Rings can turn your fingers green

Ever wondered why some rings can leave a green or black stain on your finger after hours of wear? Here a few answers:

If I put a brass ring on my finger and wear it for a couple hours, there will be a green stain on my finger. Copper rings sometimes leave a dark stain on my finger. If I wear a sterling silver ring, I never had that problem. But some people (and it's not really that common) can experience the green finger phenomena with sterling silver and even low karat gold alloys. That does not mean the ring is cheap. It just means that person reacts to the metal in some way.

It usually has something to do with the person's body chemistry. Most likely they have a natural high acidity level in his/her skin. The green finger will happen more likely in hot and humid weather conditions. Once they sweat, a chemical reaction starts between the metals in the ring and the humidity surrounding it. As a result oxides will form. Those oxides are on the surface of the ring and rub off onto your skin leaving a greenish or dark stain. The stain is harmless and non-toxic. It can be washed off with soap and water. But if you actually experience a red itchy rash under your ring, it points to an allergy and should be taken more seriously that the harmless green stains. If you experience a rash, remove the jewelry, get it thoroughly (professionally) cleaned and let the skin heal up before wearing it again. If it persist consult a doctor to find the cause.

If your ring is tight or quite wide (or stacking rings) there is a bigger chance you encounter this issue as moisture is more likely to be trapped on the inside of your ring. Your skin does not get a chance to dry under tight, wide or stacked rings. Washing your hands with your rings left on, not rinsing well and drying afterwards the ring and the skin under the ring, bears a bigger risk too.

Many stacked silver rings

Similar chemical reactions can also be caused by ingredients in soaps and lotions. Those are often a culprit for rashes too as soap scum gets trapped between your skin and the ring metal. It's always best to take your ring (or all jewelery off) before showering, washing hands, dish washing and other activities involving exposure to water especially swimming in pools or salt water.

So why can you get the green stain from some sterling silver rings and not others you may ask?

Well, they may fit differently. A more loose fitting ring might not cause that little micro climate and resulting stain from oxidation. Try wearing your ring on a different narrower finger for a couple days and see if the problem persists.

Another reason could be the composition of the metal alloy.
Not all sterling silver is treated equally. All the name sterling silver says is that there is a minimum of 925 parts of pure silver in 1000 parts of alloy. The rest is most often copper. But there are also some newer alloys replacing some of that copper with germanium, zinc, palladium or platinum to increase strength, to reduce tarnish and firescale, or for better casting properties.
Your sterling silver jewelry is usually marked with a 925 stamp on the inside, referring to the silver content. But that mark does not say anything about the other 7.5% metals. Some people, who have issues with the traditional 7.5% copper sterling silver alloy, may be perfectly fine with some of the newer alloys or vice versa.
Low karat gold like 9k, 10k or even 14k can cause the green or black stains too as the lower oxidation resistant gold content is offset by a higher base metal content like copper. All gold alloys contain copper in various percentages. If your skin reacts to copper, you may experience issues with gold alloys too. The higher the gold content the less likely any reactions occur.
Reactions to palladium (950PD) or platinum alloys are very, very rare.

Can a Rhodium plating solve the issue?
Well maybe, but there are drawbacks to consider too.

Artisanal handmade sterling silver rings are rarely rhodium plated. But most commercial mass produced sterling silver jewelry available in malls is rhodium plated these days. It's very a thin layer of an expensive metal, Rhodium, coated over a base substrate, in this case sterling silver. It prevents silver jewelery from tarnishing, which is why it's so commonly used in these retail settings. Can you imagine how much time a sales person would have to spend polishing all that sterling silver jewelry sitting in their show cases to keep it shiny white looking? Rhodium is also a quite hard metal and can give jewelry made from softer sterling silver an initial advantage when it comes to scratch resistance. It also gives it a similar look like plated white gold jewelry at a lower price. So sounds great, right? Well not so fast.

