Making rings for special occasions such as engagement and wedding rings is one of the most fulfilling jobs as a jeweller. I love that people trust me with such a important job, and its so lovely that it's becoming more popular to get something unique and handmade! As I tell my customers,
I can make almost anything you desire, so why settle for something mass produced?
The process is simple, we talk through ideas and designs, and then I take a couple of weeks to draw some variations on those ideas, and you can pick your favourite. If its a engagement ring and you have a specific stone in mind I can often travel to Hatton Garden in London to source the perfect stone for you!
I always send regular photos updating you on how the process is going, and so you can see how the piece is made.
I have also taught a few workshops where couples come and make their wedding rings for each other, so please let me know if that's something you would be interested in.
Silver Landscape Ring
This ring was designed to have a landscape pictured around the band of the ring, and the design cleverly matches up so that the seam or break isn't visible. The customer sent me a rough sketch to begin with, which I then made in to a paper sample to illustrate my idea of having the ring made in layers (first image below). Once the design was agreed I started work on making the separate silver layers and soldering them together. The whole thing was then polished and oxidised (blackened) with the oxidisation rubbed off the front layers so that it highlighted the layers and textures.
Silver & Copper Fern Wedding Rings
For these wedding rings the customers came to me with two specifications, they wanted mixed metals - silver and copper, and they wanted ferns incorporated in the design. Copper can turn your skin green, especially when worn as a ring where it comes in to contact with so many different elements. My solution was to design a ring that would sandwich the copper in between two layers of silver. This meant that I could saw the fern design in the the top layer of silver and the copper would show through the cut out, but wouldn't be touching the skin at any point. The saw work was very fiddly, but I really love tiny and complicated sawing designs, I find it a very therapeutic process.
Jack & Lydia's Engagement & Wedding Rings
I had the pleasure of making the engagement ring and wedding rings for some lovely friends of mine, who I've known since I was a child. I'm always so thrilled when my friends pick me to make such important pieces for them!
For the engagement ring I was able to visit my favourite stone shop in London and sent photos of all the unusual geometric stones I could find. They settled on a beautiful rose cut sapphire, which I could then design the rest of the ring and wedding ring around. The bands for Lydia's rings were made out of white gold, with the setting around the stone and a panel at the front of the wedding ring made in yellow gold. Jack's ring was made in silver that I heavily textured to resemble bark, then oxidised, with a panel of yellow gold at the front to match Lydia's rings.
Celtic Gold Ring
This gold ring was my first time at making a piece made from the customers old and broken jewellery. I melted down the collection of 'scrap' gold (that can be seen in the first image below) to create a gold ingot, which I then rolled out in to a strip of gold, the perfect size to make a ring. After measuring out the Celtic knot design and transferring it on to the metal I could then start sawing it out. When I was happy with the pattern I continued the process like with any other ring, soldering it closed, hammering it round and making sure it was the right size, and finally polishing it and sending it to be Hallmarked.
Sapphire Engagement Ring
I enjoy being able to turn old jewellery in to something new that will be worn and cherished every day. This Sapphire Engagement Ring was another piece where I started with the customers old broken pieces and remodelled them in to something new. I melted down the gold in to a ingot, rolled it out into a wire and then tapered the ends by hammering them. I then made the settings out of tube, each a slightly different size to match the tiny little sapphires.
More Handmade Wedding & Engagement Rings
If you're inspired by any of the designs you've seen here please get in touch and we can start working your bespoke ring!