Jewelry Redesign Story #64: Lots and Lots of Jewelry
THE REDESIGN CHALLENGE:
Tracy came to us with many jewelry pieces. Some of them were inherited from her family. Some of them were gifts. Some of them were things that she had for many years. Although these items had been in her collection, they didn’t match with the style of jewelry that she owns and loves and the kinds of jewelry she is usually attached to.
It seemed to us that Tracy is a jewelry lover with eccentric taste and we wanted to make something we knew she would love. With so much jewelry and stones to work with we were excited to work on a project that had a lot of room for us to play with to create something new that she would be excited to wear.
The first thing we had to do was dismantle all of her jewelry. With so many pieces that we were working with, this ended up being a lot of work! Once we worked with Tracy to pick out the stones we wanted to keep and work with for the new pieces, we got started on brainstorming with Tracy what it is that she would want out of her new redesigned pieces.
existing stones after dismantling
THE REDESIGN CONCEPT
initial sketches
After our brainstorming session with Tracy, we provided Tracy with a number of sketches for her to look at.
We ended up agreeing on creating an asymmetric and diamond cluster ring with an emerald stone center set in white gold and a pave set domed ring in yellow gold.
We loved how these final designs turned out but also how different each of the two new pieces would be different from one another.
THE REDESIGN PROCESS:
We wanted to make sure that the pave didn’t look spotty considering it was using both color stones and white diamonds. After spreading out all the stones on paper and mixing them so it didn’t look spotty, we were able to succeed in making the color stones look naturally mixed in with the white pave
Rhino modeling
For the asymmetrical cluster ring, it was a bit tricky to create a cluster that was still flawless. This required a few rounds in Rhino CAD as well as in casting in order to figure out the perfect cluster that would work with both the stones and look visually perfect and appealing.
For the pave set domed ring, Tracy wanted to incorporate some small blue and orange sapphires and rubies. She wanted these stones to be included randomly with the white diamonds for the pave.
Casting
We also wanted to make sure that the dome was’t too heavy, so it was important that we focused on having the right weight when we were casting the ring.
THE REDESIGN REVEAL:
New custom rings
Ultimately, we were very happy with the way the cluster turned out. We loved how it ended up both unexpected but also balanced. We also loved how cohesive we were able to make the multi-colored stones look in the pave setting.
Tracy was so excited by both of the rings and thought they looked phenomenal on her fingers. She couldn’t wait to wear her new pieces for her 50th birthday!
Material: Ring 1: Emerald and diamonds in prong setting in 14k white gold. Ring 2: Diamonds, rubies, and blue and orange sapphires in micro pave settings in 14k yellow gold.
Manufacturing Level: Difficult
Design level: Difficult
Do you have an eccentric taste? Get something you love with your redesign here.
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