Knot & Splice, Nashville, TN (2026)

04/26/2026

“I wanted to let you know my fiancée loves her ring! She said she feels seen and feels like gollum (from Lord of the Rings). … This ring is particularly special, as my fiancée had [cancer] as a teen. To have a ring made by somebody with such a connection is incredibly special.

Thank you thank you thank you…”

So thrilled to have had the opportunity to make this very special engagement ring for the loveliest of soulmates in 14k yellow gold with a custom cut kite shape fully faceted 1ct natural purple/pink sapphire (cut by my girl 💗) with diamond accents.

The inspiration was my Amaya setting (it’s low profile, but accommodates the full cut of the gemstone).

Also, M asked me to engrave “unconditionally” inside the band and that is something we can do for some rings like the Amaya setting (please just email for a quote and to see if we can fit it).

Their “just engaged” photo is the second photo. 🥹

I am so grateful to be here and get the opportunity to make meaningful pieces for you all. It makes me legit tear up because it truly means so much to me. I am so happy for this beautiful couple!

Please reach out if you have a custom idea in mind. I just started a month-long break from treatment before my trial surgery. And I would LOVE to make more lovely pieces (with a shorter turnaround, too, because my books are completely open). 💗

Lots of love,
Nicole

LOVE is LOVE!!!! 🌈 grateful 1111 222

03/03/2026

TNBC (Triple Negative Breast Cancer) AWARENESS DAY & photo/memes plop🎗️🎗️🎗️

Today is TNBC Awareness Day. I was diagnosed with de novo metastatic TNBC in February 2025. I received the stage 4 update on April 4, 2025.

Did you know there are many types of breast cancer?

There are actually at least 6-7 subtypes of TNBC alone.

Many breast cancers are hormone positive (HR/PR). Some breast cancers may be hormone positive or negative with a targetable HER2 protein. TNBC is the absence of hormones and absence of HER2 protein, meaning that hormones and HER2 do not affect the cancer.

TNBC is the most aggressive subtype of cancer. Lucky me 😂. It grows exceptionally fast. Mine is grade 3 which is the fastest growing breast cancer. The only treatment for metastatic TNBC is chemo, sometimes immunotherapy (only works for 30% of cases), and palliative radiation. There is no cure for stage 4 TNBC.

In my one year cancerversary reel, I mentioned the treatments I’ve done so far. I am doing some chest wall radiation next week, while choosing to preserve the most painful under arm area of cancer bothering me right now so that I can possibly qualify for a clinical trial in Maryland. That trial is drawn-out and requires being off treatment for a month before a surgery (which being off treatment for a month can allow a lot of progression in my flavor of TNBC….fast as hell, stupid, rude, etc).

I feel super stressed out about what’s next and what the future holds, but also a little hopeful, too. This experience of cancer has taught me just how impermanent all of life is. It’s been a great revealer of what’s true and what’s not. It’s helped me to discern what I really want in life and what I hold most dear.

It hasn’t broken me. It’s definitely left me ragged around the edges with some deep cracks.

But it’s also given me a different kind of awareness, an appreciation for the present moment. And no tolerance for parasitic energy in my life.

Awareness of TNBC is important because 40% of those with early TNBC will recur, often as stage 4, incurable. We still have a limited amount of effective treatments to prolong our lives.

02/26/2026

It’s my 1-year Cancerversary today 🎂🎗️

1 year of surviving this s**t….thanks to you all standing behind me and lifting me up on the especially hard days.

Trust me, crying is a hobby for me at this point, so I already cried a lot earlier today. I’m not robotic; I’m a late-diagnosed, high-masking autistic. Kindness can go a long way to celebrating our differences…learning I’m neuro divergent has literally changed the way I perceive and accept myself.

I just want to thank everyone who has shared my cancer posts with others. You’re helping make a huge difference in helping create awareness and interest in rare, aggressive, and late stage cancers in people under 50. We desperately need more treatments for cancers affecting young people…they tend to be faster growing and spread early on as mind did, and are often resistant to traditional treatments.

You all give me oxygen in my lungs on days when I think I’m so DONE with this s**t, when I think cannot handle having cancer or dealing with all that comes with it anymore. Thank you isn’t enough, but I’m grateful.

We persevere and we persist.

Love you, Nicole

grateful 222 111 1111 love triple negative breast cancer, young adults with cancer

02/23/2026

Y’all, I’m officially a published writer 🥹❤️‍🩹 in .

