In the rough concept notes, they call this the "Mega Injector," with notes for Takafumi Hori to use for scale. It looks beyond huge in a Leonard Hung drawing.

Spinel concepts are next. Some notes explain that aivi & surasshu (the usual composers) were involved very early since it was a musical, and Rebecca included them when pitching the story to the Crew so they could organically develop the sound. The heart shape was central to Spinel from the beginning, and early versions of her had an entire heart shape to her head.

(There's a doodle of what looks like a cartoon dog in the pile of drawings shown in this section. It's not clear what that was.)

Spinel was given the heart imagery partly because Rebecca had learned early on about the importance of symbols, and when it came time to assign one to Steven, the star was chosen because it's so positive and is read as gender-neutral. Rebecca still hadn't used hearts for anything, so it was time. They also incorporated really old, dated character design ideas to make Spinel feel like an outdated cartoon from the rubber hose era.

The aspect of her design with the running mascara versus cute eyelashes predated the rotation of her Gem. Rebecca likes to start with more realistic sketches when she's figuring out a character, and then she'll move to making it more cartoony. A quote from Miki Brewster is shared: "Spinel can do anything, as long as it's entertaining!" Her "best friend" form is described as "a doll for friendship fun & games! Of a different era--hokey, charming, weird...super gullible and trusting. Incredibly loyal, constant entertainment machine!"

When it comes to developing her "worst enemy" form, Rebecca explains a bit that she has a really complicated relationship with old cartoons because nostalgia is not compelling to her--the animation from the 1930s is so neat, but considering the social limits and the way the industry was at the time, Rebecca doesn't think she could have participated. Especially considering nowadays she even had to struggle to be allowed to tell the stories she needed to tell and it would have been impossible five years ago. The norms of the time aren't entirely extricable from the art itself.

Takafumi Hori weighs in with commentary on how fun it was to animate a scary but fun character on top of Miki Brewster's boards for the "Other Friends" fight sequence.

Next, moving on from the central new character, they also spend some time discussing Steg. Rebecca first explains "Steg Multiverse" as a character so uplifting he can make you fly, combining Greg's unending support and Steven's positive power. She makes reference to the early "stegosaurus" concepts they had for his look, but they didn't want to lose the opportunity to have his hair flow. Rebecca confirms that the pompadour idea was established in "Steven and the Stevens" so they wanted to give it to Steg, and she credits Paul Villeco for really finalizing his design and bringing him to life.

And of course the poofy hair from Steven and the double-necked guitar was essential for Steg.

Next, the book gives us a whole page of handwritten notes about "Drift Away." Kat Morris explains the intentional duality of the scene--how Spinel should be shown seeing her own past with new perspective, being embarrassed, blending together who she was with who she is. The partial lyrics to the song and some sketchy boards are offered.

Rebecca shares her personal connection with the subject matter--how she once left a stuffed animal in her garden and the side facing the sun faded. It really made a mark on her as a child that things changed without her, because of her actions, and that she'd left this treasured toy alone without thinking about it all that time, letting it be affected by the elements without her interference. She wrote "Everything Stays" for Adventure Time based on that plushie, and realized that she was writing about it again for the Steven Universe movie.

Many beautiful miniature boards are shown in this section.

Partial sheet music for "Drift Away" is also offered here. It's credited to Rebecca Sugar and Aimee Mann. The music sheet is followed by some lovely images of the garden by Julian De Perio, Patrick Bryson, and Leonard Hung.

Takafumi Hori returns for a discussion of the final fight sequence during "Change," which he animated from Jeff Liu's boards. He discusses trying to keep the fight feeling dramatic and serious even though Spinel's fighting style is funny. He wanted to keep her tension. Hori-san throws in a word of thanks for being allowed to work on his favorite show again, praises Jeff and Miki, and compliments Rebecca Sugar's demos. He hoped we'd get a soundtrack album. (Of course, we did.)

Some final boards by Rebecca Sugar and Becky Dreistadt of the characters in their show gear descending the steps close out the book. There are also some cute little doodles at the end on the credits page, like a head of lettuce with caption "lettuce adore you" and Spinel in a drifting go-kart laughing, captioned "drift away."

The back cover pictures Steven with his arm around a heartbroken Spinel, comforting her.

