Diamond rings are a popular choice of jewellery for many people and they can be made in a variety of different ways. If you are an individual that has a number of these rings as well as other high worth items like luxury cars you may want to consider consulting a High Net Worth Insurance Gloucestershire company such as https://johnmorganpartnership.co.uk/ to discuss protecting your items.
There are so many tiny details when it comes to ring design as well as intricate designs and delicate settings that great skill must have gone into constructed it. Imagine the patience and steady hands that are required to use the traditional techniques involved in making something so beautiful.
With today’s technology, 3D printing has opened up a whole world of possibilities when it comes to making jewellery but here we look at the traditional methods of ring making:
Traditional
Step one involves the cutting of the required metal for the ring’s band. If any material or design is going into the metal, then this is also done now. Often a jobbing hammer is used, which is a small tool with ball head and a flat head for creating different textures in the metal.
When the width and length has been cut, the band is now shaped into a ring by using a ring triblet. The band is bent around the triblet and knocked into the required shape with a jewellery hammer. The harder the pressure, the sturdier the ring will be.
The next step is to fashion the claw that the stone will sit in. The shape of the claw very much depends on the cut of the diamond. Once the claw is finished, it is soldered onto the band, filed down and polished. If any further shaping is required, it will be completed now using a triblet.
If any stones are being set into the band, it can be done by using a GRS engraving block. However, the most common method is called ‘bezel setting’ which consists of drilling tiny holes into the metal band. Gems are placed into these holes with grooves that have a projecting lip to keep them held in place. The whole ring is then polished until it sparkles and is ready to be worn by the lucky recipient.
Wax Casting
The method of wax casting has been employed for centuries for making rings and it still considered the preferred method. The process is also known as the ‘lost wax’ process as clearly by the time you place the ring on your finger, there is no evidence of wax!
A designer will create a complete and exact wax model of the ring to be crafted. Once the designer is happy with the model, it is placed inside a metal flask and filled with a material a bit like plaster. It is left to become hard and then placed in a jeweller’s oven at a high temperature. The wax melts away and leaves behind hollow version of the original design.
Molten metal is then poured into the mould to solidify, through a process known as centrifugal or vacuum casting. When the metal has cooled, the mould can be removed to leave a perfect ring shape to be polished. Stone setting processes will then follow.