Ring by Sam Patania
This beautiful garnet came form my favorite source for colored stones, Jeff Graham, www.faceters.com . Jeff would stop by every week and tempt me with his stone of the week. These stones were cut by Jeff himself and he would cut them to test a new design so I had first crack at many of original designs. Jeff taught me so much during these weekly gem shows. I am forever spoiled for good cutting and pass that on to anyone who will sit for a minute. So many gem stones are poorly cut which is a misuse of good material. Many stones are poorly cut to hide the fact that they are bad material. I don’t have a problem with poor cuts and poor material as long as they are priced appropriately. For my art work I prefer Jeff’s stones.
I had this ring design in mind months before I actually sat down to make it. I don’t know where it came from, probably a desire to make an off center ring. A trillion shaped stone would usually be pointed down the finger for symmetry sake which is exactly why I didn’t do it. I wanted to put an accent stone with this garnet and diamond is the best for accents.
I carved this ring in wax and had it cast for me by Stuller. I had it cast in Cobalt Platinum 950 alloy which was new to me at the time. Making this in wax gave me the ability to have the design flow around the stones. I was apprenticed as a fabricator so casting is not second nature to me. My default when approaching a project is to fabricate. Many times it clicks into my head that a piece would be better cast only after I decide I can’t fabricate it and many times after I decide I won’t do the project at all.
I included this ring design with out the diamond in my Patania Collection where they look fantastic stacked with several colors. The Arizona Inn carries many of my Patania Collection pieces. Look for the Arizona Inn contact information on my “About Patania” page.
I call these rings “BriTri” which is an abbreviation for Brilliant Trillion. These rings are in sterling silver and set with ( from left to right) Blue Topaz, Amethyst and Rose de France Amethyst.
{ 0 comments… add one now }