Handmade engagement rings

[Honus]

Since my day job is making jewelry I figured I'd show a few engagement rings I've made. These are entirely hand made from Platinum.

The first ring was an especially challenging job as the opening in the the side of the ring is only 8mm wide. The vine sections are made from fourteen separate Platinum pieces. Platinum wire that is .07mm thick (about .003 inch) is used for the vines and the leaves were cut from Platinum sheet, hand engraved and welded to the vine sections. The assembled vine sections were then inserted into the 8mm wide opening and then welded into place from the back side. It's a very small ring- to put in in perspective the side stones on the top of the ring are 1mm in diameter.The next two rings are entirely made from Platinum sheet and wire- no castings were used and there are over forty soldered joints in each ring.

[habitué]

That is awesome.

[Too Tall]

A little speechless my friend. Your work is immaculate. I'd love to see your workbench and esp. lighting / magnification tools. Did you read the some of the background material wrt Photolettering at House Industries? http://www.velocipedesalon.com/forum...ing-21015.html

[Honus]

Thanks for the kind words guys! I posted a little photo essay of sorts that shows my bench and how I made a simple two tone ring here- Creating a two tone engagement ring

As far as lighting goes I use a simple jeweler's bench lamp- nothing special really. For magnification I use a 6.5x to 45x stereo zoom scope with a .5x Barlow lens (to increase the working distance)- it's awesome for stone setting and engraving. The scope is made by Omano- Microscopes for everyday use at Microscope.com

At some point I think I'd like to try building a really fancy pants lugged frame with intricate lugs but that's probably a ways off- too many other projects already in the works and with three little boys to occupy my time I don't have much spare time to work on projects. :)

I read the bit about Photolettering- that's pretty cool and the site layout is awesome too. It's something I can appreciate as I studied graphic design/art in college. I actually started off in aerospace engineering and somehow ended up in the art department. I took a course in metalsmithing (primarily so I could build better bike frames) and I guess it made an impression on me- it's funny how I ended up working as a jeweler after 12 years in the bike business.

As much as I like working with metals I do really enjoy drawing a lot- here's some pencil sketches. While I have done paintings in oils and acrylics I really like the simplicity and elegance of pencil drawings.

[54ny77]

stellar!

[ron l edmiston]

classics...

ronnie

[Too Tall]

There is a store in DC called "The Tiny Jewel Box" where I think you'd feel at home. When I was shopping for an engagement ring they had exactly what I wanted...refurbished art nouveau red gold with an mine cut diamond. Go figure? I mention this because your work would feel at home in their displays. Thanks for sharing this.

[Honus]

Some of the art nouveau work is really impressive. I do a lot of repairs and restorations and the art nouveau and art deco pieces are always neat to see. I do have to say that I'm pretty happy here in Boulder- I've been at the same shop for 13 years. :)

[dashDustin]

Holy shit

[Ben]

Wow. Your work is incredible. Makes the diamond look shabby.

[mnoble485]

I am always awed by the talent of some people. Your work is incredable. You
should make it manditory that anyone wearing one of your rings carry a magnifying glass
Mike

[a-game]

honus, let me just ++++++++++++1 everything already said in this thread regarding your work. its brilliant.

do you have examples of any men's wedding bands (or his/her wedding bands) you've done?

[AJPM44]

All of those rings are beautiful. I was lucky enough to have my mother in law make both our wedding bands and my wife's engagement ring. My wife is from Maine, so she used Maine Tourmaline in place of a diamond (wife doesn't like diamonds).

[Honus]

Thanks so much! I'll take a look through my photos and see what I can find. Most of the men's bands are typically pretty plain. I did make one a long time ago where the customer brought in a photo of a mountain range the couple hiked and wanted the shape of the mountains duplicated on the ring. The lower half of the ring had the mountain skyline in Platinum and the top half of the ring was done in 18K rose Gold. I used a process called co-casting where the Gold was actually cast directly to the Platinum and had a mechanical lock. It was a pretty neat ring.

[54ny77]

amazing craftsmanship!

here's a random question: do you think 3d printing with precious metals will enter the world of jewelry making? there's a thread in the general section on 3d printing with powdered steel & a laser for bike lugs, and it reminded me of the level of intricacy required of fine or even fashion jewelry. a jeweler i've worked closely with, who has always done things by hand and is highly proficient at it, now has a program & machine where he can whip up a design and make a mold on the fly (relatively speaking). he's pretty excited about it. but from there, everything is still made by hand.

[Honus]

Thanks!

3D printing of Sterling Silver is already being done. I haven't done it yet (I know some folks who have) but it's certainly interesting and would remove the casting process. Printing metal is not a cheap process and I'd be curious to see the density difference vs. a good centrifugal casting. At my work we create CAD models on computer and then either grow or machine a wax for investment casting- it's pretty commonplace nowadays. The raw castings then require the usual clean up/prep work before stones can be set.

[chasea]

Sometimes I'm on this site when the girlfriend is around. Is it okay if we re-title this thread "Why Slayer and Beer Rule," or something?

[Too Tall]

Sometimes I'm on this site when the girlfriend is around. Is it okay if we re-title this thread "Why Slayer and Beer Rule," or something?

The man is a Rake. Vsalon will make an honest man out of you. BUY THE FRICKIN' RING and shaddap. xxoo

[Honus]

The fact that she's cool enough to check out a bike website you're browsing means you should buy her some jewelry! :)

[dhoff]

beautiful work. thank you for sharing it