Two things I really like in a piece of jewellery.
3rd August 2020
The ring for restoration.
There are 16 claws on this ring and all were in need of repair after years of wear. They had in fact been repaired once before. In the photo above I have started to remove the diamonds for inspection prior to working on them.
Given that the band was also quite worn and thin it was decided to remake the ring ready to pass onto another generation when the time came. Repairing all those claws and the band would have cost more than remaking it and it would have still been a repaired ring.
One of the diamonds had visible chips on the girdle and others that were hidden by the setting. The black colour in the middle of the diamond is a large black carbon inclusion that is present in both gems. The other diamond had less damage to it but is distinctly off round.
It is extremely important that I make customers aware of any existing damage to their gems prior to starting work on them. Sometimes with long time customers I email them photos once unset but all new customers I insist be present for any unsetting of their gems.
Article: The jeweller swapped my diamond
Measuring the existing finger size
The ring was too small in finger size. Normally I would use a size draft to determine the required finger size for a particular design. In the case of this ring, knowing that we would be melting the ring down, we stretched it up to determine the required new size.
The already thin ring….even thinner after stretching up to the new size.
When I restore the ring the band would be made a touch wider to allow for gold that had has worn away over time as it rubbed next to another ring. I would also make the ring thicker to add strength. This is especially important as rings get larger in size.
The old ring weighed 2 grams and whilst the restored ring looks almost identical from the top, it weighs nearly double that at 3.9 grams.
Very enjoyable piece to work on :)
As per usual I have been spending as much of my weekends as possible up the Tablelands …..whilst I can. The night skies were spectacular last week with about a third moon giving off enough light to illuminate parts of trees but not too bright to hide the milky way behind them.
East Barron Road, Atherton