Karen's Arabian Star Ring

My regular blog followers will remember my trip to the United Arab Emirates last year. I came home gushing over the fantastic artworks of geometric patterns which adorn the facades of buildings, bridges and street lamps there. At the time, I posted a "pattern inspiration" story with a montage of some of my favourite pattern pictures from Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

 

One of my lovely readers, Karen, was considering commissioning a ring from me when she spied a particular pattern amongst my montage. That pattern was a snap shot of a small section of a bridge, which I myself was particularly taken with.

 

The Inspiration- Souk Al Bahar Bridge (Central Dubai)

 

Full of Arabian inspiration, Karen used the octagon and star features from the latticework on the sides of the bridge to draw up the below computer generated image of a ring concept.  

 

I opened the email from Karen and was immediately excited about the idea. Soon we were meeting up to work out the finer details of the design. Karen selected a combination of white and rose gold with a mix of champagne and white diamonds. I can't go past a gorgeous Australian champage diamond. This arrangement is so similar to my own wedding ring, that I knew I would love the results.

Thanks Karen for sharing in my passion! I really do adore your design and it was my pleasure to turn your drawing into reality. Enjoy wearing it.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Dream Ring for Jenni

Jenni and I met at the Old Bus Depot Markets as fellow stall holders back in 2008. As well as adding several Japonicity designs to Jenni's wardrobe over the years, I remodelled her engagement ring a few years ago. You might even remember Jenni from my story, "The Ring With Bite" last year. So when she decided that she wanted a big ring for her 40th birthday, I was lucky to be first in line for the job.

Jenni had always wanted a one carat diamond but had never been able to afford (or justify) the expense. Her husband's recent purchase of a very fancy motorcycle gave her the extra incentive she needed to spoil herself with the purchase of a dream diamond. Her darling husband offered to then pay for the making of the ring to hold said stone as her 40th birthday gift.

After months of looking at diamonds and different design aspects, Jenni drew up a rough sketch of the design she wanted me to make (shown below).

The next step was to find that perfect diamond. I ordered in a selection of stones from which Jenni chose a breathtaking 1.11 carat beauty.

With a couple of weeks up my sleeve before the special birthday, I set upon creating Jenni's ring. Around the stone is a solid and strong platinum setting. The band is hand carved in 18ct yellow gold. The result: Jenni's dream ring.

It was with great excitement that I handed Jenni's ring over to her husband the week before her birthday. She wasn't allowed to see the results until the actual day. Sure enough, at 8am on Jenni's birthday I received a text message with a single phrase, "It is just stunning, thank you so much!". A couple of days later, another text came through, "I have been staring at my ring for days now and am so happy, love it!!"

You are very welcome Jenni. Thank YOU for giving me the chance to work with that incredible stone and make your dream ring.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Gold and Diamond Blossom Earrings

Every now and then I do custom variations of the earrings in my Japonicity range. Last week was one such occasion when I received a request from Monica for a diamond-set pair of golden blossom studs as a gift for her mother.

These are the medium sized Spring Blossom Studs, but instead of being made from silver, they are solid 9ct yellow gold. As a gorgeous finishing touch, the usual ball of silver in the centre of each blossom is replaced by a sparkling 3 point, round, brilliant cut diamond.

Thanks Monica for asking me to make these. I hope your mother loves them. Such a lovely and thoughtful birthday gift!

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Engagement of Derryn and Claudia

An old friend from my days at Charles Sturt University recently approached me to make an engagement ring for his sweetheart Claudia. I was stoked to hear from him, happy and in love. It thrills me when friends entrust me with such important jobs. And so the process of designing Claudia's engagement ring began!



Derryn with his girl Claudia (and Susie the dog).



We spent some time looking at rings together online. Most of them were solitaire diamonds, a few with small accent stones, but all in all, nothing too inspiring came up. Derryn insisted that whilst he didn't want anything too fussy, he did want something just a little bit different. So I suggested he take a look at different shaped stones. To my surprise, and delight, he came back to me with, "I like the pear".

I've been dreaming of this ring for quite some time. The perfect pear-shaped diamond surrounded by a halo of tiny round brilliant cut diamonds. This is Derryn and Claudia's ring.

The day that I handed the beautiful ring over to Derryn, he proposed. I got a text message from him that night with the words, "She said yes!". I haven't met Claudia yet, but Derryn tells me she loves her ring. And how could she not? After all, the man that loves her went to a lot of trouble to have this ring specially designed and handcrafted in secret so that he had that special piece with which to ask her to be his bride. What a surprise! Isn't that every girl's dream?

