The proposal ring
I do not like to resize brand new rings and you can read the reasons why in this article. I like to make them to the correct size and in the case of the all important engagement ring a temporary proposal ring solves all the problems and still allows for the surprise.
The proposal ring
My customers had a design in mind that blended of a couple of my designs together. They jointly created the design but the proposal ring was given as a surprise as the recipient had no idea when it would be finished. You can read about the creation of the ring in this article from November 2017.
It was always intended for the ring to be made in 950 Platinum, a precious metal that it would be a crime to resize unnecessarily. We made the proposal ring in 18ct Palladium white gold knowing that we would more than likely resize it and definitely be discarding it.
Quite a few sizes
The recipient wore the Palladium white gold ring over the summer. We changed the size a couple of times until it was just right.
Each time a ring is resized, no matter how well it is done, it is damaged to a degree. In the case of a ring like this with diamonds set into the band, alignment issues arose with the shared prongs during the changing of its shape/size.
Come April and I was given the all clear to make the ring in Platinum to the now confirmed finger size and set everything perfectly.
The proposal ring with the first of the main claws cut off.
To safely remove the main diamond two of the main claws were cut at their base. It takes quite a bit of time to remove gemstones from rings with care, a cost in time that is often forgotten by customers hoping to recycle jewellery.
In the next photo we have the totally unset 18ct Palladium white gold proposal ring on the left and the almost finished Platinum ring on the right.
Nearly finished Platinum ring on the right, unset proposal ring on the left.
What does this cost?
Nothing extra, it is included in the price of all my engagement rings. The only possible additional costs incurred by the customer is if the recipient decides to change the design of the proposal ring in a way that uses more materials or time. I re-quote on this of course.
Often customers will choose a classic solitaire for the proposal ring so that the surprise can take place and the recipient can wear the ring whilst they design their perfect ring together.
Once the design is finalised the new ring is made to the correct finger size and a date is arrange for the swapping over of the gems. This one was swapped out in a day.
What happens to the proposal ring?
I get asked this a lot and thought a video of what happened to this proposal ring might explain it better than I could with words.