My poem “Living with stage IV cancer: everyone’s worst nightmare” is available in print and digital copies of the “Survivorship” issue. I am especially grateful they included photos of my cancer friends/patient advocates from a few months ago at SABCS (San Antonio, TX)…no one fights cancer alone. Thank you to these wonderful ladies who included me and gave me the gift of being seen/understood in a way that only others facing cancer fully get. You all inspire me endlessly.

This issue of asks big questions about who we become after we hear the words, “you have cancer.”

For me, I never imagined that I would have cancer. And I never imagined all that I would lose in its wake: hair, a body part, a relationship, a future I thought I was building, hopes, dreams, and my sense of safety.

My poem speaks to the feeling of living in the reality of other people’s “worst nightmare” aka one of the most aggressive forms of cancer, and yet, also having a good life.

I started this journey not alone and found myself single in the midst of my first year of stage 4 cancer. Statistics say that men are 6 times more likely to leave their partner when she is diagnosed with cancer (in hetero relationships)….only 20% of women leave their male partner when they have cancer. It is a huge predictor of abandonment. More than this be a personal statement, it speaks to the patriarchal conditioning….our social discomfort with grief, d3ath, illness, and more; and the expectations put on women to perform at all costs.

Stage 4 cancers are mostly affecting young people (under 50)….the misconception is that if someone is diagnosed late stage, that they were somehow negligent or to blame. My cancer metastasized within a month of developing. It’s important to me for stage 4 and advanced stage cancers to get visibility on social media…we are reliant on research and new treatments to keep our hope alive.

I’ll put a link in my link tree where you can snag a digital or print copy and help support this invaluable resource for young breast cancer survivors and thrivers 💗

02/18/2026

Trying not to crash out, but at this point…who cares 🤣😭❤️‍🩹 I almost died last year.

I’m just happy to have emotions and be alive. Lots of love to anyone having a hard time lately. F cancer.

My doctor said, “if anyone can do this, you can, Nicole.” 😭❤️‍🩹 Sometimes I wish I didn’t have to, though. I’ll be honest….so much of life is a mystery to me. So much suffering. So much to witness and feel like what can I even do with this part of my story except tell the truth?

What is it to be human? What is art?

My G0fundme link and all the links for all the things are in my bio

stage4cancer

02/08/2026

“I now see how owning our story and loving ourselves through that process is the bravest thing that we will ever do.”—Brené Brown

🥀

I think this quote summarizes how I feel about what I get to do. It’s impossible to remove the artist from the art, and I can say that making my work is like opening my hands to the divine. They are love letters and soul poetry. I feel and express through feeling rather than replication. And as much as my health has suffered this past year, I feel divinely guided, protected, and I hope to continue this work until I’m old. Cancer has had this way of trying to strip me of all that I am….i leaned into this, I listened closer to what it was whispering and then yelling…this work has set me free in every way. Free to believe, free to see clearly, free to no longer compromise. Cancer has changed me in so many ways, and this is not even trying to put a positive spin on it…but it has shown me all that is not mine to carry or own and in this way I can be more of who I really am. And love can flow in and out. I’m a vessel for this language, not the creator of it.

All rings pictured are handmade by me and finished in Tennessee by expert stone setters and goldsmiths with 14k gold, diamonds, and sapphires. Engagement, ceremonial, or self love rings 🥹. All available right now on knotandsplice.com. 🔗

nature jewelry, mermaid ring, organic jewelry

02/05/2026

Some favorite rings I’ve gotten to make in the last few years …still debating if I should melt down that double snake toi et moi. It’s a chonk of gold.✨ thanks for being here

All are one of a kind 14k rings sapphires and diamonds. These designs are mostly available as custom or made to order via knotandsplice.com.

🥀

, fairy jewelry, handmade in Nashville, 14k gold rings, unique jewelry, ethical gems, organic jewelry, mermaid jewelry, art jewelry, 1111, 222

02/02/2026

“You can cut all the flowers but you cannot keep Spring from coming.” —Pablo Neruda

🗡️🌹hope and love WILL prevail

Photos are of a custom Amaya ring we made for someone awhile back in 14k yellow gold with a salt & pepper diamond in a kite rose cut (just under 0.50ct, but 5.2 x 8 mm makes it look more like a 1 ct diamond).

I love this setting for low profile rose cuts. It has little droplets of gold under the setting….each placed one by one. The rings I’ve gotten to make in this design have all been for kite shaped stones, but I can make this design with any gemstone or shape. It’s super fun having the East-west setting for a non traditional cut and look. It would be so fun for an East-west marquise.