Overall, the book is wonderful--the accompanying information is generally not new to anyone who watched the DVD's documentary and commentary, and many of the sketches have been released one way or another directly by the artists through Instagram, Twitter, or Tumblr blogs. There was still plenty of wonderful new concept art that wasn't already out there, and looking at some of the iterations Spinel and Steg went through was particularly captivating. There was no new insight into the development of the plot beyond the premise and the Spinel-related conflict, though; nothing about how they decided to focus the Garnet storyline, the Pearl storyline, and the Amethyst storyline for how they would each get their memories back, and there was no spotlight on their movie versions--modern Cotton Candy Garnet, copycat baby Amethyst, and factory settings uncustomized Pearl. I was hoping especially for some Amethyst stuff because the movie was the first place we got to see her with the simple default outfit and segmented limbs. It was primarily an art book with commentary on some of the most definitive movie aspects--it didn't reach the depth that Art and Origins gave us. It has a start-to-finish feeling in a sense, but it's mostly just splashes of information that are fun to know. It's a great companion and definitely should not be missed by any fan of the movie. I recommend it heartily!

[SU Book and Comic Reviews]

[franeridart]

Anon said: *sees your Kiri///Jirou art* I actually have an urge to write that Kiri////bowl fic now.

That’s good on you anon!! I hope you’ll find the motivation to write everything you wish to!! (òuò)9

Anon said: God literally just ur pencil sketches are amazing, like some days I just scroll thru ur whole blog hhhhhh it's all so GOOD (◍•ᴗ•◍)❤

That’s so nice to hear oh my god!! Thank you so much!!! TT^TT <3

Anon said: Damn, Kirishima looks SO GOOD in that last piece! God- the outfit, the MUSCLES AND THE BANDANA THINGY (idk what to call it ahaha) AROUND HIS ARM 😩🤚 your talent omg

Thank you!!! I wanted to make him extra buff to contrast nicely with how tiny Jirou is, and I wanted to make him sorta punkish to fit with Jirou without making him look un-kiri-like, I think it came out okay??? I’m glad you like him!!!!

Anon said: Hiii! Have you had any ideas to release your own artbook? Your drawings are one of the best in the fandom, I would loooove to get it, and not only me, I'm sure

Ahhhh you’re so kind, thank you so much!!!! And for now I’ve only considered them in pdf form? maybe?? But who knows! It’s so nice to know there’s someone interested in the possibility of it!! <3

Anon said: hi i used to be really into your steven universe bnha crossover art anf always wanted you to make more content for that but lowkey after this stuff with spinel i think the implied association between bakuboi and pink diamond would be too much for me. Id get sad. Can you just IMAGINE kirishima singing found???? I mean, kiri is clearly like supposed to be pearl but STILL my BONES HURT just thinking about it. Anyway love you and your art, keep doing what you do please and thank you :))

Ah, but Bakugou was never meant to be Pink haha he was his own gem doing his own thing and being in love with his own Pearl 💕 thank you for liking the concept, anyway, and thank you for the compliments as well!! <3

Anon said: wait wait where did bakugo's big scar come from??

You mean the one in the scars comic, right? I had nothing specific in mind, probably from a fight against a villain gone a bit too wrong? Dunno, it was just something to have Kiri for a second be reminded of unpleasant times, you know, for the sake of a tiny bit of angst haha

Anon said: i scrolled back all the way to ur bakuroo day and by god i cired rereading all of them like omg i loved that pair so much and ur posts were!!!!!! aa thanks dude thank u for making them

AHHHHHH THANK YOU!!!!!! It’d be nice to see them back in the manga now, wouldn’t it? I sure hope they’ll have some more interactions TT^TT

Anon said: What do you think of the remedial courses squad (Bakugou, Todoroki, Inasa, Camie)

Love them!!!! Though I’m generally a fan of any group including Bakugou, and even more when Todoroki is included as well xD

Anon said: yo, idk if anyones told you this before but one of your OC's looks like Togaru Kamakiri from Class 1B. Theyre cool, i like it.

