Wedding Band- Design Process

It all starts with a to-scale sketch, depicting size, width and karat, type/colour of metal.  Second image shows my melting tools, crucible, ingot mold-oxygen/propane torch not visible but very important! Third image is the 18kt yellow gold ingots, one for the centre wire detail and the wider one for the inner sleeve.  That tiny "Nibs" looking piece of white metal is platinum.  This will be used for the outer rails which will be hammered.  Rolling out the metal with my trusty rolling mill, which has one side for plate and the other for square wire.  The rollers adjust up or down to control thickness/gauge.  I then measure the length of material I will need for a size 10 ring and proceed to cut with a saw frame.  I then stamp the karat of metal along with my hallmark stamp, in this case, 18kt and platinum with my HB logo.  Bending the ring and soldering, then hammering it round and to the correct size.  I proceed to do the same with the outer elements, two platinum, hammered rails with a centre piece of 18kt yellow.  The ring is actually comprised of four separate pieces which I assemble and then solder.  Finally, the finished ring.  I will take a proper picture with my digital camera and macro lens.  All the pictures here were taken with my iphone and one-handed as I tried to capture the process of making a typical wedding band. Hope you enjoyed!

Here are some photos of the ring taken with my digital camera and macro lens.  I think it is a very elegant wedding band.