It’s finally here, having been a long time in the making, and it’s a ring we are all very proud of. For such a strong design, it still looks beautiful and feminine when worn on the finger.

See more images here; http://jondibben.co.uk/products.php/Fairtrade-11/

I bought the large stone last summer. It was one of those situations where I knew I would buy it within seconds of seeing it. It’s a stunner!

Scroll on to read more, and to see some images of the ring being finished along the way.

Designing the ring

The ring took us at least 10 days to get the design right from initial sketches to a working 3D ring,  and involved making 4 silver mock ups, and numerous changes.

‘Seating’ the stones…

Once the ring was made, the first stage was to ‘seat’ the stones into the settings; making subtle adjustments to get them sitting level and straight, wedged in at the right height without any movement, ready to be set. Unlike mass produced jewellery, we use traditional hand engraving tools to cut metal out of the inside of the setting, slowly and surely, allowing for a more refined finish. The aim is to cut a fine ledge for the stone to sit on, hence ‘seating’ the stone.

Each stone can be placed in and out of the setting dozens of times to get them sitting just right. Below shows Dudley ‘offering up’ the large stone.

Read the rest of this entry »

Welcome to the first of my Facts postings, prompted by a question asked by my very supportive twitter acquaintance @fairtradesleuth – this ones dedicated to you! If anyone else wants to know anything that’s been puzzling them, preferably to do with jewellery, please let me know…

Gold is yellow

Pure gold is naturally a yellow metal, unlike silver and platinum which are naturally white. Interestingly, gold and copper are the only two non-white metals that occur naturally. In the above photo of our stacking rings, starting from the left, we have yellow, red and white 18ct gold, followed by platinum and then finally another red gold ring.

Why different carats?

Traditionally gold is alloyed with other metals to make it more workable, as in its pure state it is too soft and malleable to be practical. Its the proportion of pure gold to these added metals that give us the different caratages. Which are defined either as ‘fineness’ which is the amount of pure gold in parts out of 1000, or simply as a percentage of pure gold within the total amount.

Adding colour

For example, 18carat gold is 750 parts pure gold out of a total of 1000, or 75%. The 25% made up of other metals, offers the opportunity to change the colour.  Adding a mix of metals including copper, gives us red gold, while a premium white gold alloy will have a large proportion of palladium. Palladium is another natural white metal from the platinum group of metals.

The results of some colours are more successful than others. For example white gold at its best is still a little browny grey, a bit like gun metal. Its not that this isn’t an attractive colour, but obviously isn’t as white as platinum or silver. All the pieces we make in white gold we leave in this honest colour, and obviously choose coloured stones that compliment it. It worked perfectly in out first Fairtrade gold ring which we made in 18ct white gold. The colour gives the ring an understated look, almost vintage in feel, working well with the sea green colour of the tourmalines.                                                                                                       See the finished ring here http://jondibben.co.uk/products.php/Fairtrade-11/

To plate or not to plate

The majority of mass produced white gold jewellery is plated with rhodium, which like palladium is both naturally white and part of the platinum group of metals. It gives the gold a micro thin coating of a true white metal, but unfortunately can show signs of wearing off quite quickly.

Did you know?

That 9ct gold was introduced during wartime when the UK government allowed assay offices to create this lower caratage in order to maintain production of wedding bands which were classified as “essential items” throughout the war itself!                     More on hallmarking another time!?