Antique Engagement

Making engagement rings for my friends makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside…and I do think it’s fun when they have LOTS of opinions about the design. This particular friend/client had an affinity for things antique and unique, and loved very long and skinny rectangular stones. This was perhaps the biggest challenge, as rectangular, or ’emerald cut’ stones are typically cut with fatter proportions these days, based on public preference. Alas, we persevered and found a good one!

Comparing width to length ratios

Beautiful, but too fat!

Finally found a gorgeous E color VS2 stone with…get this…strong blue fluorescence! Often times this is not a good thing as it can make the stone look milky, but that is not always the case, and we definitely found an anomaly with this one. I’ll be posting a rant soon on the topic of fluorescence, so stay tuned.

This is currently lit with a short wave UV lamp – look at the little guy glow!

We opted for a very simple design for the ring. The ‘millegrain’ (the tiny bumps along the outer edges) lends the whole ring an antique look, without being overly precious or fussy. She also likes to mix metals in her rings, so we went with 14KT yellow gold, which is softer and less yellow than 18KT and will be less of a jarring contrast when she wears white gold, etc. next to it.

Finished!

We are currently working on some creative ideas for wedding bands – so stay tuned for the updated look!