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.

rutilated quartz ring for Christmas!

Only nine days left for this little elf to get through his list of sparkly things to make. I am happy to report that all projects are on track! I haven't gotten to work on my rutilated quartz ring as much as I would have liked though. I know, poor me, too busy to work on the project for the blog... will take that problem all day long!

I think that I should get a chance to finish it up before the holidays so if you have your eye on it I can wrap it up for you to put under the tree for someone special,  maybe even for someone like yourself! I'll post a pic when it's done.

Rutilated quartz ring

It's November! While many of us will be busy growing moustaches... it's never too early to think about Christmas shopping. If you are the type that is very organized then you will be in to see me in the next couple if weeks to order your custom sparkly thing... and I will have it ready for you to wrap and put under the tree.

If you are more like me, leaning towards the not as organized shopper then you might be in my shop with only a couple weeks until christmas. Certainly not a last minute shopper, but a bit too late to get that custom project started in time for the holidays.

Not to fear. I have been thinking of you and I am putting together a couple of spectacular pendants and rings that will be ready to go. This one is a very unique rutilated quartz set in 18k yellow gold with pave set diamonds. I'll post a picture next week when it's finished!

Fruit salad anyone

One of the things that I love is to research an era or specific style and to do a modern interpretation. I have made pieces with inspiration from the Victorian, Edwardian, Art Deco, and the Art nouveau styles.

For this necklace and earring set I was inspired by Cartier's Tutti Frutti collection from the early 1900's. They made necklaces for royalty and used platinum, sapphires, emeralds and rubies. The results were spectacular!

For my necklace I am starting with a suite of 5 matching pear shape Spessartite garnets from madagascar. Then pairing them with Ruby cabochons and Peridot accents. I think I will do pave set diamonds and hand engraving on the discs that complete the necklace at the back. The spacing needs work but I like it so far.

Recent work

Late September and early October for us at the studio is a bit quieter then the rest of the year. The summers wedding band orders are tapering off and  and it gives us a chance to work on some engagement rings and some just for sun projects like cocktail rings and pendants...

These first two rings show a great contrast in style. The first is sleek, clean and modern. While the second gives a nod to both Deco and art nouveau styles. I can't decide which I like more... I am just happy that I got to make them both!

I love this engagement ring and thought I should share it with you. It has great lines and will look even sparklier when paired with it's pave set wedding band... Who wouldn't say yes to this!

Lastly is this spectacular mens signet/occasional ring. It is 18k yellow gold with diamonds and black sapphires and was custom made for one of our best customers in Montreal. Thanks a million M&JP!

Well it's fall and that means two things... Steelers football is back and wedding band season is almost in the books. And I can happily report that we are seeing great success on both fronts... Go Steelers!
I want to thank all the amazing brides and grooms that we have had the honour of making rings for so far this year. I have the best customers!

With that in mind I want to show off this great ring that we recently made. Steve commissioned this 18k white gold, diamond and ruby, hand engraved day of the dead ring for his wife Patty. It was great fun to research and design, thanks Steve!
I also have a couple of great new speculative projects that I am starting and hope to have ready for Christmas so stay tuned.

Recent rings

It has been a while since my last post. I had the best laid plans... but life and rings... many, many rings got in the way! We are in the thick of wedding band season with lots of happy couples saying "I do". We have been trying our best to take photos when possible, but the days seem to fly by, I can't believe the year is half over. I wanted to share a few projects from the last couple months. This one is an anniversary ring. It was a re-imagining of three different rings all taken apart and built into one spectacular ring!

This one is sleek and modern but the channel set princess cut diamonds give it a hint of deco flare.

This one is 1940's movie star all the way! I love the contrast of the fancy intense pink sapphire and the cool icy pave diamonds.

This custom engagement ring re-design, with it's pave set split shank and pave halo under gallery is one of my recent favorites. The ring is what is known as a "5 tabler"... at a restaurant you can see it from 5 tables away!

Mmmmm chocolate

Todays stop on my tour of the Distillery is Soma Chocolates. Soma is an artisanal chocolate maker, handcrafting their chocolates in small batches. This allows them to maintain a very high level of quality and the freedom to make some quirky and creative combinations, chocolate covered cornuts anyone! (they are delicious!)

