30th May 2019

This year has seen quite a few challenging jobs that have for a number of reasons taken quite a while to come to completion. Today I want to share a piece that I have been working on for the last 4 months that is my favourite for 2019 so far. It was inspired by one of my favourites from 2018.

The inspiration

My customer had seen the ring above which I created in 2018. It was a remodel of some old jewellery. She liked the idea of a stand alone wedding ring for her extremely small fingers.

When I am asked to create a design around predefined materials in a remodel it is more challenging and limiting than usual. In the case of this new ring we will be able to create a design she liked and then order in what we need to size and quality.

Doing something unique

The last thing we wanted to do was copy that design verbatim. This customer preferred more angular art deco style jewellery. We looked for design patterns in other rings that she could use for the centre feature of her ring.

In the end she chose something like the centre pattern from the ring pictured to the right.

Our next task was to modify the side scroll/gallery of the design to something that was just hers.

The gallery

For the gallery I was pretty much given free reign. I explored a few options, refined the one I liked the most and then presented it to the customer for her approval.

Top edge decoration

For the strip inbetween the top and side scroll we changed the oval pattern from the previous ring to a more angular diamond shape alternating with circles.

One of the hardest parts of planning this ring was to get all three elements of the design to align and flow in together, especially as they ended at the side of the finger.

The finished ring

I love making old style jewellery. When that coincides with customers that really value my expertise and have a vision for a design that is to my liking, it makes the piece special to work on.

Not everyone likes this style of jewellery and that is also a good thing because it means I get asked to make all kinds of designs. I get a great thrill even if a piece I create is not to my taste but it is exactly what the customer desires.

What other people think of your taste in jewellery is none of your business :) Do what you want because it is your jewellery, your choice. Have a great day!