Bit of this and that
25th March 2025 - Customer locations: Brisbane, & Cairns
Something I do not normally do, an insurance job.
Let’s really mix it up with something that I very rarely do, an insurance job! The mother of a customer contacted me to see if I would do an insurance quote for her lost engagement and wedding rings. Initially I declined and informed her that I would not work with insurance companies. I have had very bad experiences that have cost me money in the past.
She came back to me and advised that she would do all the interaction with the insurance company and pay me herself. Having already dealt with her daughter I agreed to do the quote. You might be thinking what is the big deal about a quote but quotes can take hours and this one was not as straight forward as it appears from the finished ring above
A big issue with replacing her lost engagement ring was the tapered baguette diamonds on the shoulders. No brokerages in Australia were able to supply a set in the size required but one did offer to organise to have them custom cut in India. They did a great job with the tapered baguettes and she loves the new ring :)
A ring made mainly from old heirloom jewellery
Diamond and rubies in 14ct rose gold.
This ring was made using the rubies from an heirloom ring. I supplied the .73ct round brilliant cut diamond.
The rubies once unset clearly were different sizes.
Once I had the rubies out of the heirloom ring it was very clear that they were very nice gems……but also that they were two different sizes. It was decided to send the two gems to Sydney to have the larger one recut to match the smaller in size.
A great deal of thought went into the gallery design and ring height.
The rose gold used for this ring was all recycled from other heirloom pieces. I love the colour! The customer put a great deal of thought into the gallery (side work of the setting). I love what we came up with in the end. If you are regular to the site you will know my love of antique styles.
Creating a wedding ring for one of my engagement rings.
I created the above engagement ring back in early 2023. It was now time to make the wedding ring in early 2025. The customer had a firm idea of what she wanted.
A twisted wire design with one strand diamond set was the chosen design. She also wanted the twists to match into the profile of her engagement ring. Above is what we came up with after a number of attempts.
I have done quite a few of these twisted rings over the years and this is my favourite so far. To match the twist up with the side profile of the engagement ring the centre diamond section is shorter than the side ones.
The twist goes for a bit over half way around the ring before blending into a plain band as shown in the photo to the right. The plain section being worn to the bottom would be far better suited to the rougher life the inside of your hand gives a ring.
Gems get darker once you set them.
Wider or narrower gems in the wedding ring?
In June 2023 I made a diamond solitaire engagement ring and it was now time to make the wedding ring. Once again this customer had a clear vision of the ring she wanted. We just needed to determine how large the gems in the ring would be.
She picked the wider gems in the mockup above showing the wedding ring next to her engagement ring.
She wanted alternating diamonds and sapphires for the gems so my next task was to find the sapphires in the right shade of blue and size!
From left to right, Celyon and Australian sapphires.
In natural gems sourcing a matching set is problematic when you have a firm size and shape set. I managed to find a broker that had sapphires in the size I desired in both Ceylon and Australian blue material.
We probably could have found other shades of blue….but we needed a set in this size. The customer chose the lighter blue to the left. I did inform her that they would darken up once set as you will se in the next photo.
Ceylo blue sapphires and diamonds in 18ct Palladium white gold.
The Ceylon sapphires are very high quality and a good set. They did darken once set but there are a lot of other things that can effect the colour of gem and how it appears in a photo. Firstly, taking the above photo on a white background and/or lighting it differently would make them look lighter.
However the number one issue with displaying photos is the photos themselves and the screens they are viewed on. Cameras process colours differently and screens display them differently. Try viewing the same webpage on your phone and computer at the same time. I would be very surprised if the colours matched.
Yiayia’s ring
This ring will be the subject of the next post.
The last ring I am going to share with you today will be featured in the next post. The South Sea Pearl was purchased in a ring elsewhere by the customer with money left to her by her late Grandmother. For me it was a simple remake of an existing ring that was poorly made and nearly resulted in the pearl being lost.
Sometimes the little details really do matter. More on that in the next post and have a great week.