Ring Sizing, Micro Diamonds are the Devil.

   It has been a while since I have posted here, I got tired of fighting the spam and FB seemed easier. (Morrow Metalwork would like to be your friend) I am very glad I didn't close it down though, I was asked an excellent question today that requires a longish answer.  I thought other people might find informative too.
  " I have a question! I have skinny fingers (4.75) with bigger knuckles. My fiance had my engagement sized without the jeweler sizing my fingers (or even knowing what kind of fingers I have). The result is an oval ring?! It's super tight to get on (doesn't even go past a size 4 on the round circle sizer) and when its on looks really wide. I spoke with the goldsmith who tried to convince me that fingers are actually oval and not round. Is this normal? Or is this something he made up? The ring also has diamonds on the side of the band. I went to Birks and they said they could make it a round ring but know I'm wondering if this is going to be better for me?! I would love you opinion! thanks!"
   Melissa's Fiance bought her a nice new modern ring from a store, it has micro pave (wee diamonds claw set) down the shoulders, and would have come in a stock size 6.5 - 7. From what I size almost daily, I am guessing that her ring looks kinda like the photo I stole from the Internet. It doesn't matter what is happening on top, the problem is the little sparklers that run down the sides of the shank. She needs that pretty thing to fit a 4.75 finger with bigger knuckles.

   The first problem is getting the sizing done. A finger size equals 2.5mm of the circumference of the band, the goldsmith needs to remove between 3 to 5mm from this ring. Usually we can cut out the piece and then taking our non marking pliers, we start bending the shank parts into a tighter circle until the ends meet again. We solder it closed and tap it with a rubber mallet on a mandrel to make sure it is a nice round shape again. But in this case we can not move the entire shank. If I grab the diamond sections, I can chip or break stones, and crush claws, I am limited to bending only the none diamond parts, the ring is very oval at this point. This is not unusual, I can not grab a fancy engraved shank either. The real problem is when I put the oval ring on my mandrel to make it round. As I carefully tap on the diamond shoulders of the ring, the circumference of the circle becomes smaller and the claws spread to match the circle and usually the diamonds closes to the bottom fall out. Aack!
   When a ring with micro diamonds needs to be sized down, the best thing the jewellery store can do is order the ring in the correct size. Of course, that is possibly a 6 week wait, and the customer wants the ring now, and the Jeweller would prefer to sell the one in their showcase. I would probably have done this sizing, I do this a lot, it is less than 2 sizes, I have a healthy ego, and I know how to reset diamonds. ;)    If you bought the ring where I work, we would have done the job for the next day. If she had shown up at my place of employment with her oval ring, the clerks would have brought it into the back to show me, and I would have come out and discussed the problem with her....and discussed her finger with her! Because her ring shouldn't be round!
  That leads me to the second problem big knuckles on a wee finger. No, your fingers are not oval, especially not when the fingers are together - then they are kinda soft cornered squares. (the jeweller was just unwilling to chance popping stones, it takes time and skill to reset them).  If Melissa's ring looks like the picture I supplied, it has a narrow shank and she is going to have a hard time keeping the ring facing upright. I would definitely start by encouraging her to have the bottom of the shank flattened. Then when she came to pick up the now stirrup shaped ring, I would check that the ring was barely sliding over her knuckle so she doesn't have to worry about losing it. Depending on the fit, I might recommend a temporary half ball inside her ring to help keep it upright until she gets her wedding band....but she can do that later.   If she is a typical 'Just Engaged' woman, she doesn't want to leave her ring at the shop for another moment! There are people to show it off to!

P.S. These rings can be safely sized up 2 sizes, the farther the diamonds go down the shoulder, the harder it is to size.    And you can tell the picture I included isn't a real ring but a computer rendering because the far shoulder/shank is twisted.  But that discussion would be a different blog post.

Diamonds are forever...not!

Diamonds are very hard, an easy comparison would be ice. If you hit either of them with a hammer they will shatter. So over time many diamonds collect small chips where they receive hits, its life, there is nothing you can do about it...well not wearing your jewellery when doing crazy things will help!
Diamonds can be damaged by each other, try not to let them bang against each other. I have seen a pair of rings that someone's grandmother hard worn next to each other for 50 years. the diamonds had rubbed back and forth and worn each other flat, her round stones had been made oval. I have also seen grooves worn into the side of Sapphires from a diamond. If you plan to wear your diamond rings together all the time, solder the bands together!
But the best way to mess up your diamond is not to get it checked every year. Losing a $10,000 stone because you didn't know you needed $60 of claw work done is too sad for words. This is especially important with Estate pieces, grandma's ring should be checked before you wear it. So make a plan, get your treasured pieces cleaned and checked on your birthday or anniversary, its a treat as well as peace of mind thing!
Carol's ring, 18k yellow gold and Platinum.

