GS: Don't Take Things Too Literally

I had a client that came to me with the idea of a Celtic knot ring. I loved the idea, but refused to just carve a Celtic knot into the shank. It would make the design (1) too obvious and (2) it had the strong possibility of looking dated over time. So I had to come up with a creative solution. And after some thought (and some creative license), I decided that I would fold the Celtic knot in on itself and turn it into the head to hold the stone.



Once we agreed on the design (of basically I told him that he agreed with the design... and he had to trust me, which he did) I went right into building it! First I built the loop prongs...





... And then I forgot to take more photos until I was soldering the shank to the head...



... And then stone setting...


And our finished ring...





The final piece is platinum with a 2 ct diamond cut color change sapphire.

GS: A Royal Knock off

Years ago, an Industrial Design Prof. once said 'If you are going to steal a design, steal a good one and make it better.' But apparently this isn't the rule with knock offs.

I was doing cardio at the gym, attempting to ignore Fox News on the tv in front of me, when an ad for a 'Royal Ring' that caught my eye. And even from my elliptical I could see that the only thing it had in common with the Princess Diana/Kate Middleton engagement ring was a oval blue rock and some white stones surrounding it. The ring was missing major details that would make it a replica.

Now, maybe these are details that only a jeweler would notice. But I think this could be a good way for everybody to learn a little about jewelry design and the anatomy of a ring.

The ring to the left is Diana's ring and the right is 'replica' ring.


So, the overall look is a blue oval stone surrounded by white stones in a white metal. Can those 3 design elements make a replica? Notice the white stones surrounding the center. On Royal ring there are full cut round white diamonds, 14 to be exact, while the replica has 8 oval cz's.


Unfortunately I cannot get a close up of the royal engagement ring, but even from this distance you can see that the original has a thin/dainty band. The replica has a wide split shank. The original actually has a split to the shank too, but it is to add height to the band in order to support the height of the head and stones.

Finally, the last obvious visual difference is the type of prongs. On the original ring has a good amount of prongs that have a 'claw' like feel. The replica has typical rounded top prongs that is on most jewelry today.

And then there are differences in the specs of the rings, as in:

	Princess Diana Ring	Royal Ring Knock off
Centre Stone	Genuine Ceylon Sapphire 12 cts Deep Cut	Oval Faceted Faux Ceylon Sapphire 5.65 ct
Surrounding Gemstones	14 Brilliant Cut Diamonds	8 oval cz's 3.6cts
Metal	18kt	Silver
Made By	Garrard, London. The World’s Oldest Jeweler	Who the hell knows
Price	1981 Price thought to be £30,000 or $48,000. Reported to have since been valued at £250,000 or $400,000.00	$19.90

So, overall, this is a fairly poor replica (even though it comes with a certificate of authenticity and a decorative velveteen ring box.) But if you are looking for a fun piece of costume jewelry to wear for a few times before it fall apart or is lost, twenty bucks isn't a bad deal.

UPDATE:

Apparently I found one of the BETTER knock offs! This one, offered by QVC is nearly double in price & much worse quality.



When you look at it closely you will notice the THE STONES AREN'T EVEN SET! It's glue! There are fake prongs to add the appearance of being set, but they aren't pushed over the stones... and there aren't even fake prongs around the center stone. Also, the shank is completely wrong because it is too heavy and with milgrain added to it. But, worst of all, is the fact that the center stone isn't even close to the same color of blue.

These replicas are just getting worse and worse!

GS: My LAST Engagement Ring of 2010

I know I haven't been updating much since Thanksgiving, but I got slammed with work. Much of it was Etsy jobs and limited edition pieces that you have seen, so not much to photograph. But I did make a few different things, including this sapphire and diamond engagement ring.

I was contacted in the last few days of November to make an engagement ring that needed to be in Switzerland by Christmas, so we had limited time to work. When I find myself in situation like this, the client and I need to be on the same page... they need to trust me. While all clients need to trust me, jobs like this I need to make the majority of the decisions. I give very few design options, pick the stones and overall, I need the ability to go with my gut and make the final decisions. And typically, when clients let go and allow me to have control, amazing pieces are made... and this is no exception!

Basically, the client named one piece from my website that he was drawn to and I came up with one sketch for him to decide yes or no...




And, obviously, he said yes. I think the translation from sketch into final piece was spot on...







The final piece is a platinum engagement ring with a hand carved crown setting holding a 1.77ct purple/blue sapphire. The band is a tapered knife edge with leaf shaped bead setting on the band and small leaves that connect the head and shank. Overall, I think we came up with something beautiful!

GS: Deco Sunburst Engagement Ring

A few months ago I did an Earth Day Fair at Harvard and met so many lovely people. Apparently I made a good impression on one of them, because she and her 'soon to be fiance' called me to make their engagement ring! They had family diamonds (one large from her family and 4 small from his family) and wanted to use them.

As for the design, all they knew was they wanted simple and 3 stone. So I decided to go with a clean deco style. And since they were about nature and sustainable, I thought an Art Deco Sunburst would be perfect! If you don't know what I mean by Sunburst, here is a great example in an antique hair comb...




Now, we designed the ring first then I got the family diamonds (which is somewhat backwards from how I normally work, but it took some time to get the stones.) I realized that the small diamonds wouldn't work in a 3 stone ring because the proportion to the center diamond was all wrong. We decided to save the diamonds for the wedding band and go with sapphires.

The center diamond is a .78 ct mine cut and flanked it with faceted Ceylon sapphires, prong set in platinum. And this is what we ended up with...








The sunburst can be seen from the side view, originating from the small diamond.

OC: Sapphires vs Diamonds

Okay, the time has come! I need to stop thinking/talking/re-designing and build this!

So far I have ordered in the 18K yellow gold for the support structure of the bracelet and sapphires. I decided that my piece would fully be made of sapphires. While I know that nearly all Red Carpet jewelry is made mainly of diamonds (with a few colored diamonds or rubies, etc, scattered throughout the piece) I cannot afford to make a giant piece of diamond-covered jewelry.

I have a few reasons why I decided to go this direction. One reason is to move away from the norm; another is ability to purchase in parcels (larger quantities.) But the main reason is because I can purchase parcels of mixed sapphires for a fraction of the cost of diamonds. You see, these parcels will include stones that are heat treated, some VS clarity others SI clarity, some diamond cut others cut poorly. But even when a sapphire is lower quality or cut poorly, it still has color. If I purchased lower quality diamonds, well, they just wouldn’t sparkle, or be discolored looking, and still be much much more expensive.

As a custom jeweler, I have never been a fan of mass manufactured ‘mall quality’ jewelry that has nearly industrial grade diamonds. This is not my being a snob; this is me being an educated consumer. Just like anything, if the price seems too good to be true, there is a reason for it. And usually the $59 diamond ring special is that price because (1) it’s 10K gold or sometimes less (2) it has been assembled in a 3rd world country (3) may contain lead or cadmium and (4) has ‘commercial’ grade diamond, emeralds, sapphires, etc., that do not sparkle. Basically, the consumer is buying that piece of jewelry to buy the word ‘diamond.’ I do not want to use diamonds just to say I built a huge piece of diamond jewelry.

AND from a design standpoint, color is wonderful.

So, if you are curious what my color pallet will be, here you go!



I tossed these sapphires on my scanner. They range from tones of yellows to oranges to reds.

Construction starts next week! Stay tuned!