Remaking a favourite....

These 14k yellow gold and sterling silver wedding bands were made special order for clients who liked an existing design that I've made a few times in limited quantities.


Having a rubber mold of the design sure does make life easy. First I inject three waxes from my rubber mold. Cast them into sterling silver. I needed to combine two of them together to make one ring large enough for him. Hers only needed minor tweeking to get the proper size. I then got the files out and removed the sterling silver edges.
After making 14k yellow gold square wire, cutting, bending, and joining the pieces into replacement edges, I was ready to solder them in place. Once I was satisfied with the way everything lined up, I filed and sanded the rings until near completion. I applied a dark patina to the silver that would sink into the crevices creating a nice contrast once the rings were given their final polish. (shown below).

Custom Wedding Band : 19k White Gold with Sterling Silver Inlay

I thought the process of how I created this custom wedding band would be interesting to show on my blog. These photos show some of the techniques I went through, from carving the wax to the patina finish.

It began by carving a man's ring size 8.25 from a wax tube. It was then cast in 19k white gold. This created the frame for the structure of the band.




Sterling silver was inlay-ed into the center which allows for contrasting colors and textures, as the 19k gold is a very hard metal in comparison. The 19k white also doesn't react to the patina I used.







I annealed the ring and added the hammered texture carefully so as not to ruin the shape of the ring with the constant tapping.


I finished the piece to a high polish and then the final patina was added.




The contrast in the two metals through color and hammered texture make it a truly unique design. I was quite pleased with the finished result.

Proud parents

When my good friend told me that he wanted a rough gold bar with his young daughters name in it to hang on a chain for his wife, I have to admit I didn't know what to make of it. I'm a little more accustom to making much more polished and finished pieces. Luckily, I'm in the business of making sure my clients get what they want. He had all the gold, we just put a blow torch on it and poured a small ingot. Then a few passes through the rolling mill to flatten it out. Solder on some jump rings to hang it on a chain. Rough engraving (what he wanted) is quick and easy too. I'm rather pleased with the results, and there wasn't hours of sanding and polishing either.