That thin layer of rhodium will wear off over time. It may be a great solution for necklaces or earrings that don't get the rubbing action a ring gets. But on rings, especially those worn daily like engagement or wedding rings, that Rhodium layer can come off quite fast. How fast depends on the layer thickness and each persons wear and body chemistry. Some people can strip a plating within days or weeks, for others it may hold for a couple month or even a year or two. But it will eventually always wear off. And when it does come off, it won't look pretty as it wears unevenly. Rhodium plating does not age well. It may look blotchy and get scratches exposing the different material underneath in some parts more than in others. That material underneath is not necessarily nicely white polished sterling silver. The silver below may have a different texture than the plated surface and tarnishes.

The layer thickness of the plating may vary widely from one manufacture to another. Some just do a flash plating job that won't last more than a few weeks at all. Often rhodium plating isn't directly done over sterling silver but plated with a layer of nickel first. When the rhodium wears off, your skin gets exposed to nickel, which causes skin allergies with nasty rashes for quite a lot of people. So you may have avoided your harmless green stain issue and got a nasty red rash instead some time later. A Rhodium allergy is unusual, but possible too.

Sure you can try to get your ring re-plated as soon as it starts wearing off. But that process isn't cheap and you will pay quickly more in these re-plating jobs that your sterling silver ring cost you initially.
It's also a pain to do any repair work on plated rings as the plating first needs to get stripped before it gets sized or repaired, adding cost to the process. Refinishing a plated ring is also not as easy as repolishing a un-plated sterling silver ring. The normal polishing action on a polishing wheel would just strip the thin layer of rhodium off.
For these reasons I don't recommend rhodium plating for high wear jewelry like rings. It ends up being more a pain than it's worth.

So what can you do if you experience a green stain from your newly acquired nicely hand made ring you love so much?

• check if it's too tight and traps sweat and moisture underneath, if so ask the maker if they can stretch it slightly for you to provide a better fit
• clean your ring and skin well and keep both dry, don't wear it when being exposed to water like showering, hand washing, swimming etc. Remove rings at night to give your skin a chance to breath.
• change your diet so your skin is less acid (probably note everyone's first approach)
• clean the inside of the ring as often as possible (daily) with polishing cloth. After about a week or two, the reaction should stop occurring.
• try soaking your rings in a mixture of household ammonia and water (50/50) for a day or two. The ammonia solution will turn blue as it forms a copper ammonia ion and this will not hurt the silver. After that, your rings will not turn your skin green because the copper has been removed from the surface of the sterling. Be careful if you have any stones set in your rings. Some stones should not be soaked in ammonia.
• consider if Rhodium plating may be worth it for you with all the maintenance issues it may have
• apply a protective shield like clear nail polish to the inside of your ring. It will wear off over time and has to be redone.
• if all does not help consider remaking the ring in a different metal. Platinum, palladium and 18k gold are safe options but come at a higher price. Or use some of the new silver alloys like Argentium, Continuum, deox-silver, palladium sterling or platinum sterling.

If you want to learn more about the metals I use feel free to check out this post.

How to clean your rings see info on my web site.

For more detailed info about sterling silver in general check out a post I co-wrote on EtsyMetal's blog.

Spinel Rings

I do have a soft spot for gorgeous sparkly colored gemstones. Probably one of the reasons I love being a jeweler. I can play with those beauty all day and even get paid for it.  One of my favorites are Spinels.

Spinels rings in a beautiful color array.

Spinels are pretty unknown gemstones since they are quite rare and therefore not really commercialized much. They are more commonly used by small scale jewelers in one-of-a-kind designs. Spinels, a MgAl2O4 magnesium aluminum oxide, are usually mined in Sri Lanka and Myranmar and often found among corundum deposits like sapphires and rubies. Blue and red spinels actually have been mistaken for rubies and sapphires. Their excellent hardness of 8 on the Moh's scale and their high clarity makes it a great gem for everyday wear jewelry, even rings.

They come in beautiful pastel shades of pink, red, orange, blue, purple, brown and even deep black. Most of them have a great sparkle too.  I collected some beautiful pastel colored spinels over the years and finally found some time to carve up some waxes and cast rings for them.

carved waxes for solitaire rings with Spinels

A couple of these I cast in a new Sterling Silver alloy, Continuum, which is suposed to be a harder sterling silver and suitable for more valuable gemstone settings. Others were cast in Silver/Palladium alloy and a special deep red one in 14k yellow gold.

