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Designing and Making Custom Wedding Bands?
dystrophy asks: "I'm planning on getting married shortly after I graduate in December. Because I'm a student who doesn't work much, I don't have tons of money to spend on an engagement ring/wedding band. After discussing this situation with friends and family, I discovered that poverty is the great equalizer. My parents designed their own wedding bands and had them cast for relatively little money because they inherited diamonds and gold from their family. Because of finances, they decided to forgo the engagement ring and spend what they had on wedding bands. I have some decent quality diamonds and gold from my family. I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic), but she might be willing to go with a simple engagement ring, or just put the money toward a wedding band. I have just started doing research on the topic of designing rings. I have talked to several jewelry designers in the Bay Area, but they don't want to deal with me. They want to sell me their diamonds and gold (I've heard various and interesting excuses from each). How should I go about this? Where should I go? When it comes down to the design, should I just work with my wife-to-be to create sketches to give a designer, or is something more needed? Any really cool ideas and designs for wedding bands?"
I mean, if you wanted a GPRS/Bluetooth ring, I'd understand...
Anyhow, one idea I can offer for "cool" rings, if you like black (clothes and etc), is Zirconium. It's not just for fake jewels; unlike its crystalline form, its metal state is non-tarnishing and a very cool greyish-black. My wedding ring is half zirconium, half yellow gold (like the top and bottom halves of a sandwich).
My wife has a big 'ol honkin' rock - it's a 4 carat clear Opal. It draws a lot of comment and was within our budget, but as it's a soft mineral it requires some extra care.
Perfectly Normal Industries
Pfft. Just get her a nice 800 carat cubic zirconia from Big Ass Diamonds.com.
I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic)
Ewww. Good grief.
My advice. Run away, don't look back.
Buy a second hand ring. They seem to have almost no resale value what so ever.... There are way to may folks out there who spent mad cash on an engagement ring and had things go sour. Their loss, your win. Do your homework, however, and it might not be in your best interest to say it came from some dead lady's estate auction or Bob's pawn shop. Sounds like your time is cheap. Take the time to know when and what a good deal is...
Second, look for the combo engagement / wedding set. A simple 1/3 carrot diamond will save much heartache later. I'd say buy a modest CZ and swap the gem later, but that has critical fumble written all over it. You can always upgrade the gem later in life, but odds are she wont. (You will end up purchasing other jewelry later in life, however...)
Lastly, get yourself a plain wedding band. Keep it simple, second hand preferred.
+++ UGUCAUCGUAUUUCU
...find a decent pawn shop in the area, and check out the stones and settings they have. If you've done some looking at more "reputable" jewelry stores, and learn how to look at a stone with a loupe to check for visible flaws, color, etc., you can get a very nice piece of "ice" for about 1/3 the price, and they'll usually throw in a simple setting in white or yellow gold for free.
My parents did it, (no engagement ring, just wedding bands) I've done it already with the engagement ring, and I think I'll probably be able to get her to go for it on the wedding bands, as well.
Going the custom-design route can be very cool, but unless you know a jewelry designer and/or metalsmith, it's probably just a good way to end up with some very nice mental images or sketches of the ring of your dreams.
Sure, wedding rings are traditional, but i think a cock ring would be more practical. At least more useful on your wedding night.
Do you even lift?
These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.
My advice to you is to wait to get married. It's probably already too late for you, but it is good advice for anyone else thinking of getting married. There is no reason to rush into getting married. Your marriage is more likely to last if you wait until you are more established befor you tie the knot.. You won't have to fight about money, you won't be tempted to start a family that you can't afford, and you won't start making joint purchases that you don't have money for.
Yoda of Borg am I! Assimilated shall you be! Futile resistance is, hmm?
My wedding ring is half zirconium, half yellow gold (like the top and bottom halves of a sandwich).
Only on slashdot would you see someone describe the ultimate material symbol of his lifelong unending love, as a sandwich.
What a website!
Photos.
When my Dad passed away, my Mom had the 3 rings (engagement, his/hers wedding bands) melted down and made into a custom ring using the diamond from the engagement ring. The guy that did the work (Phoenix AZ) is an artist that specializes in jewelry, not a jeweler that does custom work. You couldn't buy the stones or the metal (gold silver whatever) from him. His work was flawless, and my Mom will be forever happy with the ring. And he did not charge jewelers prices, in fact we were all surprised how inexpensive it was, considering the obvious quality.
:)
Remember, gold usually can only me formed once or twice before surface pitting becomes a issue. Make sure any "used" gold is not a re-formed ring.
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On a side note, if you can't talk to your fiance about the engagement ring because its a "touchy subject" she may not be the one for you. Common interests and understanding speak volumes.
Good luck.
Nothing says I love you like a simple gold band engraved with the runes of the black speech of Mordor. Why years from now your spouse will be fondly calling it her "preciousss."
My wife and I got engaged a few years ago, and we didn't have much money. We didn't have much money either, but we did get diamonds from different sections of our family. Not high quality diamonds, but I'd take family heirlooms over commercial diamonds any day.
:). It's not very romantic, but you and your wife-to-be should design the ring together. It's going to be on her finger, and she probably cares about the design more then you anyways, so she should have input.
We couldn't afford two rings, so we designed a single ring that had two parts: An engagement band that had a few diamonds on it which she wore for a year, and a wedding band that fit around the engagement band. It cost far less then two different rings.
They want to sell me their diamonds and gold
You may not be able to use your own gold.
