Engagement rings

The summer is behind us and wedding band season has transitioned nicely into a very interesting group of engagement rings. This group is not afraid to be noticed! Big stones, great colour, and lots of diamonds.

Ring #1 is a 7.78ct sapphire with a pinkish-lavender tone and it is delicious! Set in red gold it's going to get a second look from every person she shows it to.

Not to be outdone, Ring #2 is a 12.2 ct chrysoberyl set with pave leaves and hand engraving. It has a unique greenish yellow colour that reminds me of a perfect mix between lemons and olive oil.

Finally ring #3 is a spectacular 1.84 ct  pale wheat coloured sapphire bezel set in an art deco inspired ring with a pave halo. I put little filigree leaves in the gallery.

new tech

It's been about a year and 500 rings since my last post. Having a successful year with a lot of growth means there is not a lot of time for the little extras, like documenting your work and writing blog posts. I am working hard to remedy that. My team has grown to 4! Traven, my brother rocking the wax models as usual and Meredith, Sarah, and Marina making the goldsmithing work look easy. Wedding and engagement jewellery jewellery is by far my favorite part of my job. There is nothing like being in on a proposal. It's as close to 007 as I am going to get.

The image below is a 1.50 ct round diamond engagement ring that we did recently. I joke that my hobby is making girls cry, tears of joy of course... I think this one did the trick!

Running a small business is a lot of fun. As my humble studio grows it challenges me to keep getting better and investing in the future. Traven and I are currently Learning CAD. I learned how to cut waxes by hand when I was in school back in 1998 and so that is how I trained Traven when he came on board 8 years ago. The technology was still in development back then and not available. The company has now grown to a point that it makes a lot of sense to bring this amazing tool in house and increase our efficiency. 

We have been taking the courses over the summer and while there is a pretty steep learning curve, once you start to get used to the nuances of the program it gets to be a ton of fun! Below is a custom ring I am making for a great client. Green Tourmaline and diamonds.

It's going to look very cool once finished, a nice modern profile with a subtle deco edge to it. I'll post a picture once complete. So great to be back to posting!

Padparadscha sapphires and rubies

It's spring! So exciting. There is so much going on at the studio. We are doing a bit of renovating and refreshing to make space to accomodate our newest addition to the team. Welcome Meredith! We are also taking some new professional Photographs of the work to refresh the website and business cards. It's amazing to think that this is my 10th year at the Distillery.

We will be taking part in our first bridal show coming up on april 15th. It's a small boutique event at one king west here in Toronto called the original wedding soiree. Here is the link http://www.weddingsforher.ca. I look forward to meeting lots of new brides to be.

And then there is the small business of goldsmithing. Today alone I delivered 4 engagement rings and this beautiful pair or ruby and diamond earrings set in red gold. I am starting to see a trend this year towards warm tones. We are making lots if rings and earrings in colours ranging from light lemony yellows to warm ambers all the way to intense cognacs infused with undertones of pink. Luckily sapphires come in every tone and intensity, the most prized is a perfect balance between orange and pink and is called Padparadscha.

New work

January is one of my favourite months at the studio. It brings a slightly slower pace than the summer months and as a result I can take a bit of time and really enjoy the process of making custom rings. I have a fun job!

This spectacular engagement ring was commissioned this month. We used a rose cut diamond with pavé accents and hand engraving to design a vintage inspired ring that channels a bit of Deco and a bit of Edwardian, but with its own unique style. Thanks Marty and congratulations!

This cocktail ring is clean and simple and shows off the cushion cut Rhodolite garnet. With distinctive hints of red and violet it's a very cool gem!
My brother Traven has taken some nice shots of new gems, and I will share them in my next post.

Rutilated quartz ring is finshed!

It's a new year and it's going to be an exciting one here at the studio! We have gotten off to a great start with some very cool new custom projects that I will be writing about next week, including a spectacular pair of ruby earrings. We have also been  finishing up one or two speculative projects from 2011.

The rutilated quartz ring is finally finished and boy is it special! 18k yellow gold and pave diamonds! Wear it to a cocktail party and you will turn some heads.