He initially sent me this picture of a piece he must have either found on a different site or created on a different site.

He also told me he wanted Turquoise for the center stones and 4 diamonds on the side instead of 2 diamonds and 2 brown stones.

I sent him a render of my version of the ring he sent me.

The program I use to render my designs does not have Turquoise so I used Blue Topaz instead since the colors are close. He ended up liking the stones so much he asked to see what the piece would look like with faceted Blue Topaz. He was looking for a color not a stone so he wanted whatever would look the best in the ring.

He loved the look of the faceted stones and decided to go ahead with manufacturing using 14K white gold as the metal.

Even from the raw casting, I could tell this ring was going to be really neat.

When all was set and polished, the piece turned out amazing.

The client was super happy and said he would come back to me for wedding rings when the time comes! I can’t wait!

He really liked the trillion fire opal ring I have on my site but didn’t want any diamonds at all. He had seen some engagement rings with pearls and really liked the look of those, so I decided to try to combine the 2 ideas. Below is the original render that I came up with:

He really loved the top piece (I knew he would) and after moving the pearl over a little bit and rounding off the shank, we ended up with this:

He decided to use palladium for the metal to keep the price down and we started manufacturing.
Here are the raw casting and the pearl…


The finished piece turned out amazing! I hope she loves it!

A friend of mine came to me looking for an engagement ring to give to his girlfriend. I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure what to expect from this particular friend and I was a little relieved when he wanted something modern, sleek, simple, and pretty.

He had several pictures that he’s gotten off his girlfriend’s email and there was one he particularly liked.

He said he liked everything about it but wanted some suggestions for a center stone. We decided something blue-ish, green-ish would be good because that is his girlfriend’s favorite color. After going over several options, we decided on a blue diamonds for the center and then we just had to refine the design. After a few changes, this is the final design render.

Here is the casting before I gave it my jeweler along with a picture of the loose blue diamond.

The final ring was stunning. The simple design with a stunning stone made for a one of a kind beautiful engagement ring.

I think this idea of a “slip through” wedding band is really fun. It gives you a wide band look which is really hot right now. It gives symmetry without sacrificing having a wedding band or having to get 2 wedding bands. Let me know what you think of this idea!

His future wife started by telling him that she didn’t want him to spend a lot of money and being with him was treat enough for her so whatever ring he got her was fine since she didn’t wear many rings anyways and she didn’t really care.  It didn’t take very long to figure out that it wasn’t that she didn’t care, it was that she didn’t know anything about jewelry and no one had ever taken the time to sit with her and find out what she actually prefers out of all the options available.  She had been in jewelry store before but was always so overwhelmed by the sparkle that she felt blinded and didn’t look any further.

I decided it was time to educate both her and my father-in-law a little about jewelry so they could see that what you see in every mall jewelry store isn’t all of what is available.  So I took them to one of those dreaded stores where they have everything and if you don’t know what you want you are in trouble.  The difference was that I was there to lead them through it and take notes as we went.

I took her directly to the solitaire case so she could see the different diamond cuts as well as different sizes.  She didn’t like a lot of sparkle and seemed to be attracted to rectangles so we looked at Emerald Cut stones for her.  I had her put a 1/2 carat, then a 3/4 carat, and finally a 1.0 carat emerald cut solitaire on her hand.  We then found out that she didn’t want anything smaller than a 1.0 carat stone!  So much for not caring!  I also showed her ascher (or asscher) cut stones as well since they are a step cut but with a few more facets than an emerald.  She didn’t like the aschers because they were square and she really wanted a rectangular stone.

Now that we had a stone shape and size, we could talk about her mounting.  She thought she didn’t want any side stones because, again, she didn’t like the sparkle of the brilliant cut stones and for the most part, that is what was in any 3 stone rings we saw–so we looked at solitaire mountings.  She looked at thin bands and wide bands and decided that she preferred a wider band on her solitaire because her hands are a little larger.

Now that we had done some research and found out what she liked, I could start designing!  She also knew she wanted a wave design in the side of her engagement ring because it is the tatoo that my father-in-law, brother-in-law, and husband all have and is kind of their family logo.  Because she wanted the design on the side, I knew I the band had to be thick enough to accommodate the design without being so thick that it would make the ring too heavy to wear.  After a few minor changes this is the design we settled on!

We also had to find a diamond for her to fit her design.  One of my vendors happened to have a 1.0 carat emerald cut stone and he sent it to me for her to look at.  The corners of the stone were cut a little heavier than most emerald cut diamonds which might be considered a flaw, but it brought the faceting into the center of the stone more and gave it a little added shine!  It was perfect.  A truly unique, special stone for a special lady.

I added a 2mm plain band that fit right next to the engagement ring for her wedding band, and voila!

I had both rings cast in platinum for her because she has a nickel allergy and should therefore not wear white gold and because she is sensitive already, I wasn’t positive she wouldn’t also have a reaction to palladium.

The rings turned out fantastic!  I hope she loves the finished product as much as she loves my father-in-law!