Cleaning your jewellery.

I think keeping your jewellery packed away in a box is a waste! Wear it!!...and then clean it.
The easiest way to keep you gold and gemstone jewellery nice looking is to soak them over night in dish soap and water, then give them a light scrub with an old toothbrush and rinse. Make sure you put them in a nice wineglass and put it on the window sill so nobody will accidentally toss your lovely things down the garborator like my mother did...but I digress.
Silver jewellery can be soaked too, but a toothbrush will scuff the finish, so just rinse it in the morning.
Pearls need special treatment. Your skin oils slowly eat the surface so always clean them after wearing, once again with dish soap and water, just a quick rinse then let them dry on a soft cloth - dont tug the string or you may stretch it. Also beware of perfume on your pearls, the alcohol is very hard on them. Apply your scent then wait a few minutes for the alcohol to dissolve before putting on your lovely strand.
Wow - two postings in one day, I must be avoiding something...

Fair Trade Gold and Gems.

I dont know much about the subject.
I do know that gold is too regulated to be fair trade. The price is the price that is listed on the stock exchange.
The supply of Diamonds is heavily regulated, you will not find Fair Trade diamonds.
But I do know that right now I can sell a 4mm Amethyst from India for $20, which means I bought it from the middle man for less, and he bought it from the gem cutting house for less and they bought it from a middleman in the country it was mined for less and he bought it from the digger/diver/hunter for next to nothing. Its beginning to look like the little guy on the other end had to pay for the honour of risking his health and possibly life for that little purple rock. Fair trade coffee is good, Fair trade coloured stones are good, too bad I have never seen any being offered on the market, but if the customer asks for one, I will search for one.

Sizing Engineering Iron/Steel Rings

Steel Jewellery is rather unusual. Finding a person who hasn't changed ring size since they graduated from University is unusual too! With my laser welder I am able to size up or down the ring without leaving a seam.

Fun stuff with old diamonds.

Charles and Diane had lots of used diamonds which they had been collecting from auctions. The diamonds were an assortment of sizes and fit nicely into the earring design shown above. If you look closely you will notice that the center stones are different sizes, but who will notice with a head put between them!

Diamond Dealers....dammit!

You get what you pay for.
I should just stop there and go get some sleep but I wont! So you are making cinnamon buns for a living, and so are two other people on your street. Now how do you get and keep your part of the market share and thus stay in business??? Well I know 2 (legal) ways, 1. sell a cheaper bun, if you add fewer expensive raisins then you can drop your price. And 2. sell a better bun, if you stuff the bun with juicy fruit and smear cream cheese icing all over the top you can probably sell them at a higher price.
Now imagine that the Bakery Mafia have regulated the requirements for cinnamon buns, and to be called a 'Cinnibun' the dough must weigh a certain amount, a minimum of raisins must be added and a maximum sweet gooey cheese quota has been tabulated....and now we have the diamond industry.
I can buy a 60pt, GH colour, SI2 clarity, round diamond for a variety of prices, because some dealers carry stones that barely make the grade and other take pride in selling stones that are almost too good. Dealers cant fudge the weight, the scale says what the scale says...but maybe the cut isn't as well proportioned so you spend money on a fat girdle which means the stone is a little smaller in appearance, maybe it looks like a 57pt instead. Luckily the guy selling fat stones charges less so the price between the well cut 57pt and the mediocre cut 60pt are probably the same.
Colour is judged with the diamond laying table down and the stone is compared against tinted cubic zirconias...then how come the diamond can be graded differently by two different appraisers? Because the companies that create the cubic zirconias don't use the same grading scale. A sad joke in the business is " Buy an 'I' and sell an 'H'". But the most interesting difference is in clarity, and that's because I can see a colour difference to the naked eye, I can see a badly cut stone, but I cant count all the specks - I can see the amount of dough, I can see the cream cheese but I cant count the raisins. The minimum is 8 raisins per bun, the maximum is 25, and this is where my cinnibun analogy fails because I think more raisins is better but fewer specks (inclusions) in your diamond is better...I guess you have to pretend you hate raisins.... Anyway, some diamond dealers sell the minimum and others the max, and this is reflected in the price. So like i said, you get what you pay for....which leads to my next post, 'If a deal seems to good to be true, it is'.

