The Making Of A Ring

by Nancy Plante August 16, 2023

A green wax model of a gemstone ring, and a white gold shank and a yellow gold component, along with a green sapphire gemstone: the parts of a ring that will be hand made.

It all started last summer, when Marcel and Pierre were having coffee outside at their favorite cafe on a Sunday morning.Marcel had his sketchbook along, and as they talked, he came up with an idea for a ring featuring the gorgeous green sapphire that we had fallen in love with when one of our gem dealers had visited.

A rectangular cushion cut green sapphire gemstone.

This green sapphire gemstone is not just green.

When you gaze into its depths you can see flashes of

yellow and blue as you move the gemstone.

Marcel wanted to show the green color with a white gold mounting and a yellow gold head (the part of the ring that holds the gemstone.)

He envisioned the gemstone set between triangular sections of white gold set with pave diamonds. ("pahv-ay") Of course, not just any diamonds! The tiny diamonds are ideal-cut, which means they are perfectly proportioned to have maximum sparkle.

Our jeweler, Steve, does spectacular pave work. Pave means that the surface of the white gold will be "paved" with diamonds set next to each other.

The edges of the triangles will feature hand-done milgrain detail. The shoulders of the ring (the part of the shank next to the triangles) will also have small diamonds and milgrain.

The top picture shows the green wax model that was made after Marcel created the design in CAD (computer-aided design.) Because this ring will be made in two different metals -- 14K white gold and 18K yellow gold -- the two parts had to be cast separately, and will be assembled here in our workshop.

The wax model shows how the ring will look once it's fully assembled. This model is needed to make sure that the gemstone will fit into the finished ring. This gemstone, like many fine colored gems, has its own unique proportions that require a custom mounting.

We will keep you posted as we continue to work on this one-of-a-kind ring!