No one really needed to tell me, I do have eyes xD but yeah it’s one of the reasons I like Kamakiri so much even if he’s never done much worth notice - though it’s really just the green mohawk, isn’t it? Dave definitely doesn’t look like a mantis haha

Anon said: wAIT YOUR BIRTHDAY WAS 27 (status: 10.12) DAYS AGO WHY DID I NOT KNOW THAT WHY DID I NOT SEE A THING OH GOD

You didn’t see anything about it cause I didn’t say anything about it!! I prefer to keep my brithday to myself as much as I can, so don’t worry about not knowing!

Anon said: Will you be drawing more vampire!kiri and wolf!baku? Sorry if this is a bother >~

I do think so, yeah! I want to draw kiri helping baku through a full moon, and I want to draw their first kiss and the first time baku lets kiri drink from him, so the ideas are there! The only thing missing is the motivation for it..........as usual lol

Anon said: oh my god I love your kitty katsu comic it's so cute I love the concept of him being a cat

Thank you!!! He really is a cat-like person, isn’t he? I love that about him, between the millions of things I love about him haha

Anon said: i love ur art ok absolutely greatszzz can i grovel for some more fusions or ojiro or something???? have you got any plans for fusion au?

I probably won’t be drawing any more fusions, sorry! But I do want to draw more Ojiro in the future, so that’s yes for sure! And thank you so so much for liking my art!!!!!! <3<3

Anon said: How much would it cost for you to draw a picture for my kiribaku fanfiction?

*thinking emoji* depends on whether it’d be full colors or b/w, full body or half or bust, one person or more than one, with a background or not, how detailed it is?? There’s a lot of variables here, really!

Anon said: I don’t know how to phrase this but I just wanted to say honestly u might be one of the only things keeping me in the BNHA fandom still. Also I’m addicted to your art to the point I’m not sure if it’s healthy. Anyway hope you have a great holiday season!

Oh man I hope you’re having and will keep on having a wonderful holiday season too!! That’s such high praise for me, I’m so so glad I can keep you enjoying bnha even just a bit TT^TT thank you!!

[cosmitasiarts-moved]

I honestly, can’t say I enjoy the concept of Steven and Spinel being friends. On good terms? Yes, absolutely. But, friends? Not really a fan.

I really appreciated the way the movie handled the situation, at least between Steven and Spinel. The fact that Spinel attempted to in a sense, kill his friends, and most certainly attempted to literally kill him and the Earth, is definitely! A big put off from wanting to be friends with someone, I think!

I liked that Steven wasn’t particularly affectionate or anything, he was relatively dismissive and cold, he didn’t wanna be her friend, he never offered himself as a friend, but he did still want to help, and did try to help her, trying to assure her that she did deserve new friends who genuinely like her, and she can make new friends.

I think it was good because it showed that despite all the garbage she’s done to him and his friends, he still ultimately wants to help her, but of course he’s not gonna offer himself as a friend, and he shouldn’t. I think this is wise both because, well, he probably doesn’t like her after what she did, but also because I believe offering himself directly as a friend could result in Spinel becoming overdependent on him and him alone like she presumably was with Pink Diamond, which would be incredibly draining to him, especially if he doesn’t even like her to begin with. 

Before anyone makes any accusations or something, I’m someone with BPD. I’m speaking from the shoes of someone who used to be like Spinel. I empathize with her quite a lot and I love her character, but... I dunno. I’m personally sketched out by people who think Steven should be friends with her, at least canonically. AUs and whatnot are chill to me.

[pink-gemss]

Sorry to ask but if you havent done this already Can you do spinel with an s/o or crush that has been doodleing her in there sketch book in secret for a while and nearly of the sketches are of spinel happy or smiling. The others are just doodles of spinel doing whatever she is doing during the time they chose to sketch her. Sorry. -sleepyR

don’t apologize why would you apologize!!!! never apologize for giving me the CUTEST ASKS OKAY, BABE 💖✨💕✨💞 I’m an artist myself so I feel this on a spiritual level lmao. I hope it’s alright!!