Diane's Ring

Well Christmas has come and gone again. Its a stressful time in the jewellery business, our busiest season, which is one of the reasons I havent been writing - too busy to rant! The ring pictured above was one of my favorites this Christmas. Chuck and Diane showed up with a collection of rings they had bought at auction and a picture of what they would like...seems easy right? Actually it wasnt bad, but its very important to discuss potential 'unhappinesses' before they happen. The diamonds were of different qualities and colours, after looking at the stones it was decided that it was more important to match 3 stones by colour than clarity because clarity is judged under 10 power magnification and colour we judge with the naked eye. So I could see a colour difference but not see a clarity difference. The next hurdle was altering the ring design to fit the diamonds but keep as close to the feel of the picture. The diamonds in the original picture were not as graduated in size, so the altered design has a step down between the center stone and the side stones, and then to continue the pattern we stepped down from the side stones to the band. This also brought the band down to a width that Diane was comfortable with. The side profile, the part that Chuck liked best, was not altered by the changes.

Karen's Ring

Karen wanted a petite ring for her beautiful diamond. Its a new cut from the Diavik mine, its like a princess cut but without the corners. I don't know what to call it but it sure was pretty! Handmade in 18K white gold.

A speck of sand managed to enter an oysters shell ,and to protect itself from the irritant the oyster coated it with nacre. After many years, the heavily coated sand grain has become a rare and precious commodity, a natural salt water pearl.
Then man figured out how to add a round shell bead into the poor mollusk and wait a few years for the oyster to coat it, thus creating cultured salt water pearls, the better the pearl, the longer it was left undisturbed in the oyster.
Remember those little rice grain pearls that everyone was wearing in the 80's? Those are freshwater pearls, started from a grain of sand irritating a different type of mollusk, some sort of lake dwelling critter, and forcing it to create a Natural freshwater pearl.
Now we have figured out how to put a shell bead into fresh water mollusks too and in a few years we have another kind of pearl, Fresh water cultured pearls.
Natural saltwater pearls are rare and expensive, cultured freshwater are cheap and plentiful.
Now's when it gets interesting, you take a big natural freshwater pearl and grind it into a round bead and put it into a saltwater oyster. After a few years you pull it out and what do you have? A gemology problem.
Usually you can tell if pearls are cultured or not by x-raying them because you see a bead inside rather than years of layers of nacre. But when you x-ray a saltwater pearl with a freshwater core it looks like a natural saltwater pearl. Supposedly you can tell the difference if you break the pearl in half...but now it has no value. I can't see any Appraiser smashing a pearl necklace to pieces and then saying "yup they were natural saltwater pearls" and still having a job.
So provenance is important these days. Grandma's pearls, are worth more than a brand new strand...if they were well cared for. So if Granny never sprayed them with perfume, cleaned all her skin oils off them after wearing them and had them restrung regularly they could be worth more than you imagine!

Kathy's Ring

I can thing of anything to say except 'Wow, this was fun'. Kathy doesn't live in the Lower Mainland, I have yet to meet her, it made this ring a challenge - couldn't have done it without the Internet! First we talked about what jewellery she already wears and why she likes it. Then about her finger shape and what would work best for her. Then we doodled, and counter doodled and the doodled some more until I felt it was time to go 3-D and I mailed her some wax versions of her ring to her to try. She mailed me back the one she liked and then using it as a guide I handmade her ring in 18k yellow and white gold.

Something that bugs me....

How come we can call 10k metal 10k gold?
I mean its less than 1/2 gold...if I bought peanut butter that had less than 50% peanuts in it I would worry about what that other stuff was.....and should i really be eating it.

Special Commissions

I really enjoy working with someone else, it forces me to stretch my imagination and incorporate someone else's ideas into my plans..... This piece was designed with Robert Chaplin, he carved the black moon and supplied the coin. 18k Yellow gold and tourmalines.

