Bling

heirloom ring, in the sky
Originally uploaded by gailontheweb.

No, this is NOT my engagement ring. It's a stand-in ring, until we get our rings designed and finished by the jewellers in Wilkes-Barre.

Last week, David's mother gave us two heirloom rings. I'd love to be able to show the other ring, but I don't have a photo of it right now. Suffice to say, it's MUCH more *bling* than this one, and that's why I'm not wearing it. Think of a golden, jewel-encrusted tree sticking out of my knuckle, replete with branches. This one looks rather understated, by comparison...

This ring (left) gilding my left hand on Sunday's flight above Lake Wallenpaupack, belonged to David's grandmother, who passed away 20 years ago. It has a fair number of stones (more than 20) that can be put towards other jewellery, and more recently, I've been thinking we could use it (and the bling-bling ring) to make earrings and/or a necklace as well.

Last Friday we went to the jewellers with our Plan B, which was to select an engagement ring for me to take back to Vancouver. Initially, we were thinking of having David design the ring, but then we decided it would be a better idea for me to have it before I went to Vancouver this time. When we went to jewellers, none of the designs I viewed really stood out for me. By that time I had a basic concept in mind of how I wanted it to look, but nothing that was on display resembled it. I tried to explain it to the sales lady, but she didn't think they had anything similar to what I'd described. Thankfully, David caught on to what I was attempting to explain, and we decided then and there that we'd stick to our original plan of our own designs for the engagement and wedding rings. We gave her the two rings to see if they could be used towards new rings, and she said they'd be able to custom-craft them by Christmas if we submitted our designs in the next couple of weeks.

I don't have anything to show right now, but the material will be white gold, fashioned in the Art Nouveau style of Paris at the turn of the century. David's the one with the art degree, and has the knowledge of this period, which fits with what I'd had in mind for how the rings should look. My engagement and wedding rings will fit together, and be low-profile. (No doorknobs, thanks!) David's mum is so excited about the engagement ring, I joked that she should come along with us to the jeweller's... in the end, I'm glad we returned to our original idea instead of purchasing something from the display.