• you’re sitting outside on the front porch one day, simply basking in the dusk sunlight with your sketchbook in your lap. Spinel, your gf, is sitting next to you and a few feet away with her eyes closed like she might fall asleep. except you know she’s just taking in the comfortable silence

• she was learning how to just close her eyes and listen. there wasn’t complete silence here like there was in the garden. here she could listen to the birds and the crickets and the cars passing by on the street. it was still quiet of course, but it was so comfortable for her

• she’s never asked directly to see your sketchbook but she knows you use it all the time. the thing almost never leaves your side. and tbh you were surprised she actually hadn’t asked sooner

• but anyways, back to the sunset on the front porch.

• Spinel opens one eye and shoots you a glance just to check up on you. the corner of her mouth curls in a half-smile upon seeing you with your ‘concentration face’ on and she lets out a short breath of laughter.

• your eyes dart from your doodling to your girlfriend, “what?”

• “noooothin’”

• you quirk a brow at her and she gives you the same look she had just given you before. you roll your eyes with a smile and look back down at your sketching. then she gets an idea

• while you aren’t looking, the gem’s neck stretches out and she slowly inches her way closer to you. there’s only a quiet stretching sound that you don’t notice anyway because you’re too wrapped up in what you’re doing atm, until Spinel lets out a hum of happiness

• your heart nearly does a flip because you weren’t expecting her to be so close so suddenly, and you slap the sketchbook closed with a flushed face, praying and praying silently that she hadn’t seen what you were doodling

• but that smirk on her face says otherwise

• “what’cha drawin’? haha, that wasn’t me was it, [Name]?”

• “um- um- uh-“

• “can I see again~?”

• and you respond with the vocal equivalent of a keyboard smash

• “you know I already love everything you show me,” she bats her eyelashes at you and you curse at her in your head because you can feel how red your face is, “you’re real talented and I don’t think that should be hidden”

• AGAIN YOU CURSE HER IN YOUR HEAd BC YOUR FACE IS RED AS HELL AND YOU KNOW THAT SHE’S JUST SMUG ABOUT IT

• but reluctantly and after a bit more relentless pleading, you decide to show her a few of your most recent pages

• Spinel just BEAMS when she sees that they’re all light doodles of not just anyone, but her!!! omg!!!!

• she’ll stare silently with the sketchbook in her hands and study the hell out of those pages. she’s looking at herself in a way, but all of these little doodles are of her with happiness and contentment written all over her face. she’s smiling in most of them and suddenly she’s the one with the flushed face.

• and who’s laughing now?

• the gem squints at you because at first she thought you were just being shy and she wanted to coax you out of that a bit. but it took a completely unexpected turn and oh holy stars that look you’re giving her right now oh my–

• she squints harder at your stupidly adorable smirk until she can feel her own face light up red and she has to look away

• her arm stretches across the deck again with the sketchbook in hand and she drops it in your lap. she bites her lip and stares intently at the ground as she does so and you can still see it from the side, but you decide to spare her of any more playful flirting.

• a few days go by since she finally learned what you were actually sketching till she asks to see them again one night. since the day on the porch, you hadn’t spoken to her again regarding the sketches until now

• she learned real quick that seeing those sketches on top of having the knowledge that not only were you the one to draw them, but you would doodle her in her random moments genuinely filled her gem with an affectionate warmth that she’d never know until now. it made her feel so . . . soft and weak oh stars what is this

• occasionally now she’ll watch you as you draw whatever you feel like drawing in the moment. and eventually she grew comfortable enough to straight up ask you to doodle her every now and again, but only because she knows that you already love to do it 💞

• it’s real comforting for you to draw, but just watching you do what you love on top of how talented you are at it is enough to make Spinel herself happy for days 💖

[rannvadraws]

So, validationthirsty gremlin that I am, I of course read all the tags on my art. And my Connie-traumatic flashbacks drawing got a lot of comments about the perspectives and how impressed people were. 

And yes, it is what I am in particular proud of with that piece.

But I didn’t draw with that good perspective just a few days ago, and I want to share with you what made the quality suddenly pop. I do warn this is also a personal vent post with some triggering mentions because personal growth is obviously personal and I feel that removing that personal part is a disservice to anyone else who is suffering from mental health issues in combination with their art.

So I started a lineup of Spinel designs last week. Just doodling them to get the forms out. (Cyan and Blue might still get some changes, I haven’t redrawn them since this draft. Once all of them are done they’ll get a separate post)

And they were alright I guess but I noticed that it really looked like they all were from different camera angles. And me being obsessive hyperfocused ape perfectionist, decided, hey, lets make a perspective grid and adjust them so they all are standing on the same floor.