Sterling Silver ring with  a very sparkly round pink Spinel in a half bezel setting.

 

Oval faceted light lavender colored Spinel is set in a full bezel setting in this elegant sterling silver engagement ring.

An oval gray purple Spinel in a full bezel setting in this new sterling silver alloy.

This cushion cut medium blue Spinel was set in a full bezel Silver/Palladium ring.

Unfortunately this red purple spinel ended up sitting a bit rotated in it's setting and is therefore not for sale. If I find time I may try to fix it or just keep it for myself. It does look very nice with some other recent test rings with black diamonds and moissanites. Those little screw ups are sometimes my way to get some new bling for myself - not that I try it on purpose.

This deep red spinel has more fire than the picture can convey. It deserved to be set in 14k yellow gold to complement the warm gem color. Ring has a soft satin brushed finish. The half bezel setting lets some additional light into the gem, bringing out it's blood red color.

You can find all these and other spinel rings listed in my Etsy shop.

One-of-a-kind Wooden Ring Box

So you finally found the perfect ring to give, now it's time to think about how to propose to the person you love and want to spend your life with.

You don't need to hire a flash mob to make your big proposal day a special event. That kind of proposal isn't for everyone. Sometimes a small romantic gesture is all that is needed to make your loved ones heart melt and shows them how special they are. You should know them pretty well at this point to have a feel for what they like or not. Taking clues from your happiest moments spent together can be great inspiration. After all you want to make it a very personalized and unique experience. Such clues could be memories form vacations taken together, love letters (or love emails/SMS) you received from your partner, concerts you went to together, your favorite hangout spaces, ... anything that shows them that you cherished every moment you spent with them.

One of my dear customers made a very romantic gesture by crafting a personalized ring box for the ring he ordered from my shop. He had ordered a ring from my Saw Cut collection which has a texture similar to cut wood. Jeff gave it to his partner Phil as an engagement ring along with a meaningful box he made to go with it. He created the box from a piece of wood they found together on a hike in Yosemite.

The piece of wood is so unique and makes a beautiful ring holder with a personal touch. Such a romantic gesture.

The ring he ordered is similar to this Saw Cut wedding band.

Each ring has a one-of-a-kind unique texture just like the grain on each piece of wood is unique. It's a wide rustic wedding band with a carved texture of uneven fine lines that gives it the look of cut wood.

The ring line was inspired by the German wedding tradition of log cutting. After the ceremony is done, the bride and groom have to cut a log placed on a sawhorse. It's the first obstacle the couple has to accomplish in their married life. It's quite an exhausting task done without any power tools. It's especially hard to accomplish considering it has to be done wearing a suite and big wedding dress. This symbolizes their teamwork and shows how well they work together to complete the task.

Jeff's wooded ring box was perfect with the theme of the ring design, although it looks like he did use some power tools when creating his special box.  I really like the 2 nails too keeping the top and bottom perfectly alined.

Please check also out this personalized ring box for a Tourmaline ring.

Diamond Faceted Rings and Brooch Panel Studies

The other day I was playing with some new new software plugins for my Brooch a Day challenge. These involved using the Lunchbox plugin for Grasshopper to study with paneling components. Some great tools in there that need to get explored further. So I played with those tools a bit on very simple ring shapes too.

I went ahead and CNC milled 2 rings in wax in different width with a diamond shape facet pattern to see how well that pattern would translate into the real world with the tools I have on hand. Cast those in Sterling Silver. The facet edges came out a bit softer after polishing the wax first to remove the light tool path lines and then a light polish and satin brushed finish over the silver rings. I prefer it that way as it looks less machined. A more subtle look. Overall this makes some simple, lightly textured wedding rings with a soft feel. Here the finished rings:

 I am testing how people react to these and listed them on Etsy and my new web site.

There were other panel options too for the rings, here shown in a computer rendering. Panels can be squares, triangles, diamonds, skewed or staggered quads. Could not figure out how the hex panel tool works. Next time.

