Look through your jewelry boxes, pull out those pieces you no longer wear, and donate them to the Haven. Bring them to Designer Gold in Hanover – we’ll send them to our refiner who will melt them down and send the Haven a check for 100% of the refined value. Let’s see how big a check we all can send the Haven for Thanksgiving!

Here’s the best part: your precious metal will bring the most money it can for the Haven this way. If you sold your gold to any of the local stores who advertise buying gold and platinum, you would realize only 18 to 75% of what our refiner will send to the Haven for you.

If everyone in the Upper Valley brought in one single earring or an old charm or a broken chain, together we could donate a huge amount to those who really need us at the holiday time.

A few more ideas of things you might donate:

A ring you don’t like
A piece of gold or platinum taken out of a ring you had resized
A broken catch from a necklace
A bangle bracelet that no longer fits
Anything made of white or yellow gold or platinum

Designer Gold is just the collection point. Bring in your unwanted jewelry from now until November 19. That will give us time to get the precious metal refined for Thanksgiving.

Here’s the drawing, the initial idea:

The customers had a pretty good sense of what they wanted. They communicated their vision in a fairly simple sketch and in their descriptions to Paul.

Paul added notes and his own elementary sketch to prod his memory when he started carving the wax model.

The customers looked at some diamonds and selected one that they liked for this ring.

Working from the sketch and what the customers had told him, Paul carved a model in “blue wax” incorporating the customer’s diamond. The fiancée tried on the blue wax model. Paul made some minor changes to make it more comfortable on her hand and refined some curves in the design.

The next step was to cast the ring, using the model in the Lost Wax Casting Process; then clean up the rough casting, polish the ring, and set the stone.

Here is the finished ring:

Click on photos for enlargement.

On her hand it was gorgeous! Neither he nor she could stop commenting on it. What a happy occasion!

Later that day, we received this email:

“She and I have been marveling at just what a dynamic piece [the ring] is!  Every which way you look at it, it’s really a new experience.  So fresh, but balanced and fluid.  We just love it so much.  We can’t thank you enough for making sure we could fly home with it this trip.  I’m a bit concerned for her though, as she keeps bumping into things while admiring her finger.”

A fine testimonial!

]]> http://designergoldjewelry.com/engagement-ring-from-drawing/feed/ 0 http://designergoldjewelry.com/themed-matching-wedding-bands/ http://designergoldjewelry.com/themed-matching-wedding-bands/#comments Tue, 27 Jul 2010 01:20:26 +0000 peggysadler http://designergoldjewelry.com/?p=1843 Click on photos for enlargement.

Paul recently created a pair of matching wedding rings for a couple who were inspired by a set of rings Paul made two years ago.

The original couple asked Paul to replicate a pattern carved into the ancient entrance rock at Newgrange, Ireland. According to Wikipedia, this ancient rock has been described as “one of the most famous stones in the entire repertory of megalithic art.”

They decided to have matching rings made out of their own gold and each with one diamond.

This past spring, a second couple saw the picture of these wedding rings on our website and loved them! They wanted something similar, but found their inspiration in the waves of the ocean. They chose white sapphires for their center stones and small blue sapphires randomly spaced around the bands. Their rings were made in 14 karat white gold.

You certainly can see how the first set of rings inspired the second set, but you also can see that each couple has their own distinct ring design.

A few years ago, Paul created a similar type of band by carving acanthus leaves into a man’s wedding ring and texturing the ring beside the leaves. This also was a custom ring – the customer’s idea and Paul’s creative energy.

Bring your ideas to Paul, and he will create them for you in your choice of white or yellow gold, platinum or palladium, with or without gemstones, your stones or ours.

All in our gallery at Designer Gold!

Come and meet Jayne Redman at Designer Gold on Friday, June 4th, 4:00-7:00 p.m.

Columbine Earrings Tri-color

She will have an amazing array of her jewelry designs on display, designs inspired by the flowers in her garden: dahlias,  lilies, sweet peas, violets, columbines and many others.

Sweet Pea Bracelet

To accentuate the natural beauty of her designs, Jayne uses the ancient Korean technique of Keum-bo to bond 24 karat gold to sterling and oxidized silver.

Her jewelry is light, whimsical, and visually intriguing; it’s a perfect complement to any summer outfit.

Double Clematis Neckwire

Designer Gold has showcased Jayne’s work in gold and silver for many years. When we heard that she was scheduled to teach a weekend workshop at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen, we jumped at the chance to introduce her to the Upper Valley. So, here’s your chance to meet her in person and see her whole collection of jewelry: Friday, June 4^th from 4:00 to 7:00 p.m at Designer Gold.

Her beautiful collection will remain on display through June 19th.

Our annual Spring Sale is a wonderful way to have fine handmade jewelry at great prices. Traditionally, it has been our only sale of the year. Everything in the gallery is on sale for one week – except commissions, repairs and loose diamonds.

Think about showing your favorite person how much you love her by finding just the right beautifully crafted piece of jewelry at an affordable price! Think about Mother’s Day, graduation and summer birthdays.

All of Paul Gross’s designs in the gallery are 10% off the original price. This includes limited edition jewelry like his Spring Flower Collection and precious gemstone rings like his Canadian Diamond Collection with diamonds and sapphires.

All of our featured designers’ jewelry is at least 10% off, too. Selected pieces are as much as 40% and 50% off. Come into the gallery to see!

Take 20% off the marked price of all our standard gold, silver, pearl, and colored stone jewelry. This includes all beaded necklaces, chains and neckwires.

Our collection of loose gemstones, except for diamonds, is specially priced as well.

It’s a fabulous sale, and we do it only once a year in the spring. Visit us on the second floor of the Hanover Park Building at 3 Lebanon Street in Hanover, New Hampshire.

One of Paul’s customers thought it would be a neat idea to collect all the odd pieces of gold jewelry she no longer wore, melt them down and make them into a bracelet.

Once she decided to do this, she set a goal: it would be fun to have a 2 ounce bangle, she figured.

She brought what she found initially to Paul, and he weighed the pieces. Not quite enough. So she went home and looked for more. A few days later, she came back with some charms that had lost their meaning for her, and again in another few days, she brought other pieces she had found. In all, she collected enough gold to make her bracelet.

Paul carved a hinged bangle out of blue wax with a slightly different design on each side. He removed some of the wax from the back of the bracelet hollowing it out a little to preserve the designs on the front and to stay within the 2-ounce goal. He also carved the hinge into each side.

When his customer approved the design in the wax, Paul cast the two pieces, polished them up, finished the hinge and created the clasp. The project was completed and the customer delighted!

March 21, 2010, at 11:00 a.m.

We’ll have samples of the jewelry that we make and a free gift certificate drawing. One of our goldsmiths will be on hand to talk about custom designing your engagement ring or your wedding band which can be designed to suit your engagement ring perfectly. He can show you how we make a wax model of your ring, have you try it on, make changes in the wax model until you are entirely thrilled, and then cast it in the metal of your choice. We polish your ring, set your gemstones, all right here in our Hanover studio! Or if you prefer, we can custom order settings and stones and put them together for you here, too.