The Bunny Engagement Ring



failed X-ray of pearl by the local Dentist

. . . Angela doesn't wear rings and all I had to go on was her PETA necklace to the left (she’s bunny obsessed), and that she liked pearls. So a small ring with a pearl and some bunnies would be perfect. Once traditional engagement rings were pearl, back when the only pearls were wild, natural pearls (99% of pearls today are cultured, beads coated with pearl nacre, see the wikipedia article). Finding a natural pearl wasn’t easy (many jewelers had never even seen one) but after a long search I found Pearl Paradise and Richard Shaw (both of which I highly recommend). They both independently priced their wild pearls very consistently (about $300-$400 per carat). I selected a “button shaped” pearl at Pearl Paradise since I wanted a ring that was low profile and it was the perfect size and had a high luster. To the left is a photo of the pearl I selected next to a round cultured pearl. I really wanted to get an x-ray showing the rings and it turns out none of the labs, GIA or EGL ect., provide one so I ended up at my dentist. As you can see this didn’t work out and it looks more like a UFO sighting (it turns out the x-ray has to be tuned just right, which is probably why the labs don‘t provide one).
. . .. . I‘ve never made jewelry but figured the personal touch would be worth the risk. I used a product called precious metal clay, or PMC (finely ground silver in a binder). It can be sculpted or pressed into molds. Once fired in a kiln it shrinks 15% and
Button shaped allowed for a lower profile
becomes pure silver (which I could then have platinum plated). I wanted two bunnies with their ears holding the pearl in place. I sculpt-ed a crude earless bunny in sculpy and made a silicone mold (using “amazing mold putty”). I pressed PMC into the mold and fired it.
I then cleaned up the best casting and added a sculpy shape I could later form into ears. In all I made three molds resulting in a fourth generation which was 63% the size of the original (which was good since I don’t have steady hands and could not have sculpted that small). The third picture below shows the first casting (2nd generation) next to the last (5th generation) showing the shrinkage.
To make the ring I wrapped some sculpy around a highlighter where it was 18.6mm, this would shrink to the 16mm size I needed.
I cleaned up the sculpy once it’d been hardened and then made a mold of it, pressed PMC into that mold and let it dry.
One the PMC was dry I sanded it and added a taper. I used a little water to attach the two bunnies and it was ready for the final firing.
The final casting turned out great at 16mm. I used my small shop with a rotary tool, files, razors and sandpaper to clean up the ring.
I now needed to make room for the pearl. Normally pearls are drilled and stuck on a metal post. I didn’t want to drill the pearl since this seemed destructive and wrong. I also wanted to be able to remove the pearl to have it platinum plated. So I ground and filed out a space the size and shape of the pearl just large enough for it to fit in through one side but not the other.
Once the pearl was in a little silicone gasket held it in place. I am waiting to have the ring platinum plated and finally polished once I know it fits right and doesn’t need alterations (I used my own pinky to guestimate her ring size). Below is the pearl backlit.
Finally here is the ring in it's close to finished state as it was when I proposed. It is still a bit rough and has some pitting I hope to fill in.
(The last 8 pictures enlarge) I put the ring in a drawer I made in a dollhouse wardrobe and wrapped it up with the other christmas gifts.
She said yes. Once she's had a chance to wear it for a week I'll remove the pearl, do a final polish and send it to be platinum plated.