Natural, Synthetic and Imitation

A Natural gemstone was dug out of the earth, panned out of a river or vacuumed from the ocean's floor. They were created by cataclysmic explosions, the perfect combination of heat, time, and chemicals. Orange Sapphires! Green and yellow Garnets! Rhutilated Quartz! Watermelon Tourmaline! Cats Eye Chrysoberyl! They are the coolest! And since we had no control over their creation we have some neato stuff that some people like and others view as flawed - colour banding, misty veils, and inclusions. Its like Grandma's baking, she didn't need a cookie recipe anymore, she just chucks a bunch of Good stuff in a bowl and stirs. Sometimes they turn out sweeter, other times nuttier or crunchier but always great.
A Synthetic Gemstone is man made in a lab. It has exactly the same formula as a Natural stone but it was formed by humans who follow the recipe of heat, time and chemicals and come up with the perfect rough stone each time. Imagine someone wrote down Grandma's recipe when she wasn't looking and sold it to Nabisco. Still nice cookies, but they all taste exactly the same, look exactly the same, the thrill is gone.
An Imitation Stone is a fake something. Like a fake Sapphire or fake diamond. It was created to imitate something - maybe both are blue - but that's where the similarities end. Now a picture of Grandma's cookies has been shipped overseas to a country that has never eaten cookies. So the only thing that matters is replicating the look, so the butter is now axle grease, the flour was replaced with drywall dust, worst of all the chocolate chips are painted on... you get the idea.
Now here is the confusing part, sometimes a stone can be synthetic AND imitation. Before Cubic Zirconias, man made sapphire was being used to imitate diamonds.
On the same principle, a stone can be natural AND imitation - The Prince's Ruby in the British Crown Jewels is actually a natural red Spinel!
Hedda's Natural Emerald and 18k yellow gold ring.

The trouble with Thailand

We have all bought cheap shoes and expensive shoes, while we aren't surprised when the cheap shoes start to fall apart before the end of summer, we do expect the expensive shoes to last for years - same with your jewellery. When you buy a $20.00 turquoise and silver ring from a street vendor don't expect too much, you get what you pay for. I realize you really like that ring, but please understand why your local jeweller isn't thrilled to have to fix it anymore than the cobbler wants to work on your Walmart sneakers, they were not made to be fixed, they were not made to last 50 years.
So imagine you want me to size your new ring up a little...
- The first thing I must do is clean your jewellery before I work on it, that involves getting it wet and now my simple sizing just got harder because to save time the Child Labourer who made the ring put something weird under the stone to raise it to the correct height for setting. The ring on the left was packed with something organic that swelled and pushed the stone right out of the ring! From the smell and texture I am guessing it was a mixture of cow dung and sawdust. The ring on the right was scarier, the stone was already loose so I decided to pull it out before working on the ring, glad i did because it was resting on 2 hunks of what looked like ceiling tile/fiber material, if it didn't have a fire retardant in it, than it probably had some asbestos in it. So after cleaning out the gunk I made a seat in the rings with shellac, at least is wont seep out and smell and then I reset the stone - Wow there is an extra 45 minutes I hadn't budgeted for, so much for any profit margin...
- My silver is different than their silver, my silver is 92.5% Fine Silver and 7.5% copper, theirs is 92.5% silver and 7.5% UNKNOWN stuff. That means that I will probably have compatibility problems - the colour wont match, there will be pitting, and after polishing there may be a noticeable 'step' at my inserted piece because of a hardness difference between the metals. You will be unhappy with the job and blame me.
- To keep the silver shiny, many pieces are now coated with nickel, maybe that's why you are having an allergic reaction to it. I can try to remove it for you, but its hard stuff and is very hard to get out of grooves in the design - if I try your jewellery may have a weird 2-tone look - part grey shine, other parts tarnished white. The nickel also causes problems if I have to solder on the ring, it may be fuzzy and pink before I am finished....really!
- if the Child Labourer soldered a dome onto your ring and there isn't an air hole it may explode when I reheat it. This makes me unhappy. If I predrill holes in your ring so I don't have to worry about flying shards of hot metal you will probably be unhappy too.
- There has been many times when I have gently pulled apart a ring shank to fit in a sizing piece and ripped the darn thing in half. You can tell that the Child labourer didn't quality check his work to make sure that the solder flowed properly. Darn kid, you would think a tired 8 year old would do a better job.
- My repair is going to cost more than the original purchase price of your jewellery. Its amazing how mad people can get - "But its only a $20 ring, why is the repair going to be $35!?" Well I am not a Child living in a sweatshop. I live in North America and have bills the same as yours, my cat's food costs more than what that kid makes daily. Fixing a poorly made silver ring takes more time than fixing a well made gold ring, and time is money.
Support the poor kid and buy his ring, just dont ask me to fix it!

Vacation Gemstone purchases

Coloured gemstones, sometimes called semi-precious stones add life to your wardrobe.
Since they are less expensive than diamonds and the big three, sapphire, ruby and emerald, they can come in large but affordable sizes and interesting shapes.
If you shop for stones while on vacation please remember that you are not guaranteed genuine stones when purchasing in a foreign country, especially from a mat in a market - no matter what the nice person selling says! So please ask yourself these simple question:
Do you like it?
Can you afford it?
Is it a great souvenir?
Is it alright if its not genuine?
If you answer yes to all the questions then buy, you will have a great story to tell when you get home. Happy Holidays!
14k yellow gold and sterling silver earrings with Carnelian

Enamelling...