Just showing the imaginary vanish points based on a foot.

So I started adjusting their bodies accordingly. (I actually drew on top of the old drawing but I don’t have progress pics)

Of course with hindsight 20/20 I started beating myself up when I saw the difference in looks because damn, this was a thing I did 10 years ago in art school, using perspective grids to draw lifedrawing, and why didn’t I just remember that shit and implemented it into my cartoon drawings. But I was also undiagnosed AD(H)D with slight OCD, unmedicated and at times more focused on proving my emotionally (And sometimes physical but hey at least it wasn’t closed fist, just throwing me like a ragdoll into my room when I was a pest? Aahahahahh) abusive father wrong about my choice of boyfriend so I stayed in an actually non-healthy and downright lifestagnating-relationship, than on myself and my dreams. So just, cut yourself some slack. A breakthrough is a breakthrough. No time like the present.

Using a perspective grid is really helpful because it gives you a constant reference point for both volume, anatomy and the overall pose. I start with just doing a doodle to get the general idea, using a grid on step one would just make it overwhelmingly technical for me and my gestures would get rigid and stiff. Then, I take said sketch and try to adjust it to the perspective rulers before I continue cleaning up. I use Clip Studio (Formely known as Manga Studio) which has a lot of tools for this kind of thing.

So just some additional general tips:

Churn out whatever you want. Fanart, OC, shitposts. Every single drawing you decide to do will give you something. It might give you a breakthrough or it might simply give you joy. Just churn it out. Quantity makes quality.

Use every fricking tool at your disposal. There’s no more shame in using a digital tool for your art than there is to use a faceting machine to cut a gemstone. Don’t buy into the prestige of having to freehand everything. Art is a craft and craft uses tools.

Take your fucking meds. Eat food and sleep. Exercise. Your body is the most important tool you have and it needs to be maintained.

[atbsart]

Hey, anyone wanna collab an artwork of spinel? Im not too good at sketches, but they just look so precious. :'3

I have examples of how i color and shade already posted.

If you would like to collab, please let me know!

[mastcomm]

They’ve Got Their Gems to Keep Them Warm

PARIS —- January is the quieter of the two couture seasons when it comes to displays of haute joaillerie.

With many top clients preferring to spend summer in the City of Light rather than the short chilly days of winter, some houses prefer to keep their shimmering meditations on the power of work done by hand under wraps until later in the year.

But not all.

Houses like Graff — known for its expertise with large diamonds, like the Lesedi La Rona, a 302.37-carat stone that is the world’s largest emerald-cut diamond — put on quiet presentations of a handful of new design pieces.

Others — like Louis Vuitton, which this month announced it had bought the 1,758-carat Sewelo, the second-largest diamond in history — put on a showcase of stones. Or in the case of Vuitton, that one very large stone, which will be sent to Antwerp, Belgium, to be cut into smaller stones that can be worked into pieces codesigned by some of the house’s most important customers.

And then there were those houses that were determined to put on a show.

Here is a rundown of what we saw in and around the Place Vendôme.

CHANEL

Tweed de Chanel

Tweed has been synonymous with Chanel ever since Coco transposed it from men’s to women’s fashions in the 1920s.

But for the first time, the house this month took its inspiration for a high jewelry collection from the textured cloth that originates in Scotland.

Set amid soft sprigs of purple heather, bagpipes in the background, the 45 pieces on display had all the color and texture hallmarks of tweed, realized in a sparkling array of precious metals and stones rather than wool.

Take the Tweed D’Or necklace, fashioned into a collar of crisscross intertwined layers of 18-karat gold and platinum, with cultured pearls, diamonds and one oval-cut topaz at the center, plus a pair of round earrings — inspired by jacket buttons — to match.

A secret watch, the industry term for a timepiece with some kind of cover to keep the dial hidden, was created in yellow gold and finished with a house signature mix of white diamonds and black onyx with a strand of pearls running around the wrist.

And another necklace — the Tweed Couture — imitated the irregular weave of colored tweed by creating a fluid fan of strands set with diamonds, pink sapphires and spinels, interlaced with a lattice of fine gold yarn. Perfect for anyone with a need for tweed.

