Over the course of the summer I had the pleasure of working with many lovely couples to create jewellery to celebrate land-mark points in their relationships. It was unusual to have such a cluster of work that covers all the ongoing stages of one theme.
First, an engagement ring. That was an absolute beauty, and currently right on trend. A ‘halo’ ring, with a glittering circlet of tiny round diamonds appearing to float around a central stone. We started with the main central stone – a beautiful bright blue sapphire in a ‘cushion’ cut. This gorgeous stone was chosen from a selection that I sourced. I could then work out what size diamonds would balance it to create the halo.
An eternity ring was traditionally given after a couple’s first child or ten years of marriage, but there are no rules. When the time is right, is enough of a reason for the gift of an eternity ring. It marks the security and longevity of the couple’s relationship. And as a very special treat, it can also tie in with a special birthday or other life celebration.
A memorable eternity ring that I was commissioned to make this summer was a sapphire and diamond one, made to fit around the customer’s engagement and wedding rings. Fitted bands of any type are always much more time consuming to make, and gems ones doubly so. For this ring, a channel setting was needed, as this matched the diamonds-set wedding ring. A mix of diamonds and sapphires was chosen and 18ct yellow gold to match the engagement and wedding rings.
Engagement,, eternity … then we move onto the land-mark anniversaries.
I had the honour to work with a couple to celebrate their golden wedding anniversary. 50 years of marriage is an amazing achievement and as you can imagine, the original wedding rings are often somewhat worse for wear after that amount of time. My lovely customers decided that they would like their original wedding rings re-made into new ones to celebrate their anniversary. We worked with designs inspired by the sea and coast, particularly in Cornwall.
It really is a privilege to review such a great and varied span of life events and celebrations in my daily work!
This was written and published as part of the ‘Hidden Gems’ series of articles by Erica Sharpe for the Western Daily Press.
