Hi welcome to the Roberts & Co London channel in future I would like to make some videos
behind the scenes videos showing how I actually manufacture my collection but this isn't going
to be a piece for my collection it is actually a one off it is my girlfriends Christmas present
I'll be using a piece of eighteen carat rose gold one point five millimetre diameter wire
a piece of sheet eight millimetres square by two millimetres think again eighteen carat
rose gold and this two millimetre diameter diamond there are currently lots of pictures
and images of star rings in the style magazines she reads but none of the deigns were exactly
what she was looking for so by having her describe the features she did like and the
parts of the design she didn't like I've managed to build up an image in my mind of a design
I think she will like most of the eighteen carat and diamond rings use very text book
geometric stars and she wanted one that was more asymmetrical or twinkle twinkle little
star as she described it so I've drawn an asymmetrical star on a piece of paper stuck
it to the sheet and I'am simply going to cut it out using a piercing saw and files most
designers you will see penning really elaborate drawings before they do any of this I realised
very early on designing jewellery on paper then making it was not the way I was going
to work paper and pens don't work for me in the way precious metals and gems do unless
of coarse sketches help the conversation for commissions I have to make the piece without
any drawings and then when it is finished make technical drawings in case I nee to recreate
the piece later and as there are no drawings I can change the design as I go I often think
of ways to improve the design in my mind as I work my pieces evolve and this way is not
the way most people work but it suits me much better OK so the star is made I just need
to drill a hole and burr out the setting for the diamond I'll use a steel tapered Mandrell
called triblet to form the wire into a ring I'll get the perfect round ring shape so I
can cut the metal to size but then I will probably solder it together slightly oval
that is just so I can get a perfect flush joint once it is soldered together I can put
it back in the round using the triblet and mallet again OK so not the ring is ready to
solder together it is slightly oval that is just so I get a perfect joint once it is soldered
together I will then make it round again and then solder the ring to the star it is only
a small ring so a basic little jewellers soldering torch will have enough killer-watts to get
this up to the temperature about seven or eight hundred degrees centigrade required
to melt the gold solder it is important to cover the ring and especially the joint in
flux before applying any heat I'am using a liquid flux designed for gold soldering and
then I'am going to position a small amount of gold solder on the joint and I'am actually
going to use slightly more than I would if I was just soldering the ring together because
I'am going to solder the star on at the some position I'll switch the bench light off before
applying the heat it is much easier to get a sense of temperature through the colour
of the metal in dim lighting once the joint on the ring is soldered together I'll then
clean it up to remove a lot of the oxide produced by the heat so I can then solder it to the
underside of the star using the clamps on the soldering table to hold the ring upright
while the star is face down on the soldering block obviously this is not a how to or a
tutorial for any of these techniques it is simply a walk through the techniques I'll
use to manufacture a ring if you think tutorial videos or how to videos would be interesting
then leave me a note in the comments below on the techniques that you think would be
useful if it would prove popular maybe I could add a tutorial section to the channel OK so
now I have the star soldered to the top of the ring and I've drilled and ground out a
setting for the diamond to fit into OK so now I'am going to use a graver to raise small
beads of gold over the diamond it will also simultaneously engrave lines up to the diamond
so I will do it in line with the points of the star to accentuate the star shape once
the ring was soldered together it was cleaned and polished just to remove any oxides but
once it is set it will need cleaning again and polishing to a mirror finish I'am actually
wearing a headband magnifier to do this setting so that I can see what I'am doing when I started
out I used to use these for all my settings but I now use a microscope the only reason
I'am not using the microscope now is because when it swings out over the bench it gets
in the way of the camera so once I've finished setting the diamond I'll then need to clean
and polish it and also before this ring could be legally sold in the UK it will require
a hallmark my makers marks are registered with the Goldsmiths company assay office here
in London so all my hallmarking is done here in London but there are also offices in Birmingham
Sheffield and Edinburgh I believe so here we have the diamond set asymmetrical star
ring made of eighteen carat rose gold