The Grasshopper definitions for each ring. Pretty simple to use.


So for the brooches I am working along the lines of uneven panel fields with triangular grids maybe.

Or some round brooches with different paneling.

Still needs some work.

Melissa's and Jessica's Rings

I got a really nice surprise note a couple days ago from Melissa and Jessica. I had made their engagement rings last year in Spring and then a couple month ago their matching wedding bands. They brought some happy tears into my eyes by sharing photos from their wedding in August and giving me one of the best thank you notes one can hope for.

What a sweet couple. Congratulations to Melissa and Jessica!
Photo by Dawn Hartman

Melissa wrote: 
"We wanted to drop a line and say thanks again for our beautiful rings. We were married on August 10th, and it was a WONDERFUL day. One of the highlights of the ceremony was when Jessie slipped my wedding band on, and I just stared at it and said "....wow...." -- and then the crowd laughed. ;) "

Ahhhhh, this is why I love my job so much.

Here a couple more photos they shared. These were taken by their wedding photographer Dawn Hartman at www.dawnhartmanphotography.com .

Photo by Dawn Hartman

Photo by Dawn Hartman

The engagement rings I made were done with Fair Trade cushion cut Malawi sapphires from Columbia Gemhouse. Melissa had expressed her wish for a sustainable option for the rings. The palladium for the rings was already recycled precious metal as all the metal I use is recycled.
Luckily I knew of a Fair Trade supplier for the sapphires. The stones Columbia Gemhouse sent me to select from were gorgeous and came in various green to blue shades. After checking with Melissa we went for slightly different color hues for each ring, one has a green-blue sapphire and the other has a darker blue one. Both sapphires were set in a half bezel design from my Fold Collection.

Palladium engagement rings with Fair Trade sapphires which were mined in Malawi.

 
The matching wedding rings were also done in Palladium. They were custom made as shadow bands to match the side contours of each ring. Jessica got a hammered textured band and Melissa opted for a polished band with 3 flush set recycled diamonds. The diamonds were Harmony diamonds from Hoover & Strong. These 100% recycled diamonds are the ultimate eco-friendly diamonds, as they do not cause destruction to our Earth. This saves on energy and water usage as well as emissions and has a lower impact on the environment to name a few benefits. The diamond melee is painstakingly cleaned, sorted and graded by Hoover & Strong. It's a great way to get some added sparkle for anyone who prefers natural stones over lab made moissanites.

Palladium wedding bands with hammered texture and recycled diamonds

 

It was such a pleasure working with Melissa and Jessica. May their married life be full of laughter and love for each other forever and ever!

Ring Sizing

One of the hardest tasks when ordering an engagement ring is finding the right ring size, especially if it needs to be a surprise. I can send plastic ring sizers to those customers to at least get within a close  size range. They then have to wait until their partner is asleep and try out those sizers on her hand. If she wakes up, just come up with a cheesy line that you wanted to hold her hands because you missed her.  :) Or try to get creative and involve other family members that might be able to get that information with less suspicion. If you actually want to do it right and it's not a surprise I recommend going to a local jeweler to get professionally sized with calibrated metal sizers. All other methods do have a large margin of error.

Note that often each finger on someone’s hand has a different size and even left and right hands are different. In my case, since I am right handed, my right hand fingers are half to 1 US size larger than my left hand fingers. Don’t just assume one ring that she wears on her hand somewhere will also fit on that special ring finger. There are also multiple fancy online sizer options that have printable charts or use credit cards or driver licenses as a measuring tool like this site. Still, the margin of error is pretty big as the scale can be off when printing those sheets or trying to measure something on a screen. All the customers that told me they used these methods were often of by 1 or more sizes. Best is to get professionally sized at a store with metal ring sizer's that are similar in width as the desired ring band. Please note that even those calibrated metal ring sizers that stores and shops use vary a bit from each other. I have 3 mandrels and 2 sets of metal ring sizers and they are all slightly off from each other. Those tolerances can easily mean to get different measurement for the ring size (mostly within a 1/4 size up or down). Chances are that if one gets sized at different stores, one comes back with multiple measurements. Unfortunately there is no universal sizing method or even chart when it comes to ring sizes.
If in doubt it's best in my experience to order a ring slightly smaller (1/4 to 1/2 US size less).  It is easier to stretch a ring by hammering it on a steel mandrel or to grind some metal from the inside of the band if it's thick enough. Making a ring smaller after the fact usually requires cutting the shank and resoldering it.

