Welcome to the Golden Rune Journal
I’ve been thinking for a while that I wanted a place on the Golden Rune Jewelry website where I could share a little more than just finished pieces and product descriptions.
So, here we are.
Welcome to the very first post in what I’m calling the Golden Rune Journal—a place for the stories behind the jewelry, thoughts from the bench, things I’m learning, pieces I’m working on, mistakes, wins, new ideas, and probably a little bit of everyday life mixed in along the way.
If you’ve followed Golden Rune Jewelry for any amount of time, you already know this business has changed a lot.
What started as a love for beautiful jewelry eventually turned into me sitting down at a silversmithing bench and deciding I wanted to learn how to make it myself. Since then, I’ve fallen completely in love with the process—the torch, the silver, the stones, the tools, the frustrating moments when something refuses to cooperate, and especially that moment when a pile of raw materials finally starts looking like the piece I had pictured in my head.
And lately, there has been a lot happening at the bench.
I’ve been experimenting with new designs, working with stones outside of my usual turquoise comfort zone, making heavier heirloom-style pieces, trying techniques I haven’t done before, and continuing to figure out exactly what I want Golden Rune Jewelry to become.
Some weeks I feel like I make huge leaps forward.
Other weeks, silver melts where it isn’t supposed to, bezels fight me, something gets scratched five minutes before I’m finished, and I seriously question why I thought becoming a silversmith was a good idea.
But that’s also part of what I love about it.
Every piece teaches me something.
Recently I’ve made everything from bold turquoise rings and handmade chains to Larimar, Guatemalan jadeite, Thundercloud stone, White Buffalo, Spiny Oyster, and even my very first bolo tie. I’ve also been pushing myself to make more of the details from scratch—including handmade flowers and accents—because the more I learn, the more I want each piece to truly feel like it came from my hands.
I’ve also learned that not everything I make has to end up for sale.
There are pieces I’ve kept because I loved them too much, pieces that became practice pieces, and pieces that technically “worked” but didn’t meet the standard I want attached to Golden Rune Jewelry.
Those pieces matter too.
Sometimes they teach me more than the ones that turn out perfectly.
That is really what I want this journal to be about.
Not just polished finished jewelry.
The whole story.
I want to share what I’m working on each week, new stones that have caught my attention, upcoming jewelry drops, lessons I’m learning at the bench, tools I’m loving—or occasionally fighting with—and some of the behind-the-scenes moments you may never see in a product listing or a quick social media video.
There may also be days when I simply sit down and tell you what’s been happening around here.
No big announcement.
No sales pitch.
Just a conversation.
Because Golden Rune Jewelry has become so much more personal to me than I ever expected it to be. Each piece carries a little bit of the season I was in when I made it, what I was learning at the time, and how my style continues to evolve.
And if you’ve purchased a piece, watched one of my lives, commented on a work-in-progress video, joined a jewelry drop, shared my work, or simply followed along while I figure all of this out—thank you.
You’re part of this story too.
I’m not entirely sure yet whether this journal will be weekly, several times a week, or whenever I have something worth saying.
Probably a little bit of all three.
But I’m excited to have a place where I can slow down and share more of what happens between the finished photographs.
So consider this your official invitation into the studio.
There will be turquoise.
There will be silver.
There will definitely be mistakes.
And hopefully, there will be a whole lot of beautiful things made along the way.
Until next time, Legends—
Wear your legend.
— Lauren
Golden Rune Jewelry