I am pretty sure I have tried almost everything in the shop and can tell you that there are virtually no wrong turns. On my personal favourite list are the Amaretti cookies, the almond clusters, and the brown butter truffle!

But the jewel in the crown, their Mona Lisa, has to be the Mayan hot chocolate, also known as the "drink of the gods" But to compare this to "hot chocolate" is an insult. This is a elixir of molten chocolate, with a hint of spice and undertones of ginger, vanilla, and orange. It's complex and simple at the same time. It's not uncommon to see people unabashedly licking the inside of the cup... giving serious thought to getting another. I try to limit my exposure, it can be hazardous to the waistline working 100 ft from such pure, uncut awesomeness!

Move over diamond, make room for sapphire

Over the last few months, since the engagement of William and Kate was announced, I've been seeing increased interest in sapphire engagement rings (just see my last two blog posts).

While sapphire has always been a popular engagement ring choice, and one of my personal favourites (I proposed to my wife with a sapphire engagement ring), diamond has been the more traditional stone used over the last few decades. However, jewellers saw an increase in sapphire interest when Charles and Diana got engaged in '81, and we're seeing that spike in interest again now that Kate Middleton is wearing the sapphire ring.  
Sapphires are an excellent choice for engagement rings for many reasons, they refract light very well making them sparkly, and they have a Mohs hardness of 9 (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohs_scale_of_mineral_hardness), making them very tough and resistant to breaking, chipping and scratching.

Sapphires also come in many different colours, hues and saturations, with the most spectacular being blue, pink and yellow. While natural coloured diamonds are also found, they are roughly 100 times the price of a similar sized sapphire. And when compared to white diamonds sapphires cost about 75% less. This allows a customer to save a bit of money or get a bigger stone... often they decide to do a bit of both!

And if you still like the idea of having diamonds as part of your engagement ring, not to worry, sapphires look amazing when paired with white diamond accents. Just check out some of the pictures of sapphire rings that I have made over the last couple of months. Gorgeous... if I do say so myself.

Sapphire and diamond engagement ring

It's taken a bit of doing but I have finally finished the sapphire ring. I have to confess that I got caught up in making it and didn't document the process for you. I finished it and pulled a Homer Simpson... D'oh! One of my favourite things about my job is that I can lose entire afternoons working on a piece. I will finish lunch, get back to work and then look up and it's 5:00... I promise to do a better job for you next time and remember to take pictures! I have a couple of really great stones that I just got from the dealer so stay tuned for some cool projects coming up. I also want to continue my tour of the Distillery with my next stop being Soma. Mmmm Chocolate...

sapphire cocktail ring

I love covert projects. I am very good at playing dumb so we are batting a thousand in the not giving away surprises department! This is a ring commissioned by my great customer Mark for his amazing wife Christa. It's a 3.5 ct reddish-pinkish-orange sapphire. It's one of the most unusual shades I have ever seen. We made it into this bold cocktail ring in 18k yellow gold. Spectacular, thanks Mark!

Diamonds... and coffee?

This week I wanted to post another entry to my "Distillery must see" list. As we all know, every visit to the Distillery should start in my studio where you should come and get decked out in sparkly things... But your next stop might be for a club sandwich at Brick Street, or if you're not ready for lunch and more in a coffee mood, a stop at Balzac's Coffee - the perfect place to grab a latte, cappuccino or macchiato and a little something sweet. Balzac's in the Distillery is by far the coolest coffee shop I have ever been in, with atmosphere to spare, and features micro roasted fairtrade coffee beans.

Originally from Stratford, Balzac's was one of the Distillery districts first tenants and helped to set the tone for the quality and character that businesses in the district have become known for. It helped sell me on setting up shop here 8 years ago when construction was in full swing and the district was still an unknown, out of the way spot.

Having sampled their wares some 2500 times, I would consider myself an expert... or addict! Either way, my morning coffee from Balzac's is a small pleasure that enriches my life. So next time you are in the Distillery seeing me for that special project, grab a great coffee afterwards and see for yourself...