Measuring tools for ring sizing

It’s not always possible to resize a ring. It has to be evaluated case by case. If the ring has no gemstones and no special texture, it’s usually not a real issue. Sizing can be done by removing or inserting a piece of the same metal in the ring shank and soldering it. For textured pieces this could be a bit trickier as it’s not always possible to reapply the same texture on the inserted metal in case the texture was done on the wax models. A seam may be visible on the cut line. A hairline seam may also be visible for ring in some alloys were the solder color does not match exactly the shade of the alloy. This happens frequently with Palladium white gold alloys and also with the new silver/palladium alloy I use. I haven't had any issues with solder matching for purer alloys such as 950 Palladium or Sterling Silver.

Once gemstones are set in the ring, and it can’t be removed, it becomes a totally different deal. Only a few stones like diamonds, sapphires and rubies without inclusions or some lab created stones can take heat from the soldering. Removing stones is often only possible for gems in prong setting as prongs can be bent slightly away from the stone to be able to get it out. Most other setting types could get destroyed easily because the metal around the stone needs to be removed from the girdle to be able to get it out.  Protecting gems in place during soldering by different types of cooling is often used in those cases but still involves risk of damage to the gem. 

Ring sizing soldering setup. The set gemstone is emerged in water while the shank gets heated to soldering temperatures. This only really works well on narrow bands when the required heat can be reached very fast. I don't have success with this method with any heavier silver shanks.

To my knowledge Platinum and Palladium rings with set stones that can't be removed, can not be soldered with the matching platinum or palladium solders as no gemstone - not even a diamond- can tolerate the high soldering temperatures of these metals. One would have to use a white gold solder which does not match in color perfectly.
Gold and silver soldering temperatures are lower. Gold rings are usually easier to size due to the properties of the metal. Sterling silver gemstone rings are very difficult to size as the silver has a high conductivity and it’s very hard to get the solder to a flow point without overheating the gems. When purchasing sterling silver rings make sure a person gets the correct size. When resizing needs to be done, depending on how the rings were made, in some cases resizing will cost more than the ring is worth.

Stone set rings may also get sized using a laser welder, as it does not heat the entire ring during the sizing. This is also a alternative for stone set palladium or platinum rings. But not many small jewelry artists have access to those very expensive tools. It sometimes can be done in a jewelry store that specializes in jewelry repairs. It will still cost time and money. I do work with a laser welding specialist in downtown LA in those cases, he can size stone set silver, gold and palladium rings for me at a extra cost. Sizing the custom silver/palladium alloy can be accomplished with a laser welder too. But it's not an easy alloy to size as it's not malleable and somewhat brittle and can't be easily stretched or shrunk like the more malleable gold alloys.

Resizing more than 1 full US size up or down can destroy the structural integrity of a ring especially if the ring has stone settings. Sizing can introduce too much stress in the setting and the stone, resulting in cracks or gems falling out of the setting. In such cases the rings will have to be completely redone to the correct size. If unsure about a right ring size, check with the artist before ordering if resizing can be done, what costs apply or if exchanges are offered. Or better get the correct ring size before ordering.

Please note that ring comfort depends also on the shape and width of the ring. Wider bands tend to feel tighter than narrower ones of the same size. Same goes for stacked rings that all together will end of fitting like a wide ring. If you size a finger with narrow ring sizers like the plastic one's from my shop, then a wide band made for that finger will often need to be a little larger in size in order to fit the same. How much larger depends on the person, but an 1/8 to a 1/2 size is common. For very wide rings (10mm and wider) some people need to go 1/2 size up or even more.   The right ring size depends also on personal preference. Some people prefer a tight fit others like it loose just shy of being able to fling the ring off. Heavy rings often feel tighter than lighter rings. Top heavy rings with large gemstone settings high up on a narrow band often should fit tighter to avoid the setting from sliding from side to side. It's a hard thing to get right especially if the knuckles of a finger are actually the widest part.

