How they are manufactured

The rings are manufactured exactly like fine jewelry.

In fact, most of the rings we manufacture are copied from the real thing. The process used is a casting process called “lost wax”. Briefly, a model is made from wax which is enclosed in a plaster-like substance. The wax is then melted, leaving an exact space or mold duplicating the model. Then molten brass is poured into every crevice of the mold creating the ring. The stones are then set into the ring and electroplated with 14K gold, or in the case of a silver-tone ring, rhodium. After a final polishing process, the rings are ready for sale.

We use only the best materials in the manufacturing of our rings.

All of our rings are made from brass as the base metal and are electroplated with a minimum of 20 mils of 14K gold or rhodium. Other companies use a lot of white metal as the base metal in both rings and other types of jewelry. For earrings and pins this is not as critical, but in rings it makes a tremendous difference. Rings made from white metal will feel light for their size, will bend and break and the prongs will not hold the stones. Also, white metal is porous and does not polish as well. White metal is cheaper than brass, so a lot of manufacturers are starting to use it in rings, especially those styles that are not hand set. They may look OK, but they will not wear well and if the stones are hand set, they will soon fall out.

We use only the highest quality of stones.

Over 75% of our stones are cubic zirconia. Other stones used are simulated pearls, genuine onyx, opal, tiger eye, abalone and Mother of Pearl, Swarovski crystal or the highest quality spinels.

We use hand set stones in every ring possible.

This means just what it says, each stone is handset into the ring with prongs (another term for this is “prong-set”). If you look closely, you can see that where there are prongs, the stones are handset. Cubic zirconia stones should always be handset as they are not foil backed, will not hold well with glue and you would see the glue through the stone. Even many of our pave looks are done in a version of handsetting called “nicking”, where cubic zirconias are handset using tiny beads at the edges instead of true prongs.

We use a lot of two tone plating.

Two tone plating generally has gold electroplate on the body of the ring and rhodium on the prongs or in areas of the ring to highlight the clear stones. Sometimes we use two tone plating in the reverse to make a contemporary statement. There are two additional steps in the plating process, where there is a primer hand applied to each area that will be rhodium plated, the ring is then gold electroplated, the primer removed and then the area is plated with rhodium. Many companies do not do this as it is a more expensive process with all the hand work, but it enhances the stones where it is used.

All rings are polished inside and out, smoothing out the rough edges. In our rings, the inside looks as good as the outside.