DIOR

Dior et Moi

For her latest collection, called Dior et Moi, Victoire de Castellane looked to a romantic style of ring known as “toi et moi”: two gems that sit side by side or close to each other on a band, symbolizing two souls becoming one.

Traditionally, the two stones are of a similar cut and carat; Ms. de Castellane, however, has never done anything by the book in her more than 20 years as Dior’s creative director of jewelry.

An explosion of colors, mismatched sizes and styles — with the flavor of her anniversary collection presented last summer in Venice — brought some contemporary charm to an old idea in this 39-piece collection. There was a set of rings in turquoise and pink sapphires, for example, designed to sit at different levels on the same finger and connected by a chain. And a pair of earrings with one small pink pearl stud teamed with a larger opal that dangled on a chain, encircled by a pavé pattern of tiny precious stones — mandarin garnets, peridots, emeralds and purple sapphires — looking like the colors of the rainbow on brushed gold.

Some larger, more conventional high jewelry pieces also were on offer: a rubellite bangle, finished in pink gold and lacquer, for example, or a showstopper teardrop opal and diamonds on a string of pearls.

It all felt very quirky and abstract, with a heavy dose of Parisian charm.

BOUCHERON

Signature

The big reveal at Boucheron this season was of eight new Question Mark necklaces, an original asymmetric design created by Frédéric Boucheron in the 1870s that loops around a wearer’s neck, leaving a gap in front between the two ends. But at least one of those ends has a striking embellishment encapsulating the atelier’s creative flair and imaginative whims.

Claire Choisne, the house’s creative director, unveiled several designs that would feel familiar to Boucheron devotees: a shimmering set of golden wheat stalks, for example, or curling acanthus leaves (Feuilles d’Acanthe), all fully articulated to move with the wearer and delicately balanced to sit comfortably across the neck and collarbone.

Another piece inspired by tumbling hydrangeas involved scanning each petal of the flowers before recreating them in mother-of-pearl and covering them in pavé diamond; it took 520 hours of work. In a next door salon the color of candy floss, was a selection of pieces in frosted diamonds and rock crystal, set amid bonbons and jelly beans, for those who like something sweet to finish.

CHOPARD

Exceptional Stones

There was a surprise in store for those who came to Paris’s Place Vendôme, the world epicenter of haute joaillerie, for the latest Chopard collection, Exceptional Stones.

Set among a bed of flowers in kaleidoscopic hues were a series of stunning stones in glass cabinets: a large emerald-cut 33.26-carat fancy yellow diamond; two near-identical round Colombian emeralds of, respectively, 32 carats and 36 carats; a triangular-cut 34.63-carat tourmaline from Mozambique, among several others.

But the intricate designs that eventually would turn them into necklaces, earrings and rings were there in sketch form only, displayed outside the cases. It was a smart idea that enhanced the natural beauty of the gems, though there were plenty of other finished pieces from the Red Carpet collection on display nearby for those who needed something more tangible.

One jewelry trend coming in hot from Hollywood? A preference for yellow over white diamonds, a Chopard representative said, as some actresses say the stones look less harsh against their skin.

CINDY CHAO THE ART JEWEL

Black Label

Cindy Chao founded her company, Cindy Chao The Art Jewel, in 2004. Sixteen years later and the Taiwanese jewelry designer was in Paris to celebrate, not just the addition of her Ruby Butterfly brooch to the permanent collection of the Musée des Arts Décoratifs with a glittering dinner Monday, but also the completion of several new pieces for her Black Label collection.

Two standouts glimmered in the suite at the Ritz Paris: The Aurora Butterfly brooch had an aluminum thorax with four pigeon blood Burmese rubies, each weighing two carats. And from that metal body, three layers encrusted with a total of 6,023 small precious stones — particularly sapphires and yellow diamonds — took flight as the butterfly’s wings.

And the Emerald Sculptural Bangle, centered around a 7.61-carat heart-shaped Colombian emerald, with 5,305 shards of diamonds, sapphires, demantoids, garnets and other gems hammered into its 18-karat gold band, was a feat of engineering thanks to five hidden joints that allow it to lie completely flat when not on the wearer’s wrist.

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