[Jewelry making - Article 00642] - Re: [Orchid] Engagement ring for a jeweler

[Lisa Gallagher]

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Hi Valerie,

    It's very sweet that your sweetie wants to do that for you. I'm sure
    it's a bit of a tough situation. When I got engaged, I wasn't yet
    doing metalsmithing, so there wasn't quite that dilemma, but there
    was a little bit with the ring that I wanted. It was a family ring.
    My grandfather was a jeweler, and he'd set a nice-sized mine cut
    diamond for his wife-to-be. Years later he wanted her to have a
    brilliant cut, so he made a new ring for her with a brilliant cut of
    about the same size as the mine cut was. He also had the old mine cut
    stone re-cut as a brilliant & put it away for safe keeping. Many
    years later my dad bought that stone, and my grandfather once again
    set it ("under duress", as he said), and it became my mother's
    engagement ring. 

    When I was getting serious with my boyfriend, my mother mentioned
    that her engagement ring could be mine. She was now wearing my
    grandmother's second ring & had put her ring away for me to have. I
    could either just use the diamond, or use it as it was, it was up to
    me. It happened to fit (yes, I tried it on), and my grandfather (by
    that time deceased) had set it, so I wanted it just the way it was.
    Plus, it was platinum! ;-) So, then I had to convince my boyfriend
    that THAT was the ring I wanted. He felt wierd, it wasn't as if it
    was a ring from HIS family, and he was giving it to me. He wanted to
    be the one buying it. Well, what difference did it make, if it was
    the ring I wanted? Besides, it saved him a chunk of change! ;-) I
    finally convinced him, and without me knowing it, he flew to my
    parents' house, cooked them dinner, and asked for the ring (and my
    hand to put it on). Sweet. Sort of like buying it, right? 

    So now a second little story. I sell jewelry at a local gallery, and
    a bit before Christmas a couple went in there & the woman really
    loved a particular ring I'd made, and it just happened to be her
    size. Her boyfriend bought it, and I later found out that it was to
    be an engagement/wedding ring. She's an art teacher, I think, at a
    local college, and she wanted something "different". Mind you, this
    ring is not really out of the ordinary in general, just not your
    average wedding band or engagement ring. A simple, wide silver band,
    with a bezel set oval-shaped royal blue dichroic glass cab. Oh, and a
    swirly visual texture engraved all over the metal. 

    I heard back from her soon after that she loved the ring, but just
    because she was committing to one man, that didn't mean she needed
    to commit to one ring, so she wanted a second one in a different
    color & slightly different style. I went to great lengths to find
    just the right piece of glass for her, and so I made her a second
    ring, this one with a different finish & a square-shaped cab. What
    I'm getting at, is she went to a local gallery & found a ring she
    liked, and then because she liked the (local) artist's work, was able
    to commission something else from her, too. So, maybe you could scout
    through local galleries that sell artists' work & see if there's
    something you'd like as an "engagement ring", but that's not a
    typical one. What matters in the end, is that what he gives you is
    something that you really love. Heck, even if it's not a ring. 

Lisa
Designs by Lisa Gallagher
www.lisagallagher.com
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