Ruby Wedding Anniversary Jewellery - Handmade with Love
A Ruby Wedding Anniversary is a milestone that celebrates 40 years of marriage. It is a special occasion that deserves to be celebrated in a special way. Ruby, the traditional gemstone for a 40th anniversary, is known for its deep red color and symbolizes love, passion, and devotion. It is also believed to bring good fortune and protect the wearer from negative energy.
At Pretty Serendipity all of our anniversary jewellery is handmade. As soon as we receive an order, it is passed to one of our skilled silversmiths who start work on making a one-of-a-kind anniversary gift, entirely from scratch. All of our creations are handcrafted using traditional silversmith tools and equipment, giving our customers the satisfaction of knowing that their jewellery was made especially for them, by a skilled craftsperson and not a soulless machine, on an assembly line somewhere in China.
Our jewellery goes through many different stages during the handcrafting process and our skilled silversmiths put a lot of time and love into each step in this process. The story of how we make our jewellery is a long one, with many different large and small tasks, however to keep things simple (and too keep this blog post from resembling War and Peace) I will concentrate on outlining the most important stages that are involved in creating one of our unique 40th anniversary gifts - as shown below.
Measuring and Cutting
Depending of the particular item that has been ordered its component parts will all need to be measured out from different widths of either sterling silver, 14ct gold-filled or solid 9ct gold wire. Each component has a slightly different length and measurements have to be exact (down to the exact millimetre) in order for our jewellery to come out perfect, every time. We use precision measuring tools and a very fine saw blade to achieve this level of precision. The special meaning behind our 40th anniversary pendants comes from the fact that they are made from 4 separate rings - with each ring representing a different decade of marriage. So after we've measured out and cut 4 separate lengths of wire, we turn our attention into making that wire into actual rings.
Shaping and Rounding
Working with a series of hand tools, we bend and shape the wire until it roughly resembles a D-shape. We then use a combination of solder and flux to join the two ends of D-shaped wire together. Using a rawhide mallet we then gently hammer this newly created D-shaped component on a ring mandrel until they are perfectly round and conform to the correct sizing's for this particular product. When there are no visible gaps between the ring and the ring mandrel, it is safe to assume that the ring is completely round.
Hammering and Texturing
The rings are now formed and need to be textured in order to make sure that each one is slightly different from one another. We use a metal bench block and a combination of texturing hammers to create several different patterns and effects on the rings - that when finished - will make this particular piece of jewellery totally unique.
Connecting and Soldering
All the rings have now been individually handcrafted and now need to be interlinked to form the actual pendant. This process involves carefully cutting into each ring, connecting them together and once again soldering them closed. Special care needs to be taken to avoid putting a ring on the wrong way, if this happens the pendant won't quite sit-right when worn, and will therefore fail our stringent quality checking procedures.
Creating a Briolette
The attention now turns to the ruby that will have pride of place in the centre of the necklace. Taking a stone the jeweller will thread a thin silver wire through a purposely drilled hole in the top of the ruby. Using a pair of nylon-tip pliers and a considerable amount of skill and patience they will tightly wrap the wire around the stone numerous times before creating a loop to finish. A jump ring is then fed through the loop and the completed charm is soldered onto the necklace.
Sanding and Polishing
The pendant is now fully formed and ready for the cleaning and polishing stage. The silversmith will use a combination of different sized files and sandpaper grits to make sure all soldered joins are invisible to the eye and smooth to the touch. A buffing wheel in combination with several polishing compounds are then skilfully applied to give the finished piece the shiny, mirror-like finish that it truly deserves. Finally, a member of our packing team will measure out and cut an applicable length of chain based on the customer's specific requirements and attach a jump ring and clasp to either end, before finally attaching the sparkling new pendant.
And there you have it, in a nutshell, that's how we make our popular 40th wedding anniversary jewellery? A timeless and meaningful gift that is handmade with love and guaranteed to be cherished for a lifetime.
Click on the following link to see our full collection of Ruby Wedding Anniversary Jewellery >>
