The Totem ring

July 17th 2014

I have been asked to make rings based on totem themes quite a few times now. Every time the process is both memorable and enjoyable.

I made a passing comment at my intial meeting with my customer about wedding rings I had made previously based on totems. From there the rest went really smoothly.

My customers totem was a Sea Hawk and I set about creating the design based on the three main features of the bird:

• head
• claws
• wings

The proposed design.

Next I made a silver draft of the ring to confirm both the design and the finger size. With all of my drafts of the design approved I set about making the ring. To avoid the maintenance issues of white gold and Rhodium plating my customer decided to make the base of the ring in sterling silver. To add colour and contrast to the ring the details of the Sea Hawk were to be created in 14ct yellow gold.

The silver draft. (bird gold plated)

This was a really enjoyable ring to make. By the end of the process it was so much more about the grooms ring than the brides. Nice change every now and then.