30 June, 2017Category_Behind the scenes
My first green tourmaline ring | Our first ring collection - part 2
First of all, I would like to thank you very much for your positive feedback on our blog post "The beginning of our journey to the first ring collection"in which I told you about the first steps towards a possible JUVELAN ring collection. It was great to read all your heartfelt comments and messages about it - every single one motivated us to continue on this path.
In the first blog post, I took you on my journey to a simple sterling silver ring with a pale pink freshwater pearl. Besides pearls, however, my heart also beats for gemstones. I am fascinated by their variety of different colors, shapes, facets and sizes - if I could, I would love to spend the whole day buying gemstones. So for my second ring, I chose a semi-circular green tourmaline to crown it in a beautiful setting. Easier said than done. In fact, this process was so time consuming that I didn't manage to capture every single step photographically. But let's start the journey from the beginning....
After my decision for the tourmaline as a gemstone was made, I measured it to determine the appropriate height for the setting. Then came the most challenging - and sweaty - step for me. All of you who know me know that working on our jewelry is like yoga for me - it calms me and I find it deeply relaxing. At least that's how I felt until my teacher in the goldsmithing class told me that for the ring I needed to saw off a 2-3 mm piece of the silver evenly in a straight line, which then had to be shaped exactly like the green tourmaline so that it would later fit perfectly into the setting.
As you can see here, I'm still miles away from finding sawing relaxing - so far it's stressing me out immensely! First I formed the outer frame, which I then soldered in turn on a narrow piece of silver, so that my frame also has a base. Now as you can see in the photo below, I didn't do a very clean job of this. Because I ran the saw too close to the frame, I sawed tiny pieces out of the frame - oops, that was not really planned...
In the next step, I soldered the socket onto the actual ring. This process showed me once again how much dexterity you need for soldering - and that a lot can go wrong (and indeed does go wrong) when you try it as a beginner. As they say, all good things come in threes. And it took me just as many attempts until the socket made it onto the ring.
I then needed help for the last step, because setting a gemstone in a ring setting requires a lot of dexterity and experience. So the applause for this achievement goes to my patient and talented teacher Monika Hartmann - thank you!
And before anyone remarks that this ring is anything but flawless, I'll say right up front: I'm well aware of that! He is definitely not perfect - but he is unique. And honestly, if everything in life would always succeed perfectly at the first go, that would be pretty boring, right?
I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the creation process of my two very first handmade rings. I for one am bubbling over with ideas after this experience and can't wait to make them a reality.
After my decision for the tourmaline as a gemstone was made, I measured it to determine the appropriate height for the setting. Then came the most challenging - and sweaty - step for me. All of you who know me know that working on our jewelry is like yoga for me - it calms me and I find it deeply relaxing. At least that's how I felt until my teacher in the goldsmithing class told me that for the ring I needed to saw off a 2-3 mm piece of the silver evenly in a straight line, which then had to be shaped exactly like the green tourmaline so that it would later fit perfectly into the setting.
As you can see here, I'm still miles away from finding sawing relaxing - so far it's stressing me out immensely! First I formed the outer frame, which I then soldered in turn on a narrow piece of silver, so that my frame also has a base. Now as you can see in the photo below, I didn't do a very clean job of this. Because I ran the saw too close to the frame, I sawed tiny pieces out of the frame - oops, that was not really planned...
In the next step, I soldered the socket onto the actual ring. This process showed me once again how much dexterity you need for soldering - and that a lot can go wrong (and indeed does go wrong) when you try it as a beginner. As they say, all good things come in threes. And it took me just as many attempts until the socket made it onto the ring.
I then needed help for the last step, because setting a gemstone in a ring setting requires a lot of dexterity and experience. So the applause for this achievement goes to my patient and talented teacher Monika Hartmann - thank you!
And before anyone remarks that this ring is anything but flawless, I'll say right up front: I'm well aware of that! He is definitely not perfect - but he is unique. And honestly, if everything in life would always succeed perfectly at the first go, that would be pretty boring, right?
I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse into the creation process of my two very first handmade rings. I for one am bubbling over with ideas after this experience and can't wait to make them a reality.
