Handmade, Sentimental Gold Wedding Rings
Making new wedding rings using inherited family gold and gemstones
Wedding Ring Design
In the spring E & T asked me to make them two wedding rings. They had a collection of sentimental jewellery inherited from their family and wanted to use certain pieces in their rings.
After a consultation at the workshop I drew up a few options for them to consider, playing with layouts for the various gemstones. They knew they'd like to include diamonds and rubies, but it's always easier to visualise these with a drawing.
Sentimental Materials
Once the design details were settled I gently prised each stone out of its setting. I lined my bench with tissue paper to help me find any stones I might drop, and carefully counted them out of each ring. I only really relax once all the stones are triple counted and sealed up in a little reusable plastic bag.
Making the Bride's Ring
There were three emotionally significant pieces that E wanted to use for her ring. I started by melting them down and carefully pouring the liquid gold into an ingot mould. This allows the gold to cool into a workable form, making a rough rectangle which I can begin to make into wire.
E's new wedding ring needed to fit the shape of her engagement ring, with a wider section at the front for a stone setting. I made the ingot of 9ct gold into a long, rectangular wire before hammering out the ends to form a taper. I then filed a groove at the centre point and bent the strip to make the wishbone front of the wedding ring. Once that was soldered securely into place I could shape up the rest of the wedding band, ensuring a perfect fit against the E's engagement ring.
Making the Groom's Ring
After E's ring was made I put the off-cuts back into my crucible to melt down (with some more of the sentimental metal) to make T's wedding ring. I repeated the ingot making process before rolling the gold out in my rolling mill into a long section of D shaped wire. I bent this into a ring shape, soldered the join, and tidied up the raw edges of the wire with sandpaper.
After the shapes of the rings were finalised I paused to send them off to Birmingham Assay Office for a hallmark. Once that was applied, E's ring was set with the diamonds & rubies and T's ring was given a subtle matt finish.
Diamond, Ruby & Repurposed 9ct Yellow Gold Wedding Rings
If you're inspired by these sentimental gold wedding rings and would like to have a chat about having your own piece of bespoke jewellery made please feel free to get in touch below.
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