Upcycled Recycled Repurposed Ring

Precious metal prices are rising and it is time to bring my metal scrap to the refiner. last week I was digging through years of scraps, old and screwed up designs. I found a couple of pieces I created in my first year of jewelry making. One of those plain simple rings was kind of interesting but never really got the love it deserved from me. Instead of melting and recycling the metal I gave it new up-cycled look.

I renewed the texture in the grove at the top of square shaped ring band and added a square glowing orange sapphire in a 14 karat gold bezel setting. It now still has it's simplicity but with a new twist and added sparkle. The texture at the top is oxidized to provide a nice dark contrast to the yellow gold setting.

This ring is growing on me and became you favorite ring I wore all week long. It became part of my own jewelry box. I will probably add a new line with this design but need to revise the shank design a bit to make it cleaner and more comfortable. So watch out for new designs coming to Nodeform. This one will be called Square 1 ring. (I know it's very creative :))

South Sea Pearl White Gold Ring

A white South Sea pearl can be a good alternative adornment for this classic ring design. Typically I had offered this only with a black Tahitian Pearl. I do like the contrast between the satin finish gray palladium gold and the beautiful white pearl.

This ring is shown with solid 18 karat palladium white gold. One advantage is that few if any people show any allergy or sensitivity as opposed to the more commonly used nickel based alloys. Palladium white gold does not yellow over time and  therefore rhodium plating is optional. But it is more a warm grayish color than the rhodium plated white gold rings seen in so many stores. Still, one advantage is that it can be re-polished quite frequently without having to send it back to be plated. This is really great for people how work a lot with their hands and will scratch the surface of a wedding band.

My preferred choice for wedding or engagement rings would be using palladiums alloys (950 PD). As part of the platinum group of elements, palladium shares some of platinum's physical characteristics, including durability, luster and a similar silvery-white color. Palladium is still cheaper that white gold and a lot cheaper than the really expensive platinum.
I haven't actually cast this design in palladium yet. So far I used palladium mostly for rings that required stone setting where this metal is really great to work with. I am really looking forward to seeing this design done in palladium metal.

Sooth Your Heart with a Rose Quartz Ring

A new limited production ring is added to my shop:  sterling silver ring with a trillion Rose Quartz gem stone. Three paw like prongs hold this stone securely in place.

The cushion cut natural Quartz is hand set and the ring has a polished finish. Overall height of the ring is about 30 mm/ 7/8" inch. The height above the finger is about 10mm. The stone is 15 mm or 0.6"

I only have a total of 3 stones in the same size and cut for this design. So this will only be a very limited edition.

Rose quartz is one of the most desirable varieties of quartz. The pink to rose red color is completely unique, unlike any other pink mineral species. The color is caused by iron and titanium impurities.
And the best is: it heals your heart! "Rose quartz is an excellent heart-healing gemstone. It is a nature remedy that can be used for treating any issue that needs emotional healing. Rose quartz is a pink-colored crystal that carries a very gentle and soothing energy and gives comfort to anyone whose heart has been wounded." Who doesn't need a bit of a heart healing, we all go hurt at one time in our live.

Blushing Pink Mold For Tetra Rings

I finally got a rubber mold made for my Tetra rings. Here it is in it's nice blushing color of non-shrink rubber.

I did try to do molds myself some time ago in school  and could never really get a nice working one. I think it's an art to cut rubber molds correctly. This one is actually a pretty simple ring shape and not that hard to cut. In comparison some molds I got for my Mermaid rings are awesome with all those undercuts and multi-part pieces. Nowadays I send my masters out to get a professional cut mold. Those work so much better when I do the wax injection. It also saves me from all those bloody cuts in my fingers from the cutting scalpel. If any one cares and want to try it out on their own, here is a pretty good description on how to make molds.

Here the master model and some wax copies from the mold with the injection and casting sprues on them. The master has to be larger than the final intended ring and setting to allow for shrinkage. This pink rubber has less shrinkage that normal rubber (about 2% vs. 8%) but also during the casting  there is shrinkage from the wax to the final cast metal.

This mold will help me to speed up the Tetra ring making for the 10 mm stones. I still have to adjust the settings slightly for some of the stones. There are always slight differences in the trillion shaped stones I got. Some stones have a bit rounder sides or rounded or pointy tips or even deeper or shallower cuts. But adjusting the setting is so much faster after having the main shape already there. Then all else I do is sizing the band in wax correctly and send it out to the caster. I try to avoid sizing and soldering in metal and usually cast every ring to the intended ring size.

Here are a few new Amethyst colors I recently got in darker shades. For the smaller stones and fancy cuts I will still have to hand carve each ring separately and cant use the wax models from the mold.

bye, bye green beauty!

Sometimes it is not easy to be a jeweler. I get so attached to some of the jewels I create. It is hard to let go and send them off to their new destination. Last weekend I fell in love with this green ring. It has a large one-of-a-kind chrome green quartz set in the Rock in Paw design.

When creating a ring I stare at it for hours, trying to imagine the final look. And once it is all finished, I am so proud of this new little character that will hopefully make it's new owner happy.

Pale Blue Chalcedony Ring

Some days when business is slow and I feel in the mood of dreaming about new designs, I take out my box with those gems stones I bought probably 3 to 5 years ago. It feels like going through a treasure box you found at the attic of your parents house. Most stones in there are small; sapphires in different shades, garnets, some rubies, lots of citrines, topazes etc. These days I am more into large stones that make a statement.

Here I found one stone that I did not even knew I had. A beautiful pale blue Chalcedony cabochon measuring 14 mm by 24 mm.  So sleek and modern looking. I played a bit around and designed a ring thats very simple, clean and seamless. Below is a photo of the wax model that will be cast in sterling silver. I might flush set some small blue sapphires or diamonds on the sides of the setting but I am not sure about this yet. I will see how it looks when it is cast in silver. Maybe it will just stay clean with those architectural simple lines, no sparkly add-on needed.

Fancy Cuts

I finally got around to play with some fancy cut gem stones that I had in my treasure box. I designed two one-of-a-kind rings in wax and I can't wait to see them all finished in metal.

The first ring has a triangular fancy shaped tourmaline cabochon that has a incredible blood red color. I found this stone last week at my stone supplier in Downtown LA when I was searching for Morganite stones for a commissioned ring. Anyways this stone really caught my eye and I had to buy it. The tourmaline is 14 mm by 10 mm. I so love tourmalines especially when they have some natural inclusions. The variety of tourmaline colors and it's brilliance are just adorable.

Those asymmetrical lines were just perfect for a very dynamic design that is somewhat based on my Tetra ring collection.  I am not sure yet what metal I will cast this in. This would look so great in a warm yellow gold. But 14kt will be so had to set the stone in and 18kt is probably out of my reach.


The second ring is pretty similar. Here I used a faceted fancy shaped pink sapphire.

This stone I acquired years ago just waiting to find the right design for it. It is 11 mm by 5.5 mm and a bit smaller than the stones I typically use for my ring designs. To give it volume I shaped the sides of the setting in an angle to the stone. Let's see how that works once it is cast in metal.

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