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Why Peapods?
Ronna has been making peapods since the 1980s when a colleague suggested pearls to fill the hollow in her sculptural designs. For about 20 years they were just a small part of her wholesale collection called Lugosch Designs. Over time she found that customers were very attracted to her peapods as a representation for the family and this encouraged her to expand the collection.
Then in the spring of 2006 Ronna experienced a magical moment. It had been a long Maine winter and while savoring a meal of sautéed fiddleheads, a local delicacy, she noted the similarity between the coil shape of this succulent green and a design element in one of her peapods. It struck her that she had created a hybrid; the meeting of a peapod with the coil of the fern. It was a liberating moment that has spawned a whole assortment of hybrids including Podster, peapod lobster, the Bumble Pea, Pine Tree Pod, Podfish and even a Peapod Lighthouse. The designs became so popular that she eventually changed the name of her business to Peapod Jewelry.
Creating a design
To make a design, Ronna starts with her sketch book. Once the design is completed Ronna uses the lost wax method* to cast the first prototype as a sterling silver model which is refined, polished, and marked with the Lugosch insignia and then molded in a rubber pattern. Molten wax can then be injected into the rubber allowing duplication of the design. Then the lost wax method is used again to transform the injected waxes into sterling or gold. Once the final castings are created then the designs are sanded, soldered, set with gemstones and precisely polished making the pieces ready for sale.
* The lost wax casting method uses wax as a model. The model is surrounded by a section of pipe called a flask. Plaster-like material is poured around the wax. After the plaster is hardened it is placed into a kiln that is heated until the wax melts out leaving a cavity. Molten metal is forced into the cavity. The plaster mold is quenched into the water releasing the metal casting.
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