He found me on line as he was searching for a signature piece of jewelry for his wife to commemorate a milestone in her life as well as their decades of marriage. He showed her a sapphire ring design on my website, and I am honored that she liked what she saw, as she is an artist herself. Her creations are bold and brightly colored – she has a wonderful sense of balance and design.
They arrived at my studio door just as I had set the alarm for the night. Of course I disarmed the system and invited in the two charming personalities. Our first meet-and-greet was used to establish what the vision was to be. I did a lot of listening, and we all got to know each other.
This new ring had to be something that she would wear all of the time, not get in her way, be subtle yet striking. She is a tall and slender woman who wears her custom-designed engagement/wedding band, plus a pair of classic hoop earrings in addition to two sterling silver bracelets. It had to be just right for her, a signature piece. In short, it had to be perfect!
he wanted a magnificent colored stone
Step two was the showing of the gem stones. He wanted a magnificent colored stone. I brought four different sapphires of different shapes and different carat weight but all with striking vibrant color. Since we had not discussed price, I provided a range of prices as well. Almost immediately they chose a particular antique cushion cut sapphire.
the design process began with a bit of serendipity…
The design they chose just happened to be similar to a ring I was wearing at our first meeting. My ring is in a platinum dome style with a satin finish with stones set in a style known as either hammer set or burnished set. In this process the stones are set into the mounting, and the metal is burnished around that. This is a very clean, traditional way of setting stones, usually associated with gents’ rings. While this looks like a simple design – and it is – there is a decorative element underneath that allows light within in order to cast a shadow. This design element is known as the “under gallery.”
Using Art Deco and the facet pattern of the stone for inspiration, I scribbled and I sketched until just the right pattern emerged with reduced elements. I then had a CAD made (computer aided design model) for them to review for approval before proceeding. One of my frustrations with CAD is it tends to be too perfect, too hard. I wanted something softer, more hand-finished than exhibited by the model. In the end that softening is evident in the final setting of the stone, the hand finishing of the under gallery wire work and the rounding of the edges of the ring.
Although we may polish it bright or size it down in the future, she loved it!
- Platinum dome-style ring with a satin finish has genuine cushion-cut blue sapphire
- location: South Glastonbury, CT