...is a skill separate from making jewellery, it is the colorful result of fusing powdered glass to metal. Its an art I have been interested in but never found my style - but I think I have finally figured out En Grisaille and you can expect more of it in the future!
enamelled brooch 3 x 3.5 cm

Switched Diamonds.

"When I was in my Teens I took a pendant into the local jeweller to have an extra ring put on the bail. When I got it back I was sure they had switched my stone, but now I realize that I just didn't recognize it clean!"
I have switched stones, but only when asked to by customers, usually we call this 'replacing a chipped stone with a new one'. The term 'switching' is saved for when Jewellers take a good stone and replace it with one of lesser value or in the case of a cubic zirconia, no value at all.
But lets imagine that I am unscrupulous, and look at your risk levels;
- Nobody (smart) steals a 1993 Honda Civic for its resale value, and the same goes for a diamond under 30 pts, its not worth my effort - why risk my business!
- Nobody (smart) steals a neon pink Smart car - too easy to spot. Same for stealing an unusual diamond, I couldn't find a pink princess cut of lesser quality that would fool the customer into thinking it is their original stone.
- A car with a good alarm system is less likely to disappear. Larger diamonds (over 50 pts) these days usually come with a laser engraving on the girdle, the numbers are recorded in your Appraisal. When you get the stone back from me, walk into another jewellery shop and get them to confirm the registration numbers using their microscope.
- Do you let just anybody work on your car?? I recommend that you build a relationship with your Jeweller, one based on trust. And to do that you start by not trusting them and get an Independent Appraisal done on all work. After a few interactions in which the Jeweller's work and the Appraiser's info are copacetic, you can start to trust.
Mona's 18k Palladium gold pendant.

10k, 14k & 18k?

What do those numbers really mean?
Lets start with 24k that's pure gold, 100%.
So 18k is 18/24s pure gold or better put 3/4 or 75% pure gold.
14k is 14/24s pure gold, so just over half gold or 58.5%.
10k is 10/24s pure gold, so less than half gold or 41.7%
A piece of jewellery can also be stamped with just the percentage number, so it may say 750, 585 or 417 instead. All jewellery for sale must be stamped with the metal content and a trademark which shows who made it.
So what is the non gold part? Its usually a mixture of copper and silver in yellow gold and nickel or palladium in white gold.
The K stands for Karat which is a unit of fineness in gold. Don't confuse it with Carat which is a unit of weight for gemstones!
Pendant design and face by Rob Chaplin, 18k yellow and white gold metalwork by me.

Jewellery repair

I just want to confirm my humanity here - I'm afraid of car mechanics. When they give the quote are they just pulling numbers out of their heads because they know that I know nothing? Do they really replace the broken part with a new one or is it a rebuilt one? Is anything broken at all??? Every time the old van started acting funny I got all stressed out. And I know many people feel that way about taking their treasures to a jeweller for repair. I sympathise and I got some common sense advice for you;
1. If the job is going to be complicated, get a second opinion. Make sure that both jewellers agree on what the problem really is. If they don't, go get a third opinion.
2. If a job is going to be expensive go get a second opinion. And don't go with the cheap guy, go with the person who can explain the problem to you and why its going to be expensive to fix.
3. The only way to get a truly independent Appraisal is to look up Jewellery Appraisal in the phone book and pay for it yourself. The "Independent Appraisal" that the jeweller gave you probably reflects what the jeweller wanted written.
4. Don't bother asking for your gold back when you have your ring sized. The little piece of metal is our profit margin, we will just charge you extra for the hassle of remembering to put it in a baggy, and what good is it to you stuck in your underwear drawer?
5. If you want me to fix your earring, bring me the unbroken one too. That way I can make sure that they still match after, you look silly if I only polish one.
6. Don't try to fix it yourself. I charge extra to remove pipe solder and plier marks.
7. Every year bring your jewellery in to be looked at. Its much cheaper to re tip claws that replace lost stones. Ask to have stuff polished and checked, yes it will cost money, but so does any tune up.
8. Don't tell the jeweller to 'just make the ring a 1/2 size bigger" invariably that is wrong. Always get your finger measured.
9. If I say I will call you in a couple of days with the estimate, it means that I must figure out the price, maybe I need to calculate the diamond replacement cost or maybe your jewellery is so dirty I need to clean it before I can see the whole problem. If I just tell you a number Right Now I'm going to guess high so I don't put myself out of business.
10. hmmm I'm sure I will think of more...