Less is more yet again
13th May 2024 - Customer location: Cairns
The design she wanted to use for her gem.
A longtime customer came to me recently to have an heirloom sapphire set into a ring. She had seen the above design and thought her gem might suit it well. There are three things I need to know before I can quote on making a piece:
the desired design
the scale off the piece
the materials to be used
Scaling the design
Scaling the design to her hand and gemstone.
Knowing the design we next needed to do scale it to her gem and hand. During this part of the process I ask my customers to view the photos at the actual size of their hand. You need to use a screen larger than a phone which might not be convenient but scaling the hand in the photo to the actual size of your hand gives you a much better idea of how the ring will look on.
Exploring recycling some diamonds….too big…less is more.
Top ring: design modified to using diamonds from her old rings.
The customer had diamonds in jewellery that she no longer wore and wanted to explore using them in the ring. To the top in the above photo is a layout of what using her existing diamonds would achieve. The version it is a more faithful translation of the design but would require new diamonds. Shen did not like how using her diamonds looked so new gems for the white gold feature it would be.
Meeting to measure up existing jewellery for recycling and then applying them to a particular design can take hours. I charge a fee for this service which is payable regardless if the old jewellery is used or the piece is made. The fee varies depending on the type and amount of old jewellery required to be measured and the design desired.
Finalising the design
Putting the finishing touches on the design.
With the general shape of the top view now decided I finished adding in the claws for the sweep and the side view of the ring.
The bottom of the stone would be just above the finger.
The height of the ring off the finger was to be as minimal as possible. A three carat sapphire that has a diameter of 8.3mm has a depth of about. We would set the sapphire in the ring so that the culet (bottom point of the gem) would be just off the finger in order to avoid any irritation from it rubbing on the skin.
Making the draft
With the design confirmed in graphics it was now time to make a draft is silver. This would be used to confirm the design on the customers hand and to also check the finger size. This is also a great time for me to discover any issues with how I plan to make the ring.
I remember the draft meeting very well for this customer. She was surprised how much bigger her gem looked once in the setting. The draft ring got a “wow” as an approval.
The finished ring
When I delivered the ring she was thrilled with the end result and told me it was now beyond “wow” for her. The ring was created in 18 carat yellow and palladium white gold alloys. The total diamond weight of the accent diamonds was .26 carats.
