One of our amazing clients approached us one day with the desire to create for his wife a fabulous anniversary gift and to build the piece together as a couple. This process began with a preliminary design meeting where we spoke about what kind of jewelry they were looking to have made. We narrowed it down to an emerald ring!
This is where all the fun begins- Emeralds are stones with an incredible amount of variability in just about every aspect imaginable. The key to navigating this otherwise daunting task is to focus on exactly what features of a stone the client reacts to the most. For this project, we decided an emerald cut emerald with a darker hue would be the best suited stone. We presented some options, photographed below, to begin the stone selecting process.
Once the stone choosing had begun, it was time to choose a design. We put together numerous photos and rendering options for our client and narrowed it down to a couple of designs, pictured below. The client wanted to make a ring that she wasn’t going to see often. Something interesting, something fresh!
We chose to base the ring design on a beautiful pair of emerald earrings with trapezoid cut side stones and emerald pave. The rhodium plating around the pave emeralds really are them pop, a detail you don’t see often.
When adapting an inspiration photo of an earring into a custom-made ring, there are a few differences that have to be thought of when making the ring. The most notable difference for this ring was how the top portion with the stones on it will be connected to the shank of the ring (which is the portion of metal that wraps around the bottom of your finger). The client did not have a definitive opinion on what that would look like aesthetically so we chose to make it a “split shank” ring. In our eyes, it makes for a more refined and delicate look than a solid shank, as you can see in the photos below.
At the end of the process, we are presented with a fabulous and a one-of-a-kind handmade ring. The clients are in love with the outcome of the ring's design. It looks absolutely breathtaking!
