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Kerrie Ann McNaughton
28th January 2010 13:51

Bespoke Ruby Engagement Ring

 

Working here as a jewellery designer it's an amazing experience to share many special memories all of our customers have with them , as designing a bespoke piece of jewellery always reflects a special moment in their life's. There have been so many designs which have been true memorable ones, so I wanted to take this opportunity to share one of my favorites with you.

Bespoke ruby engagement ring

Valerie and Quentin came into the Hertfordshire studio looking for a special piece of jewellery to reflect their ruby wedding anniversary. While browsing in our collection here in Hertfordshire it became evident that there was one engagement ring that Valerie loved.

An 18ct gold topaz engagement ring

The pure boldness and unusual style of this ring was a clear attraction to this ring initially. The overall feel and contemporary design shown in the marquise cut mid blue cabochon cut topaz engagement ring was a of a particular key to the start to the new bespoke ring.

Once we have a clear direction of design we started to look further into the finer details. The type of stone was of particular importance within this design so where better place to start with than this. I feel it's important to try many options and different styles on when considering your bespoke piece of jewellery which is what Valerie and Quentin also did, after trying on many different shapes and cuts of rubies the perfect shape was found. Valerie loved the idea of the stone sitting across the band but wanted something a little softer so the oval 7x5mm deep red ruby seemed like the right choice. The ruby has been set in an all round setting in 9ct yellow gold which has then been placed on a plate. Using the antique style on a modern twist design we have pave set eight 1mm brilliant cut H SI diamonds around the oval cut ruby, the pave setting is a beautiful graining affect which is applied by the stone setter achieving a lot of sparkle without using a large amount of diamonds. This type of setting was originally used within the Victorian period and is currently becoming increasing popular with jewellery in recent years.

We then continued through the process by exploring all of the different band styles to reflect the softened style the ring had. The choice of band for this ring was a curved profile to reflect the lines seen within the rest of the design, so a courting profile was chosen. The courting profile is a softened outside profile with also a softened inside edge to give the wearer a little more comfort when worn. The width of the band was another element which enhances the contemporary twist to quite a classic antique styled ring. The boldness of this design lent itself perfectly to a wider band, which Valerie chose to have the band 5mm in width.

Finally the type of metal the ring was made out of was the last element in which drew the design to life. The importance of establishing the right colour of metal became apparent when exploring all the options with the ruby, as this is something that can really affect the overall look to the ring. It was clear from the start of the design that the yellow gold was the one point that drew Valerie into our blue topaz ring above, the colour was also important to tie in with her other jewellery worn. After looking at both the 9ct yellow gold and the 18ct yellow gold it was clear that the more muted colour of the 9ct yellow gold worked particular well with the central ruby. The 9ct yellow gold band has a satinised finished which enhances the central focal point to the piece which has been highly polished showing off the sparkle of the pave setting and the richness of the ruby.

So why not take browse though all of our past and present commissions and let them inspire you to design your own bespoke piece of jewellery for that memorable occasion.

All the best for now Kerrie x

Kerrie Ann McNaughton
 

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  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, North Barn, Fairclough Hall Farm, Halls Green, Weston, Hertfordshire, SG4 7DP, England
    Phone: +44 (0)1462 790565 Fax: +44 (0)1462 790140 enquiries@hkjewellery.co.uk
  • Harriet Kelsall Jewellery Design, 6/7 Green Street, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, CB2 3JU, England.
    Phone: +44 (0)1223 461333 Fax: +44 (0)1223 365269 cambridge@hkjewellery.co.uk

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