Hammered, Organic White Gold & Diamond Engagement Ring

This lovely little ring left the workshop recently for a proposal on a coastal road trip. It’s inspired by the local, Cornish seaside, the shape of the waves and the bride-to-be’s wish for something a little unconventional but still clearly an Engagement Ring.

Making the Ring:

I began with a length of 18ct white gold wire and forged its ends into points. I added layers of small hammer marks, building up an even texture across the metal’s surface. This left the wire ‘work hardened’ and tough to bend so I heated it to an annealing temperature, restoring malleability to the gold. Once cool I could begin to shape it into a ring.

I formed the ring around a steel mandrel, a conical former, which aids in the shaping of the majority of the rings made in my workshop. I bent the ends of the wire past each other, allowing me enough spare metal to form the twist which will come to hold the diamond.

After some careful measuring I pulled the arms of the ring around into a spiral, refining the shape by hammering it across one of my smallest silversmithing stakes. I filed the arms a little, taking more weight from the front of the ring and restored little patches of texture that got damaged along the way. With some gentle manipulation I fitted the tapered diamond setting and soldered it into place.

I check throughout the process that the ring I’m making actually looks like the drawing – and this one matches up well. So from there I refined the setting a little, dropping the height and got the diamond in place.

A final polish to take out any last sandpaper marks and the ring is done. After chatting about it with the customer we’ve left the 18ct white gold un-plated, which lets the natural, grey/silver colour of the metal shine through and it looks warm and splendid: