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RING STYLES
Band Style Rings: Wedding and Committment Bands
This simple 14kt gold hammer textured band with wavy argentium silver line flush soldered to its surface is actually Pam's wedding band. The silver lne, can, of course, vary from that shown. Rings like this start at $350.
We were contacted by a couple who had met on the internet and done their best to arrange as much as of their marriage ceremony as they possibly could on the internet. They lived on a couple of hors from us and we were honored to perform their wedding ceremony, in a really beautiful botanical garden in Gainesville, Florida. They designed the rings, which were a pair of sigils.The two sigils, one hers, one his, were cut from gold sheet, rounded, and flush soldered to sterling silver bands. These rings cost $800, plus the design charge.
Click to EnlargeOne of the couples we married in 2004 came to New Smyrna Beach from New Orleans. The groom, Henri Montegut, is our tattoo artist, and a truly great one at that. He and I designed the rings together. Unfortunately soon after he left we slammed by 4 hurricanes, one of which destroyed half our apartment. You all know what happened to New Orleans the next year. Henri, fortunately, and his beautiful wife Kayce, are both fine and he's back in business.
Check out Henri's work here!
This and the next ring were for the marriage of one of my closest friends. Pam and I performed the ceremony, in a fine New Orleans mansion on the edge of the Vieux Carre. Both the bride and groom are artists and they came over to New Smyrna Beach and spent a day with us. designing the rings and developing their marriage ceremony. The theme of the rings was crescents.
My friend is a carpenter, and architect, and a builder. He needed a ring that would look better the worse he treated it. I made a thick band of 14 kt white and yellow gold using a technique known as married metal. You'll note the crescent moons can be seen on the inside as well as the outside of the rings. These rings were a gift to him and his bride. He's one of the most generous people I've ever known. So I really have no idea how much I'd charge for rings like this. A lot!
Since we specialize in symbols a popular idea has been to create wedding bands and committment rings with symbols the couple chooses to represent their interests and wishes. Kanji, Hebrew, Sanskrit and Runic letters are also popular.
When my customer said that he and his wife wanted rings with seven symbols I really did not think that there would be room. Seven is probably the maximum for small size rings, though.The ring is 14 kt gold, about 2 mm thick and 8 mm tall. This image shows the kanji symbol, one of the seven symbols on the ring.
Here's the Wheel of Fire.
I like using rims on wedding rings, although they're not always appropriate. This view shows the Utchat, or Eye of Horus.
This view shows both a Tibetan style Aum and a Hexagram.
Finally, this is a Native merican Medicine Wheel.
Here are the two rings side by side. This type of variance in size is not unusual but it also shows why rings like this must be made by custom jewelers, and by hand. The bride's ring switched a sun and crescent moon for Mjollnir, Thor's Hammer. You can estimate $1250 and up for a pair of rings like this.
One of our customers was a Greatful Dead fan. He particularly wanted the Steal Your Face symbol on his ring. This ring cost $800.
Another popular idea is to include a fine gemstone as part of the ring. In this case a sapphire. The couple who commissioned these rings were Jewish and Hmong. HLUB is the Hmong for love.
You can see the design for this ring on this page.
The back of the ring had a Celtic knot on either side of a heart. The knotwork, letters and rim are all high shine, the band itself is textured.
Here you can see the Hebrew on the other side of the ring. The sapphires are high quality faceted stones. These rings, with stones, cost $1200 for the pair.
The color difference between this ring and the others are due to the light.
This is single Tibetan Knot, soldered to a wide band, with a central stone (in this case lapis). Rings like this, depending on the stone, run $225. Further down the page this style ring is also shown in 18 kt gold, and as an engagement ring with an emerald.
The Tibetan Knot, repeated in this design four times around the band of an argentium silver ring, is a popular symbol, incorporating the themes of enlightenment, karmic binding, commitment, and continuity. This ring costs $275.
This was a wedding ring for the groom (the bride chose a more traditional style), a ring with two double tibetan knots, a lotus with a cabochon ruby, and a dorje in 14kt gold soldered to the textured sterling silver band. A similar ring would run$400-$600.
In Japanese Buddhism marriage is considered to last three incarnations. As all Buddhists know, nothing is permanent, but three lifetimes seems pretty long! A simpler style gold on silver Tibetan Knot Band is considerably less expensive than the emerald style above. This is 18 kt gold on sterling silver and sold for $400.
Now here's a ring I couldn't have done before 2005. The ring is a simplified Tibetan Knot, repeated around the band to which it is flush soldered. Each opening within the knots is just over a millimeter square. The ring is 7 mm wide. This ring was the man's ring. The couple are American Tibetan Buddhists and were married in a Tibetan Temple in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
The project was really 3 rings: the bride's engagement ring, which I wanted to fit into the wedding band, plus the groom's ring. Here you see her ring, with a square emerald and a large Tibetan Knot fitting into her band. The total for all three rings ran about $1750. We were delighted to receive a DVD of their wedding, their honeymoon in Venice, and the visit of the Dalai Lama to Boston!.
This ring repeats four Tibetan Aums and four Tibetan Knots around the band. This ring, which was a size 12, cost $1100.
Click to EnlargeThis engagement ring is part of a set featuring Aums and Lotuses. The spectacular tsavorite garnet is an appropriate color for an Aum. This is high shine 14kt yellow gold on a textured argentium sterling silver band.
The band from the Om Lotus set features lotuses and aums flush soldered to a textured 6.5 mm wide band. This means these elements are less than 1/4 of an inch in diameter.
Here's another view of this band, showing the lotuses.
Finally here is the set. The two rings are designed to be worn together. Their total width is a little over 1/2 inch. We left a section of the wedding ring without a lotus so the aum could fit over it. The set, with design fee, cost around $1000 but as always the price depends on size, materials and complexity.