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Engagement of Brett and Lou

I recently had the pleasure of handcrafting this classic solitaire ring for a gorgeous couple, Brett and Lou.  The half round band in 18ct yellow gold is slightly tapered towards the top. A four corner claw setting in 18ct white gold holds the internally flawless princess cut diamond. The setting is architecturally inspired. Sweeping curves meet strong, straight lines.

The lucky bride-to-be is enjoying her dream ring, with almost a carat of sparkling perfection in a simple and timeless design. Congratulations Brett and Lou, I look forward to making your wedding rings in the future!

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The First Birthday Bracelet for Baby Annie

I was recently asked to design and make a silver bracelet for a friend's daughter as a first birthday gift. The brief was to include the little girl's name- Annie, the birth stone for April- diamond, a message from her parents- "Love Mum and Dad", and the year- 2012.

After some consideration, I decided to make a little cluster of charms on a simple, oval link bracelet. The largest charm is a silver disc with Annie hand-stamped into the front and the message from her parents engraved onto the back. To this charm, I added a second disc with 1 stamped into the front and 2012 engraved on the back. Finally a little diamond-set blossom to complete the thoughtful gift.

Last week Annie's mum Carissa sent me some photos from Annie's first birthday. I love the little glimpses of her new bracelet on her wrist! A unique and personal gift. I do hope Annie treasures her bracelet for a lifetime.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Left Overs

Before getting on with my stories of recent travels and jewellery adventures, I want to complete a tale which I began to tell you last month; Katrina's stories.

After creating "The Ring With a Hinge", there were four emeralds and one diamond left over from Katrina's original eternity ring, that I had not been able to utilise within her new ring. As the stones were from her precious bridal jewellery, she wanted to use them all up in new pieces that she could love and wear again. Admiring my Encased Designs, Katrina suggested a pendant with one of her favourite Japanese fabrics in shades of green, rimmed with the left over emeralds and diamond. I re-designed the smaller sized Encased Designs pendant to have a nice thick rim in which to set the stones. The result was lovely; a really nice new take on my production range.

Katrina's pendant in sterling silver with Japanese fabric encased behind acrylic and set with emeralds and a diamond.

Then, after making "The Second Ring For Katrina" there was a very small amount of gold left over. With an idea in my mind of some earrings that I wanted to test out, I suggested a pair of stud earrings. Katrina was happy to let me create anything I wanted her for and so I went to work on these little dome and ball earrings that had been on my mind for a while.


Katrina's earrings 9ct white gold domes with 18ct yellow gold balls.

Katrina always brightens my day whenever I see her. She has such a positive attitude in life and spreads that positivity with her wherever she goes. It has been an absolute pleasure making her jewellery and I do enjoy the fact that she is always wearing my work every time I see her.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Eternity Ring for Chris and Lupe

In June 2010 I met Guadalupe (aka Lupe) at the Old Bus Depot Markets in Canberra. This bubbly little lady from Mexico, with her bright eyes and infectious smile, had spied my rose gold Spring Blossom Ring sets. She explained to me that she had been looking everywhere for an engagement ring but was not keen on the rings she had been trying on in main-stream jewellery stores. Having fallen in love with the blossom rings on the spot, Lupe set up an appointment with me for the following week to show Aussie fiancé Chris the rings.


When I got together with the pair the next week, I learned that they had met online in early 2008. After a couple of years of back-and-forth international visits for both of them, Lupe followed her heart all the way across the globe from Mexico to Australia. That leap of faith paid off and the wedding date was set for February 2011. Chris agreed that the blossom rings were the perfect choice for Lupe and they put in an order for three rings; the engagement ring now, and a wedding ring each for February of the following year. As the gorgeous couple were wanting to start a family, we also discussed possibilities for an eternity ring to complete the set after the birth of their first child.

Sweethearts Chris and Lupe on their wedding day, 26th February 2011

You can imagine my excitement last month when I received an e-mail from Chris. The e-mail read "It's time for part three of Lupe's ring please! Our daughter was born on December 8th." The names chosen are Estela Alma Aurelia- Estela after Lupe's aunt, Alma after Chris' mum and Aurelia "because it's a pretty name". Chris decided on a white gold band set with sapphires to go in between Lupe's two diamond set blossom rings.