This setting is available as a fully custom ring to be made under my create your own section > bespoke settings. You choose a loose gemstone (tons of beautiful sapphires and diamonds, or email us for custom stone sourcing). You’ll see over 50 photos under this setting listing of various rings we’ve made in this style. The finished rings look more like siblings than identical twins…which is what I love about being a custom jeweler and making my designs by wax carving each piece. Each is one of a kind.

I hand carve your ring in my Nashville studio, we cast the final model into solid gold, and then every gemstone is set by expert goldsmiths in the Nashville metro area. 🤍

wedding ring set, made in Nashville, custom jeweler
1111, 111, 222

01/30/2026

I don’t usually do these sorts of reels but we are gonna hold the light. Calling all light workers and those who understand the energies at play to restore yourself. Rest. And create art. Create love. Create magic.

Abus3 attempts to control you. To get you deny your logic so fear controls your brain and your rationality can go offline. It tries to bend reality by telling you what you see isn’t real or happening. All the A I has also made you lean on this doubt when they question reality and try to get you to believe lies and deny your own lived experience. It’s also mean to get a reaction out of you. Abus!ve people and systems play by the same playbook. They love when you get mad or have any response to their atrocious behaviors. They thrive on it. Any reaction or attention is a perk for them.

I’m not new to this energy. It’s not my first rodeo with this energy. I’ve tangled with this too recently. And It’s prevailed since forever. And I’ve experienced it in multiple relationships. And let me just say that community, art/creativity, empathy, and ACCOUNTABILITY and judgment for abuse of power and abuse of human beings comes with massive karma. That comes with big spiritual debt that they don’t believe in.

But we believe in justice.

I stand and protect my LGBTQ friends. Protect trans kids and lives. LOVE is love. Every human being has the inherent birth right to exist without harm and abuse. Regardless of immigration status. Abusers will be punished in this life or the next. Whether judicially or standing toe to toe with God. Protect children. This is not an argument for one type of abus3t over an other. They all deserve due process in court with evidence following our constitutional legal process.

I am not in debt to money. I answer to a higher calling. Therefore I really don’t care if unfollow.

F**K the snow stuff that’s harder like a rock. And also thank you to those in service to keep people safe, who do follow the constitution. I have multiple armed forces and police friends and I know there are good people who add to this world and safety and peace rather than create chaos and fear.

Don’t drink the poison. Use your voice. Help those who need it

01/27/2026

𝐻𝒶𝓌𝓉𝒽𝑜𝓇𝓃 𝓇𝒾𝓃𝑔 🗡️🥀

There is a lot to be sad about. After staring at walls in a dislocated haze for like two days, I took a gummy and set out to edit these photos, because, unfortunately, having cancer is hella expensive in this place.

I have been sitting on this finished ring for so long due to getting behind on editing. I’m extremely grateful to have had power this weekend (over 200k people in Nashville have been without power including friends). This orange sapphire made me think of the sun, of the spring that will eventually be here. After such a long winter, it’s almost impossible to imagine that spring could ever happen again… I suppose when things feel especially terrible, it’s hard to imagine it being anything but that. But all of life follows this kind of spiral sequence. It goes up, it also goes down. There’s expansion and contraction. Right now we are in some sort of hell scape, fam, but I refuse to despondent. 😭I will hold and follow the light. Please join me.

Ring details: 14k yellow gold rectangle baby John Dyer Starbrite sapphire (0.40ct) and marquise cut lab diamond ring.

I named this “Hawthorn” because the berries make for a potent heart medicine. In Celtic lore, the hawthorn is among the most revered of trees, a symbol of love and protection. It is also called the Fairy Tree, where the fair folk lived beneath its branches. The gentle gathering of hawthorn blossoms was permitted—especially for brides who wove the flowers in their hair or carried them in bouquets as a symbol of their sacred union and enduring love.

—-

“‘People where you live,’ the little prince said, ‘grow five thousand roses in one garden... yet they don’t find what they’re looking for...’

‘They don’t find it,’ I answered.

‘And yet what they’re looking for could be found in a single rose, or a little water...’

‘Of course,’ I answered.

And the little prince added, ‘But eyes are blind. You have to look with the heart.’”

―Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, The Little Prince

—-
🥀

, fairy jewelry, handmade medieval mystical jewelry, jewelry designer, ethical gems, fairy ring, fantasy jewelry

Knot & Splice

04/26/2026

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