With a saw blade in hand, Paulina Ramírez began to cut into a 14-karat gold heart that would eventually become a gold-and-sterling silver pendant with a garnet stone.

It's her unique creation, just in time for Valentine's Day.

Her inspiration?

"It's a state of emotion," Ramírez said Monday. She was sitting at her work studio, in front of a wooden desk at Reflective Images Inc., with whom she's been designing and making jewelry for nine years.

"I was thinking of things that I love," the jeweler said, such as "flowers and happy hearts."

For this Valentine's Day, Reflective Images has 20 designs, with eight to 10 new ones, including Ramírez's garnet heart, said co-owner Marc Choyt.

Valentine's Day is busy, Choyt said, because jewelry is a popular way to express "love and noble sentiments." His shop, at 912 Baca Street, has been creating pieces for 15 years, all from recycled metals. Prices start as low as $15. The earring and pendant set were more than $500.

"People can come in with any budget, and we're sure they'll find something," Choyt said.

According to Choyt, making one gold ring can produce 20 tons of toxic sludge. He and his wife and co-owner, Helen Chantler, want to be conscientious about the ramifications that making jewelry in Santa Fe has on another part of the world.

"We are designers who want to make jewelry from mine to market that is ethical," said Choyt, co-founder and president of Jewelry Action USA, an international organization that aims to promote environmental justice and human rights. He said he and his wife like to self-identify as the "ethical jewelers of Santa Fe."

At Reflective Images, computerized designing is not part of the process, Choyt said. Instead, jewelers such as Ramírez spend time thinking, creating and producing handmade pieces that are showcased in the store.

Their work is heavily influenced by native communities, including those found in the Southwest, as well as Chantler's own English and Scottish culture.

For Ramírez, making jewelry is something she learned in her native Chile. Much of her inspiration comes from Indian Chileans who use jewelry in their rituals and dances, Ramírez said as she placed a gold vessel -- the tiny heart-shaped casing used to hold the garnet stone -- in hot citric acid.

"It's a process that kind of reveals itself slowly," Ramírez said.

Contact Sandra Baltazar Martínez at 986-3062 or smartinez@sfnewmexican.com.