Lupe's eternity ring in white gold with Ceylon sapphires, and wedding ring in rose gold with diamond.

When he snuck down to pick up Lupe's surprise eternity ring a couple of weeks ago (just in time for their first wedding anniversary), I was delighted that he brought with him the cute little Estela to meet me. Below is a picture of Chris with his little princess and Lupe's new ring.

Chris took Lupe out for an anniversary dinner last weekend and hid the ring under the dessert menu. The feedback I got from Chris is that Lupe is "absolutely stoked" with her rings. Congratulations Chris and Lupe. Thank you so much for allowing me to be part of these special moments in your lives. I look forward to hearing about your future adventures together.


Love from The Jeweller. xx

The 4C's

Cut, Colour, Clarity, Carat Weight- The four major aspects of diamond grading. As I currently have a few clients looking for their perfect diamond, this topic is really at the top of my mind. So I thought I'd share both a story of my recent experiences with the Australian diamond industry, and some diamond facts.

When I was new to the jewellery industry, I found it difficult to find gemstone, and particularly diamond dealers. As I was inexperienced and not spending great volumes of money, plenty of dealers wouldn't give me the time of day. BIG MISTAKE! Young, emerging jewellers are the future of the industry. Give them a little bit of your time early on and they will be your loyal clients long into the future. Who knows, in a few years time they may be your best customers. As a student, I found the lovely Kathy who was working for one of Australia's major coloured gemstone dealers. Several years later, now as a fully qualified jeweller, I needed a diamond supplier as well. I rang a company recommended to me by a friend. Who should answer the phone, but Kathy! My favourite gemmologist had transferred companies. It was such a relief to know that I had someone I trusted to buy diamonds from. Kathy has a young family now and is no longer working in the industry, but over the years I have gotten to know many of the other gemmologists from both companies. They are still my preferred dealers due to their fabulous customer service, quality goods, competitive prices and reliability.

Recently, I had a customer insisting on a diamond of a certain size, but with a restricted budget. My favourite diamond company was unable to provide me with the stone I needed at the right price, so I started looking further afield. I found a dealer with a stone with all the right specifications. After signing the paperwork and paying a hefty security deposit, the diamond arrived. When it arrived, to be very honest, I was appalled. Based on previous experience, the colour and clarity stated on the certificate were not up to my standards. It was nowhere near the quality that I had expected. This brings me to my topic of the 4C's and the Australian diamond industry.

CUT: Refers to the quality of the cutting. The better the cut, the more brilliant the diamond. That sparkle comes from the proportion, finish and symmetry of the diamond facets. It is the single most important aspect of any diamond. Without a good cut, your stone will appear dull and lifeless.

COLOUR: Ranges from D (colourless) to Z (yellow/brown). D and E are colourless, F and G are fine white, and H and I are common white. K through to O are tinted, and from O down they are considered "fancy colours" and come under names such as Champagne or Canary Yellow.

CLARITY: Refers to the amount and size of natural imperfections (known as inclusions) in the stone. IF means internally flawless. A stone graded VVS1-VVS2 has very very small inclusions and VS1-VS2 has very small inclusions when viewed with a 10x optical jeweller's loupe. SI1-SI2 does have slight inclusions, but these should not be visible to the naked eye. I1-I2-I3 graded stones have got visible inclusions.

CARAT WEIGHT: This is the weight of the stone. One carat is divided into 100 points. Therefore, a diamond weighing half a carat is 50 points, one weighing a quarter of a carat is 25 points, etc. A quarter carat, round brilliant cut stone generally measures between 3.90 and 4.15mm. Half a carat ranges between 5.00 and 5.30mm. A one carat round brilliant cut diamond will measure somewhere in the region of 6.40 and 6.60mm.

A sample of some diamond rings that I have created for clients over the last three years.

So, now that you understand diamonds, you will appreciate my shock when this G-SI2 graded stone had a visible dark spot in the top, and was not as bright a white as I had hoped. My first question was "Why?!". How can this certificate claim that the stone is a G-SI2 when I have seen similar diamonds graded as H-I1. The answer- overseas diamond grading laboratories. This stone was graded at a foreign gemmological institute which does not meet the high standards of the Australian Diamond Grading Laboratory. As I have been sticking with my trusty diamond dealer all these years, I did not realise that so many of the diamonds we get here in Australia have been graded in the USA and Europe. Now it needs to be said, the diamond I looked at last week was a lovely stone at a fabulous price. If I was after a nice, white, big stone with a little inclusion, it would have been perfect. But I really did want a G in colour and SI in clarity with no visible inclusions. So, I sent it back.

