engagement ring metals
Gold - Platinum - Mokume Gane - Palladium
When making an engagement ring from scratch, your choice of metal is the first step in the design process. I recommend using one of the four precious metals listed above, and have listed brief descriptions of those metals below. Gold has been a favorite jewelry metal for thousands of years. It is one of few metals that is found pure in nature. Its malleability allowed ancient civilizations to create fantastic adornments. Today. . . little has changed. We use mostly 18k alloys of gold in my studio because of their superior color, workability, and higher gold content. I also enjoy using 22k or 24k gold for its rich color and softness, and resistance to oxidation for customers wishing to start from scratch by melting the gold and pouring an ingot themselves. Gold can be alloyed into multiple shades of color without losing its beauty and shine. The 18k gold alloy colors available to work with in our workshops are white, yellow, pink, red, green, and peach. 22k gold is available in green, yellow, and red. Each of these shades of gold have different working properties. White gold is the strongest of the alloys, and is the most popular of the golds used in engagement rings in my workshops. Red and pink golds are hardest, and a little more difficult to work with. Yellow gold, along with all of the high-karat alloys are very easy to work with because of their softness and superior malleability. In the past few decades, several mining companies have been neglectful of their workers, the environment, and the communities surrounding their mines. In response, a movement has begun to reduce the environmental impact of the use of gold in jewelry. More agressive recycling of gold along with monitoring mining companies' practices and educating consumers are the core of the movement. Eco-gold is the term used for gold obtained from low impact sources. Most often, it is recycled from old jewelry or scrap from jewelry manufacturers. Sometimes, it is obtained from mining companies that adhere to stricter standards. Most of the gold I use in my studio is eco-gold. If it is important that your gold wedding rings be made from eco-gold, tell me in advance so I can be sure that we purchase your metal from an eco-gold supplier. Eco-gold is available in all the shades listed above. There is no cost premium to use eco-gold. My favorite quality of platinum - and my customers agree - is the fantastic brightness it emits while brazing at 3000° Fahrenheit. Platinum is the most popular metal among my customers for engagement rings. The reason: most women consider platinum to be the optimum precious metal, especially here in New York. A platinum engagement ring is a little more durable than gold, and the prongs are a little stronger, making it an intelligent choice for holding an expensive diamond. Platinum prongs need re-tipping less often. Despite the romantic bonus of making her engagement ring with your own hands, y our friends and girlfriend will usually be more impressed that you made a PLATINUM ring vs. a gold one. On the down side, platinum's durability makes it more difficult to work with. A platinum engagement ring requires more hours of labor, and causes more wear and tear on tools. In addition to the higher price per ounce, platinum is heavier than 18k gold, requiring more weight for the same ring. Engagement rings often require very little metal, so the extra cost to use platinum is smaller than with wedding rings. For this reason, I highly recommend platinum for engagement rings. The prestige associated with platinum amongst women here in New York is worth the extra cost. If you think your girlfriend (and her family and friends) won't care about the prestige, don't bother with platinum. The durability and hypo-allergenic properties of platinum are minimally different from the other metals we can use in a workshop. Recycled platinum is available for those who are environmentally inclined. Our engagement rings are not plated with Rhodium. This is great stuff. A billet of fused layers of gold can be twisted and formed into amazing patterns. It has a life of its own and each finished ring is unique. The mokume billets available to us are: Yellow Gold & Palladium The cost of gold mokume gane is similar to the cost of platinum. The cost of the gold and silver mokume is similar to the price of 18k gold. We can make several patterns for your mokume gane engagement ring, including a star, random, seuss, and stripes at different angles. Each billet is hand made so each ring's pattern is unique. While we can usually create stars and stripes reliably, each billet is hand made, and the patterns will be slightly different with each ring. Palladium is a member of the platinum family of metals and has become widely available only in the last few years due to a sharp drop in price as compared to platinum. It was used for jewelry in the 1940's when platinum was unavailable for jewelry use. Palladium has a similar weight as silver and whiter color than either platinum or white gold. It is also harder than white gold, more scratch-resistant, and holds a terrific polish. It is hypoallergenic. While palladium is most similar to platinum, it is easier to work with and much less expensive. It is most commonly known for and used alloyed with gold to form high-quality white gold. Despite that palladium is nearly unheard of outside jewelry circles, it is an excellent precious metal. Its low cost makes it ideal for larger rings. Palladium's major disadvantage is that it absorbs nitrogen from the air when molten. For this reason, we cannot melt palladium and the solders we use to join parts of a ring does not match in color as well as the other metals we use. While the color difference is not dramatic, it is visible. For a heavy ring, it is well worth the cost savings. For a dainty engagement ring, it may be better to use platinum.
Silver is the whitest of the jewelry metals and holds the most brilliant luster when polished. The polish fades quickly with silver, and the addition of copper in sterling can result in tarnished jewelry over time. While rings that are worn regularly rarely tarnish, the copper in sterling makes silver rings slightly less comfortable than gold. While I love silver jewelry, I do not recommend silver for engagement rings. The silver for an engagement ring will cost less than $10, and it doesn't make sense to spend $850 for a workshop to make a $10 ring.
I occasionally get inquires about making titanium engagement rings. Titanium is not very malleable, so rings in titanium are usually machined, requiring much less hands-on workmanship. Many people have the misconception that titanium is the hardest, most durable metal. Titanium is extremely durable for its weight, but is much softer than steel and scratches very easily. While titanium rings look very nice when new, that finish typically does not last long.
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