Redesigning Engagement Ring For Jill

My Creation For Jill

After many years of being married, our lives change, our taste and style changes and we want to redesign our original engagement ring into something that better reflects our current lifestyle.

Redesigning engagement rings has always been one of my specialties. Depending on the client’s needs, I have redesigned the old engagement ring and make a brand new one or made it into a fun right hand ring. In some cases, I made it into a necklace. Here’s my process: I look at the current ring. Sometimes it’s more than one ring that I need to take apart and combine all the diamonds into one new piece. I listen to what my client likes and dislikes and the ultimate look that she’s going for. Then, based on her hand shape and the stones that I am going to work with, I sketch a design — and sometimes I’ll have more than one suggestion that captures what my client loves. I aim for the dream ring!

Here’s how I created Jill’s new ring:

Jill brought in her solitaire engagement ring and her diamond wedding band.

Jill’s Old Engagement Ring And Wedding band

She wanted to take out the diamonds from both rings and combine them into one statement piece. She liked yellow gold, fancy yellow diamonds and the hand carved rings that I make with one metal wrapping around another one. She had a beautiful 3 carat plus oval cut diamond set in a heavy basket. The diamonds in the wedding band were also very pretty but they looked hidden in the setting. First, I had all the diamonds taken out so I could measure them. Once I had each diamond’s measurement, I sketched a few designs that would combine all of Jill’s diamonds with fancy yellow diamonds in a hand carved wrap style engagement ring. I emailed Jill my sketches and she picked one.

Here are images of Jill’s ring as I was working on them:

Top View

Side View

I first made made the center basket in platinum. Once I had the basket completed, then I made the ring in 18k yellow gold. I hand carved and shaped the gold to get the wrap and twist effect that I was going for. One of the challenging aspects about hand carving is whatever I carve on one side, I have to duplicate it on the other side. Jill had seven diamonds in her wedding band. I added one more diamond so I can have four colorless diamonds set I either side of her ring. I made the section that was going to be set with fancy yellow diamonds slightly higher from the section with the colorless diamonds. The section with the fancy yellow diamonds rise up, twist and turn at the base of the center stone. At a glance Jill’s ring looks like a wrapped golden candy with her diamond in the center!

I love Jill’s ring, it’s one of my favorite rings that I have created. It makes a beautiful presence in a very elegant and creative way. It captures everything I look for in a design. It’s sophisticated and complicated yet it’s structured and clean – not busy. Every element has its own unique place and they all move in harmony. It’s a happy ring. The ring should always complement the center stone and show its beauty. An important diamond such as Jill’s needs an important ring. Even though this ring is substantial, the center diamond pops.

No matter what the size and shape of your diamond is, let the setting show off your stone – not hide it.