In the end my client chose quality over size and went for a slightly smaller stone with an excellent cut, great colour and high clarity from my preferred supplier. The experience of the last week confirms that my original diamond dealer is offering fabulous quality goods. I will be sticking with them from now on!

For anyone looking at buying a diamond with a foreign certificate, you can request that a second report be conducted by the Australian Diamond Grading Laboratory for around $50. If you are particularly fussy about your diamond grading, as I am, it may be worth the little bit of extra cash.

For more information about the 4C's, I recommend a visit to the Eternity Diamonds web site. Oh, and happy Valentines' Day to all the lovers. There will certainly be some lucky girls getting new diamonds today!

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Engagement of Chad & Angie

I have a confession to make... I am a hopeless romantic and just LOVE weddings! So can you imagine my excitement when Chad, one of my husband's closest friends, asked me to make an engagement ring for his gorgeous girlfriend Angie. The bigger shock though, was that this big, burly, motor mechanic had been scouring the internet for weeks and had chosen all the design features of the ring he wanted made!

Chad and Angie's white gold and diamond engagement ring.
The center stone is a claw-set, quarter carat, round brilliant cut diamond under which lies twelve channel-set, princess cut diamonds. All diamonds are GSi.

Soon after, I popped up to visit the happy couple at their stunning rural property near Orange, New South Wales. Secretly slipping the ring to Chad, I knew that he had chosen perfectly and Angie would love it. A few weeks later, very quietly and without a fuss, Chad made his proposal.

Bride and Groom-to-be: Chad and Angela at their engagement party.

How very special it was to be part of such a significant moment in the lives of two people that I love. Last September, about a year after their engagement, Chad and Angie were married. I'll share some stories from their beautiful wedding soon.

Love from The Jeweller. xx

The First Engagement Ring

We are so busy renovating our home that I almost forgot today’s blog post!  Here is a little story for you to read whilst Mr Jeweller and I continue ripping out our old bathroom. (And yes, there will be a story about the renovations a little further down the track.)

The first engagement ring that I made was just six months after I graduated from university. An engagement ring is a very special piece. It is the ultimate token of love, a symbol of a special promise, second only to a wedding band.

I designed the ring around an amazing watermelon tourmaline that I purchased the previous year at a jewellery and gemstone trade event. The colour change from green, to white, to pink, is caused by variations of fluid chemistry combined with heat radiation during crystallisation. The spectacular stone is flanked by princess cut diamonds and set into an 18ct yellow gold 'V' shape, with a band made from a 9ct white gold alloy with platinum.

Watermelon tourmaline engagement ring.

The handsome groom-to-be took his girlfriend of over four years up in a hot air balloon over our Nation's Capital and when the moment was right he pulled the ring OUT OF HIS SOCK! Her response was of course "YES!"

Selected images of the proposal day; hot air balloon flight over Canberra.

Ok, I'll admit it, this is a story about me! The lucky girl is me and that ring is mine. My gorgeous groom and I got married twelve months later and now we are living happily ever after.
Love from The Jeweller. xx

The Earrings For Tamsin- Love From Rick

From the story of my very first commission, to one of my most recent.

I first met Tamsin and Rick on the Canberra market scene in 2011. Tamsin is the creator of "Tick Tock Type" a quirky little brand making accessories from vintage typewriter keys and watch movements. When Rick approached me in November to make some diamond studs for Tamsin's Christmas present, I was delighted to take on the job. I'd been dreaming of these concave yellow gold domes with offset diamonds for quite some time. I knew that I'd love them and really hoped that they'd be perfect for Tamsin too. Rick liked the idea and a couple of weeks before Christmas, he snuck over to my market stall at the Old Bus Depot to pick them up. He was thrilled with the result, and all that was left was to see what Tamsin thought come Christmas day.

Tamsin's earrings. 18ct yellow gold with round brilliant cut diamonds set in white gold bezels.
(Diamonds- 10pt-GSi each).

Earlier this week, I was stoked to receive an email from Rick. His exact words were "Tam LOVED them- so, I think you came up perfectly on them". I can tell you, there is nothing THIS jeweller enjoys hearing more than that her work is being loved!!

Love from The Jeweller. xx