To convert sizes from other international measuring systems I recommend this handy site.
Here are a few steps to make your measurement more accurate:

• When measuring, keep in mind that each finger could have a different size, so don't presume that a ring that fits your left ring finger will also fit your right ring finger or vice versa.
• Measure when your hands are warm, not cold.
• Make sure the measurement you choose easily fits over your knuckle.

If for any reason a ring you ordered does not fit, please contact me and we will work something out. It will be evaluated on a case by case basis what the best way is to make it a well fitting ring. I usually do one ring sizing for free if needed plus material cost if a larger size is required.



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Digital Designs

Last week I introduced some new engagement ring designs in my wedding store on Etsy. This time I went a bit different route than I usually take. Instead of carving all these designs in wax, then casting them, finish and set expensive stones, I went digital. I did model them in CAD and rendered photo realistic images of them in different metal options. I finally started using my new learned 3D CAD skills that I spend endless hours last year learning and practicing it during the RAW challenge. Hopefully all that hard work will ultimately pay off. All are modeled in Rhino4 with T-splines plugin and rendered in Brazil for Rhino.

Here a few of those new ring designs. All use Moissanites as they are perfect durable gem stones for engagement rings and rings are available in different metal options. Other gem stones could be used with these designs too.

Moissanite Full Bezel Engagement ring with optional wedding band. Available in Silver/Palladium, 14K yellow gold, white gold and Palladium upon request.

Round 5mm Moissanite in half-bezel setting

Close up of the Moissanite in it's setting

Same design but in 14 karat yellow gold

All those designs are variations for similar setting types I have done before, like my Fold ring collection. I pretty well understand how I will have to make them once an order comes in, how they will look and know that proportions will work. The thing that really got me moving in this direction was calculating my expenses for my 2011 taxes. Seeing the amount of money I spend on developing new designs in the last year, spending thousands on buying stones and precious metals, made me rethink my strategy for this year. All that money spend is money I don't have to pay my mortgage or feed myself. To keep doing what I love to do, I need to start running my business smarter.

Half carat cushion cut Moissanite in a half-bezel setting in yellow gold

Rings I produced in metal to be able to photograph them and list them in my shop, often stay a long time with me. It can take weeks, month or years to actually be able to sell the one I have in stock. I learned that with engagement rings people almost always request some slight modifications. Those can be a different metal, wider or narrower bands, different finish, different size, type or color of a gem stone, etc. Plus everyone needs a different ring size. Once a stone is set in a ring, it is pretty tricky to resize it. It works with some stones and usually within a small size range. But more often than not it is better to redo the ring to the correct size and dimensions. I did already move towards taking photos with the rings 90% finished but the stones just laid in the settings without tightening the rim over the stone. This allowed me to remove it and size it better without risking to damage a stone during the soldering. Still, sometimes the settings look slightly different with the stone not fully set. Once the metal is moved over the rim of a stone, the setting usually looks a bit smoother, all is tight and nicely finished. Even with that approach I could not resize more than 2 sizes up or down without affecting the overall shape and integrity of the ring.

Cushion Moissanite in Palladium or also available in Silver/Palladium.

 

Last month I finally had a break through with 3d modelling and actually really enjoy working with it. It's a great tool to try out a few variations of a design and make decisions quickly without investing too much money. It still takes considerable amount of time to model my designs in 3D. Photo realistic rendering also is a time sucker. It's easy to spend hours and hours on the computer trying to get the lights and reflections on the metal just right. It really requires me to remember what I learned in high school and college about physics, optics & mathematics. It's all very geeky, which I actually love. It can be frustrating at times but great when things finally work. I guess with time it will get faster as I will figure out some standard settings to use. Plus the images will only get better with more knowledge of the software.  I love that I can show the same design in white metals and yellow gold options relatively quickly and without the expense of buying gold at all time high prices.