Most jewelers are very picky about their gold quality, and don't want to run into the chance of your gold being less pure, and thus harder to work with (Big deal with working with small details).
We ended up selling some of our gold to the jewler that made our ring, for around the jewler-market price (which is less then what you see in Wall Street Journal).
However, I do know that there are jewelers (mostly smaller shops) who would use your gold. Just be persistent.
When it comes down to the design, should I just work with my wife-to-be to create sketches to give a designer, or is something more needed?
I'm a big fan of feminism: Equal rights, and equal responsibility
As for how to choose a jeweler, the guy who designed her ring was nice, but slow, so we won't recommend him. However, we really liked these two places:
- There's another place on College Ave. in Berkeley or Oakland called "The Family Jules" or something. They were our second choice for my ring, and they had alot of rings for women also.
- I really liked the family who did my ring. I got a rose-gold keltic-style band at MacManus and Sons on Shattuck in Berkeley. They are very well known (especially in the Geek community), and I've had a number of people comment on their high quality and friendly store. Mr. MacManus is a nice guy, and he cleans and fixes my ring for free.
My wife and I had 4 sketches, we took it to several jeweler, and had them draw out a better sketch. We chose our jewler based on price, design and personality. However, I wouldn't recommend him to anyone, because he was slow.
We talked to 4 different artists. Two of them were recommended by friends, and the other two were selling their pretty goods at the Ren Faire.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
We had our wedding bands made here in Little Rock, AR at a place called "Cecil's Fine Jewelry"... We took in a sketch and the guy designed them using a CAD-like program specifically designed for ring design.. He would render shots of the rings and email us the results.. The the CAD file was shipped to California somewhere and was carved on a computer controlled milling machine. This resulted in a wax version of the rings. Then it was a simple thing to cast the real rings from the wax one by making molds, etc.
Here's a computer rendering of the rings.
Rendering
Here's the final rings.
Real Rendering
I haven't talked to my "wife to be" about the engagement ring yet (touchy topic),...
A few people have already said something along these lines, but let me make it a bit more explicit. If this topic gets her emotional than perhaps you'd better do whatever the hell she wants. She clearly cares about this issue and I don't think you are doing yourself a service by researching something behind her back. That is, unless you feel equally passionate about the subject of engagement rings (however, most guys don't). At the very least should be discussing this openly with her. I think she's going to be mucho pissedo (that's Spanish for "very upset") that you are soliciting the opinions of a bunch of online geeks that you've never met before sitting down with her and having a very heart-to-heart talk about this. Remember, if there is one thing that women want, it's to be the #1 priority in your life. She wants you to listen to her opinions and feelings. Not to tell her there are "better ways".
Personally, I would discuss the wedding ring issue with your girlfriend RIGHT NOW and make sure she's at least open to options. If she's not, then drop it. Do what she wants. If she is open to new ideas, THEN start to do your research, perhaps getting her to help you. I don't know your girlfriend but most women would not be pleased to find out that you've done all this research on ring alternatives without even discussing the idea with her first.
GMD
watch this
My father-in-law custom made our wedding bands, he makes dental bridges and implements (correct term?) for a living. The skills are pretty similar.
That's sort of along the lines of the person who recommended an artist... try to find someone with the skills to do it that might be willing to do it on the side.
_sig_ is away
pretty sure that last discussion was about "high tech" wedding rings. Like marking it with binary encoding, incorporating a Java chip, etc.
This is a different vein... simply, what do geeks (and poor geeks) do for wedding rings. Nothing wrong with that. Some of us actually get married, want to have kids, etc.
Personally, this stuff is refreshing. I'm getting sick of articles about new cell phone gadgets, the RIAA, or whatnot.
"Can of worms? The can is open... the worms are everywhere."
Actually, why the hell would you even bring a chicken on your honeymoon???
Hey, don't knock it, City-Boy!
that expands and contracts to fit the wearer's finger, confers the power of invisibility, and displays odd-looking runes on its interior, when heated.
And when you talk to your "Precious", she'll think you mean
-her-!
back in the day, there was no engagement ring. Well, there was, but it was the wedding band. You would pick out your wedding bands, and then your fiance would wear the band on the ring finger on her right hand until the wedding day, when it was moved to the left hand.
If your fiance balks at not getting an engagement ring, tell her you're following in your (hopefully) German heritage. It'll probably be a good conversation starter, and sounds better than, "We decided not to get an engagement ring." Which, BTW, translates into, "My stupid fiance is too cheap to buy be a frikken ring!"
Just a thought.
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Unless your girlfriend is unusual (in a good way, perhaps) she wants a nice big diamond. She wants to show it to her friends and her friends want to see it. If her friends don't see it they'll think you're a creep. It's been explained to me as a 'deposit'.
.75 with a blue phosphorescence and depth and table percentages right around 60 [do your homework, everyone tells my wife her diamond is the most sparkly they've seen, but it's just cut right and not from the department store], so I didn't have much luck locally) but you can save about half from buying from a direct importer from Isreal (where they cut most diamonds). I had good luck with these folks.
Yep, stupid social traditions, but there they are.
If you want to avoid supporting DeBeers, get a second-hand diamond, they're "forever", remember? If you're picky, you'll have to get new (I wanted a brilliant cut VVSI G
For the Wedding bands, we did well at Sam's Club. Simple gold bands can be had for about $50 each, I think we splurged for the $70 variety. But the wedding band isn't important, there's a ceremony coincident with them which is far more important. There's no engagement ceremony though, so the engagement ring is very important.
My God, it's Full of Source!
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