My fiancé and I have been very fortunate that our families gifted us rings; one from his grandma was "planned" and used by my fiancé to pop the question, so to speak. The second ring was a surprise gift from my grandmother upon hearing we would be redesigning the original ring, who wanted to offer us a piece to include in the final design. Suffice it to say, this piece of jewelry has had a rather emotional and significant meaning from the start.
Our jeweler allowed us to design a ring from scratch... but because I know nothing about ring design I chose to revamp a model they had in the store already. The experience began with the jeweler creating a three-dimensional CAD (computer-aided design) drawing of the new ring with computer software. The design was approved and eventually brought to life through - of course - a 3D printer! This piece was printed to confirm the style was correct, the size was roughly right, and also, I assume, to pump up my excitement that the new ring was almost ready.
Unfortunately, I wasn't able to keep the 3D-printed ring because it served a very functional purpose beyond hyping me up: it was melted during casting. Much like the centuries old technique of lost-wax casting, my plastic ring gave way to a golden version. I'm so grateful for the experience of designing my ring, in which technology played a huge part.
Thanks for sharing your awesome process and connecting it to our class. Its so great to be able to design your own ring. We are in a time we can customize everything to our liking and taking more control over our futures.
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