Timeless Trillion

For one of Drew and my very first dates, he invited me on a run with him. Now, the farthest I’d ever run at that point was about four miles. Along with his running club, we ran for my record of seven miles and found ourselves out on beautiful Pickney Island. I proudly announced that I had beaten my record and was done running. Imagine my surprise when I learned we still had to go all the way back. Oops.

While that first date was a bit of a disaster, it cemented the beginning of some of my strongest friendships, including with Debbie, whom I met that day. Debbie was the leader of the running club and could easily have left me in the dust, but she stayed back and encouraged me the whole way home. Somehow, I made it back in one piece and with a new friend to boot! (It took Drew a little while longer to come back from that!)

Since then, Debbie has been around our life in various ways - through thick and thin, and vice versa. That’s why I was honored to help her make this piece to remember her late mother. This design was such a sentimental journey, and I’m so glad we got to share it together!

A Stunning Stone

To start, Debbie brought in a very unique piece that was part of a necklace belonging to her mother, who recently passed away. The amethyst was going to her daughter, but Debbie wanted to make a ring out of the aquamarine. I was so excited to get my hands on this stone! It is very rare to see aquamarines of this size. The color is also unusual, with a deep inky blue with green undertones, rather than the typical seafoam color of aquamarine. 

After reviewing a couple of my existing designs, we decided to go with something based on the Nesting Songbird, but with some serious upgrades, including the addition of a bezel setting and heirloom accent diamonds.  

A Hands-On Model

After creating a rough sketch, I brought out the original mold for the Nesting Songbird ring. To see clearly where the diamonds would go, I opted to draw right on the model! You can see, based on my marker, exactly how the differently-sized diamonds would fit. Then, I used my laser welder to zap the diamond settings in place, four on one side and three on the other for an asymmetric flow. 

CAD Model

Because the large bezel setting needed to be very precisely built to fit this large 12mm trillion stone, I used CAD to create the setting. From these renderings, you can see how snuggly the setting fits the particular shape of this stone. After the bezel was finally created, the silver model was complete. Then, I sent it off to be cast in 14K white gold.

Once I got the cast version back, the real fun could begin!

Setting the Stone

I’ll admit I was a little bit nervous about setting this stone. It’s unusual to work with a trillion of this size, much less in a bezel, much less in white gold, which can be springy and tricky to work with. The setting process was very slow, precise, and delicate. But I trusted in my skills as a jewelry maker and in the end, it all came together beautifully. 

The final steps were setting the smaller diamonds, and cleaning and polishing. Then voila! 

I’m so proud of how this beauty came out. Just look at that ring! Projects like this make everything I do worthwhile.

If you have an idea for a project, reach out to me. Let’s create something beautiful together!