I am already working on some custom orders for these new designs, all are modified from the original by using larger stones and applying different finishes on the metal. When an order comes in I mostly still carve the rings by hand in wax. I actually photographed some stages of carving a model in wax and will post them to the blog in the next days. This will show how to bring those digital designs to life and on the hands of a lucky bride. The current design I am hand modelling is this setting with a 5.5 mm cushion Moissanite, made in Silver/Palladium alloy with matching wedding band. Both rings will get a hammered texture.

Cushion Cut Moissanite in Full bezel setting.

There will be a few more designs in the future that will need to be 3D printed or milled by a CNC machine as they are a bit more complicated and would be harder to carve by hand. It's not impossible to hard carve them but sometimes it's just more efficient to choose a different tool.  Since I don't own a mill or 3D printer, I need to send those out to a service bureau. It takes a bit longer to get those models back and fewer modifications will be possible. I am still continuing to produce new designs directly in wax and metal without going digital. Especially for one-of-a-kind gem stones and unique one off designs it is still the most effective way. Using CAD is currently better for designs that can be replicated again especially with stones that are commercially available in constant sizes and colors. Moissanites are perfect for that and I love working with them.

So far the response has be great and I got already a few communications going with potential customers for their engagement rings. I am really looking forward to seeing them all come to life.

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Wish you a bubbly New Year!

It's amazing how fast 2011 went by. It was an year with lot's of exciting changes. The customer response has been overwhelming in the last year. I am proud to have been a part in the life of so many newly weds and recently engaged clients by creating their custom rings that will stay with them for many years to come.

I finally made my Nodeform business a full time gig in 2011. It has been so much fun the last couple month working for myself. In September I went on a 6 month leave from my day job as an Architect to try to concentrate on really kicking this into the next gear. It took a while but the Holiday season finally paid off . I think it could be possible to be doing what I love and be able to support myself.  Tax season will show me if I am right or just an illusionist.

RAW52 #26 & #30 gold and silver Bubble rings rendered in Brazil for Rhino
Modeled in Tsplines and Rhino. Freeform bubbles.

I learned a lot of new thinks and developed my skills. The Ring a Week (RAW) challenge was a great experience in trying to learn 3D modeling software. I did not make 52 designs in the end but it still helped me coming back to it from time to time and try something new. I will continue in the next year developing this a bit further and eventually even incorporate it into my ring production and custom designs.

3D print in stainless steel of RAW26/52 model. Printed by Shapeways.

3D print in stainless steel and Frosted Ultra Detail of RAW26/52 model. Printed by Shapeways.

I also started playing with rendering software in the last couple days. It's could be a nice way to be able to post new designs and material options without actually having to produce them in expensive precious metals and gem stones. This could keep my money, usually tied up in inventory stock, in my pockets until I actually get a order in. Well, I have to get better with the software until I can produce convince able images of how the finished piece will look.

RAW52/31 Palladium Bubble ring with Diamond rendered in Brazil for Rhino

RAW52/33 Gold Bubble ring with Diamond rendered in Brazil for Rhino

RAW52/32 Silver Bubble ring with Sapphire rendered in Brazil for Rhino

To see all my submissions for this challenge go to Flickr.

With that  I thank all of my friends, fans and clients for your interest and support in my adventures. I wish you all a Happy New Year! Enjoy some bubbly treat tonight to celebrate New Eears Eve.


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RAW52 #25 & #29 Wavy Ring

I recently got a few of my latest RAW submissions printed in different materials. I send this wavy ring design off to Ponoko and Shapeways to test service and printing quality.

Wave ring printed in Stainless Steel

I have to say I am way more impressed by Shapeways. Their material choices are greater and the prints came out cleaner. Their Frosted Ultra Detail prints are impressively detailed with only very fine printing lines. I still have to try casting one of those in silver to see how they burn out in the lost wax process.

3D prints of RAW25/52 model in Stainless Steel, Black Detail and White Detail plastic and Frosted Ultra Detail. Printed by Shapeways.

 The stainless steel rings are always great with an interesting texture. It took 2 weeks to get models delivered from Ponoko and 3 weeks from Shapeways. Ponoko has trouble with printing lot's of my designs as they seem to small for them. Not an issue with Shapeways, especially the ultra detail material allows very thin parts in the model. Uploading models and organizing it for printing is easier on Shapeways.  So I guess I stay with Shapeways.

A couple shots of the stainless steel print.

The model was done using T-splines for Rhino 4. The smooth wave was laid out flat and then bend into a ring shape.  I also tried lofting curves and 2 rail sweeps directly in Rhino without t-splines but it got some wonky areas. The edges are sharper with this approach seen in the images below.

Rhino4 render image

I did start playing with a trial version of Brazil for Rhino to render some designs more realistically looking. I am still a bit confused with all those settings that need to get adjusted to get an image. Easy to spend hours on this.

Rendering in Brazil with gold material settings

Engagement Season

After weeks of designing a new collection of wedding rings I now switched over to engagement rings. The engagement season is coming soon. It seems the that the time between Thanksgiving and the Holidays, or even Valentines Day, engagements are on a rise. It's the time of the year that focuses on family and home. An ideal time to pop the question and then celebrate with the entire family around.

 

wax models for new engagement rings

I haven't designed rings with main focus as a engagement ring before. Lot's of my other gem stone rings were used as unconventional engagement rings. I sometimes find out from the groom or even later from the bride that my Tahitian peal ring, the Flow rings with diamonds or of course the rough diamond rings or even the unconventional larger gem stone rings were used to propose. I still also love when the bride to be selects her own engagement ring. Surprises are very romantic but one should have the ring they love to wear forever.
The last few weeks I was sourcing suitable stones and thinking about designs.  Here a couple designs I carved this week in wax for some of the stones I already have.

 

Show here are wax models from "Fold" collection with 1.2 carat cushion cut 8 x 6 mm Morganite on left, 0.9ct cushion white sapphire in the middle and 1.1ct 6mm round Songea green sapphire. The white sapphire and morganite ring were sent out to be cast in palladium. I  did a morganite ring before in palladium and that light pink beryl gem looks so great combined with that metal.

I do like the round stone version of this "Fold" ring design. I still have lots of other round stones that I can use for this and especially a 6mm round blue sapphire and 2 orange Songea sapphires. I am casting this round one today in silver first and will be perfecting the shape and setting a bit more before I send it out to be cast in palladium.

 

Wax model with freeform shaped roughly 0.45ct/ 6 x 4.5 mm rose cut blue sapphire. I do have a couple of similar rose cut sapphires in different shapes and similar sizes available. This will allow me to offer this design for custom sizes and different metal options. This ring is being cast in silver today, palladium options will follow soon.

A design for a marquise cut ruby. The stone is about 0.45 carat, 6.6 x 3.5 mm. It's a tough design to get the symmetry perfect with just hand carving. I might actually model this on a computer in CAD again to archive perfect symmetry and  crisp lines. For now this hand carved wax is being cast in silver to see how it looks. I do have also blue sapphires in that size and lots of other marquise stones.

I also did a very minimalist design with a simple 4.5 mm band and a square bezel setting for this 3mm blue sapphire. It could be worn stacked with this shown matching narrow wedding band with optional 2mm sapphire set flush in the band. These are my prototypes that I am casting in silver. I will model this in CAD for a crisper look.

I accumulated over the years a lot of smaller gem stones especially sapphires, tourmalines and some rubies that are perfect for engagement rings to be worn every day. I also kept the bands simple to be able to wear a wedding band stacked next to it.

I don't plan to purchase any large faceted diamonds but rather go for moissanites instead. Especially after reading the book "The Heartless Stone" I don't feel compelled into using  these large overpriced and politically so controversial diamonds.  Moissanites are man made gem stones with more fire and brilliance than a diamond. It's hardness above 9 on the moh's scale and makes it harder than sapphires or rubies. No mining has to be done for these stones and they are guaranteed conflict free. Combined with recycled precious metal they are the perfect choice for the eco conscious person. I am waiting for some of these moissanites to arrive to then come up with some designs.

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