You’re unique. You have your own taste, style, likes and dislikes. Jewellery is perhaps one of the most personal of style choices.
A customer came to us with a diamond and emerald ring she’d inherited. It wasn’t a style she loved. She had a beautiful diamond ring in a classic style that she loved and wore all the time. Would it be possible to take the diamonds from the ring she’d inherited and turn her beloved ring into an eternity style band?
Ken had a look at both rings to see what they were like. The diamonds in the emerald ring were slightly smaller than the ones in her own ring. Still, Ken felt that it could be done.
To the right is the customer’s diamond and emerald ring, being compared in size to the ring being updated. But, we’re getting ahead of ourselves…
Our customer’s existing ring had a band of diamonds straight across the top in a very classic style with a gold shank (back part of the ring). To convert the ring to an eternity style, the shank had to be cut off. The golden shank would be used to create the settings for the new portion of the ring.
Jewellers use carving wax to create one-of-a-kind pieces using the Lost Wax Casting method. When the wax model of the ring is complete, it is carefully sprued (adding one or more tubes to the model to pour molten metal through) covered in investment (a type of plaster) and cured in a kiln. This process burns off the wax, hence the name Lost Wax Casting. When the mold is cured, it’s ready for the molten metal.
Our customer came in at this point to try her wax ring on for size. This was her favourite, beloved ring, and we’d essentially cut it in half. Ouch.
It was probably a shock to see it like this. However, getting the sizing right wasn’t an option.
Before the carving took place, Ken needed to remove the diamonds from the customer’s existing ring. These are the diamonds that would be set into the new part of the ring.
Next came the carving.
Each diamond required a new setting to be carved. These settings not only had to fit the new diamonds, but they also had to match the original settings while holding smaller diamonds. Furthermore, they also had to be the right size to that the ring would fit properly on our customer’s finger. Not an easy feat!
The next picture shows the ring from various angles, focusing on the new settings for the diamonds that would be added soon.
With an infinity style ring, sizing is tricky. Most rings have a shank made of solid gold. If the ring is a little small or large, the shank can be cut and gold taken away or added to change the size of the ring.
For this ring, the shank was removed, so the ability to re-size the ring was taken away. Each setting had to be just the right size and also had to match the settings from the original part of the ring.
Doing this work by hand takes time, patience, special tools and lots of experience.
The next photo shows the ring with each setting carved out. The diamonds needed to be hand set into the settings and the whole piece evaluated for size, balance and overall esthetics. Once Ken was happy with the settings, the ring was prepared for the Lost Wax Casting.
Below is the finished custom-made infinity style ring. Our customer was thrilled with how it turned out! The new diamonds blend seamlessly alongside the originals, making beautiful use of the stones from the ring she inherited.
Inheriting a piece of jewellery that doesn’t suit your personal sense of style can be challenging. Someone wanted you to have that heirloom piece. Transforming a piece of jewellery into something that brings you joy is what we do at Steadman Jewellers. Over the years we’ve created thousands of unique rings, pendants and other pieces of jewellery for our customers.
We invite you to drop in and see how we might be able to bring some more joy into your life.
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