TK Jewellery

In social situations, I often find that when discussion turns to my trade, a lot of people are quite intrigued by the actual process of handcrafting a piece of jewellery.

A ring, or in fact any piece of handmade jewellery, starts off as a simple rod of metal, which is rolled and shaped, soldered, filed and hammered then polished to perfection. Depending on the design, a handcrafted piece of jewellery can take anything from a couple of hours to days, even weeks to complete.
This is why I love my trade. Each piece is unique, every design a new challange.

Handcrafting an Engagement Ring:

It starts with the materials. 18ct Yellow Gold for the band, 18ct White Gold for the setting and, of course, the diamond.

The white gold is rolled flat, to allow for doming and shaping to fit the diamond.

The yellow gold is rolled longer and narrower to be turned up into the band.

The band is soldered, rounded up to size and hallmarked.

It is then filed to shape.

The setting is made to fit the diamond using various punches and shaping blocks, and is then filed, buffed and pre-polished.

Using a series of files and burrs, a "seat" is made in the band for the setting to fit into. This part of the process is very time-consuming and must be extremely precise.

Once the setting is soldered in place, the ring gets a final shaping. The setting is shaped using burrs and needle files and adjustments are made to the "sculptural lines" of the band.

Almost there.....

The ring is now pre-polished and spends a few mintutes in the ultrasonic cleaner to remove any oils and residue. A final check-over and the ring is ready for setting.

The diamond is set and the ring receives a final polish..............the ring is complete.