Fantasy Ring

www.DGZstudios.com

This ring will always be a special piece for me, this is the combination of fancy cut stone with the superb goldsmithing work. This was a challenge from the sketching stages all through the casting and finishing process, it was all worth it.

This magnificent ring features a 12X9mm Fantasy Cut Trillion Amethyst set in hand made 14K yellow gold head with a fish tail claw on one side and a long bar on the other side. The head itself touches the top of the wearer's finger so it has been crafted to contour the shape of the finger.

The half tubular shank is casted in 14K white gold in a U shape with both ends accented with 4mm cabochon Mozambique Garnets in a bezel setting integrated to the shank.
Such an amazing ring with all the necessary mix of beauty and sophistication.

TVDS-Tannis' Ring-Sophistication Personified

Describing this piece and just looking at it on photographs will not give you the full appreciation of this STUNNING piece. It will always be a special piece for me, since I can truly say that it is one technically magnificent piece, I've created a lot more technical pieces than this but this is a combination of different techniques to transfer it from paper to gold. My wax moulds probably surpass this in terms of complexity of design but this engagement ring and jacket set is the most challenging in terms of manufacturing. It is not mere casted out, fusing the yellow and white gold panels was quite a challenge, fitting the engagement ring into the jacket was quite a challenge as well since the bottom shank is near double the width of the shoulders(most rings taper down but this one tapers up).

GORGEOUS piece... the only piece I've crafted that would need an instruction card, the engagement ring only fits one way into the jacket. One of the wonders that simply can't be illustrated on photos... or through mere description. You just have to see it!

This gorgeous ring is one of the most technically demanding piece I have ever designed. This is a 6 piece casting engagement ring and wedding band set, the engagement ring is featuring a 1.00ct princess cut diamond set in a white gold elaborate cut out base head with a yellow gold shank. The real feature of this set is the 4 piece casting full jacket wedding band, it starts out with 10 separate pieces comprised of 2 yellow gold panels, 2 white gold(2 sets of two tone panels where made by joining these yellow and white gold panels), hand crafted tubings bridges the 2 separate sides and 4 hand crafted white gold screw accents to complete the superb finish.

AB-superb technical marvel

This is probably one of my truly breathtaking concepts ever, I actually challenged myself to show my client that I can deliver stunning designs that she is used to from another premier design house in the city. And at the end of it all she was quite impressed and came for another piece to be created.

One of things the client was looking for, was something truly amazing, and what is more amazing than a one of a kind hand crafted piece by DGZdesigns. We created a jacket to match her existing white gold engagement ring with multi-stones in the sides, it was quite a challenge since the existing ring has a specific design aspect. Swirly on the one side and a more boxy shaped on the other, with the center diamond set in the middle. So making a jacket on a 2 completely different shaped sides would be for sure a challenge but the finished product is such a display of wearable art both technically and beauty.

The piece started out with a hand cut wax impression from my goldsmith that I later on re-cut to be closer to the initial concept. The goldsmith doubted that the wax can be cutted to the actual sketch so I re-cut his wax and achieved the final mould to be used. Set with 2 .07ct RBC diamonds on either side would give this jacket just enough brilliance to complement the diamonds on the engagement ring. One of the diamonds is set on a channel to continue the boxy shape on that side and the other diamond was set in a half bezel to compliment the swirl on the opposite side. The design was accented with a signature touch of treated blue diamonds on the bottom shank, joining the 2 sides.

This would always be one of my favorite pieces due to the true artwork that was created.

The Canadian Pair

I am featuring more and more of my designs here on my blog.

This gorgeous pair of Canadian diamonds earrings in a swirl pattern is secured by an Omega back to provide unrivalled comfort and security while being worn.

Sourcing Canadian diamonds is absolutely fun, calling multiple suppliers to find just the exact stones I need.

The pride of designing a piece incorporating Canadian stones is always a pleasure. This 1 piece swirl casting(each earring) that provided the tension setting for the diamond then attached to the Omega backs, this simple yet very elegant design gave the client the perfect diamond solitaire pair she always dreamed of.

www.DGZstudios.com

My First Wax Model casted in gold-AB2

Learning new things is certainly fun, and with this piece I learned to cut wax moulds.

My client came to see me and challenged me to create a new ring that would match two of her existing rings. She doubted that it can even be done and she told me that there's no pressure if I can't come up with a concept. I started my usual pencil sketches and came up with a few different concepts but I wasn't really satisfied with the sketches. It just wasn't detailed and precise enough, so I tried a different medium...wax tubes. I started cutting my model with an exacto knife and shaping it quite slowly with sandpapers. I came with a very unique and cutting edge design with my new medium, it would have been near impossible to draw it.

She was so happy with my concept and proceeded with the casting process and this magnificent ring was created.

This is a one piece casting construction in yellow gold featuring 3 diamonds on the side for accents and a .15ct RBC on the corner of the table of the ring. The ring construction itself is truly unique, with the wavy shank and faceting on the shank and ring top to match the contours of her rings.

Beautiful with or without the other two of her rings, I actually love it when it was still in wax and LOVED it way more when it was finally casted in gold.

After this ring, I've added model maker to my resume with 3 waxes casted into finished pieces and half a dozen wax models ready for casting.

Flowing brilliance

I love designing new pieces from client's older jewellery and the joy to see the client's reaction when they see their new piece.

This piece features all the client's materials from her old pieces of jewellery, redesigned DGZ style. A beautiful multi diamond yellow gold pendant, featuring round brilliant cut diamonds and 2 marquis cut diamonds at each tip.

www.DGZstudios.com

Elegant Sophistication, manufacturing genius!

This is a bit over due... but I would like to feature one of the most sophisticated design I have ever conceived. It was too complex that my full detailed multi angle sketch wasn't enough to convey my vision to my goldsmith. I ended up cutting the wax model myself to avoid any surprises.

This ring features a gorgeous Ceylon Blue Sapphire as the main stone and diamond accents all through out the ring. Multiple casting to fully separate the white gold and yellow gold areas(it could have been casted in 2 pieces instead of 4, but we have to rhodium plate the white areas) 12 0.02ct RBC diamonds around the Sapphire and a 0.27ct RBC Canadian diamond on the white gold side.

Gorgeous ring and truly one of a kind piece, another one of my personal favorites. Visit my designing website to view more of my creations.

www.DGZstudios.com

No clear skies today at Clear Lake

Clear Lake was a place I always wanted to go to, my sister keep talking about how nice it is there...yada yada yada...

Was it as nice as how she described it??? Well for me... I think Clear Lake is nice but not as how my sister described it. Maybe because the weather wasn't too flattering for the place that day...maybe.

The sky was a little bit gloomy and the water scene just didn't look "picture perfect" without the nice vibrant blue skies. The heavy clouds just made the scene quite dull but I have to work with what I have since it's a 3.5hr drive to get there and it's not like I can just go there the next day.

I have to say that I didn't shoot as many film frames as I did digitally but at the end I ended up with a few really amazing photographs. With my really busy schedule designing, when sometimes trade off my days off to meet with the goldsmiths, I learned to make most of what I have(in terms of weather). The "right light" is hard to achieve when you don't get to choose when to head out for a photoshoot, I work with gloomy days, harsh light and work my way around them to create my photographs. Clear Lake would have been a lot more picturesque if the right skies was there but none the less I love the photographs I created...a different mood to it.

Trip coming up!!!

I am getting too anxious to get through this week, I am leaving for Los Angeles this Saturday, 7/26/08. And it looks like I will be caught up with quite a bit of work ahead before my last day this Friday, a new design client came in for an initial design consultation that could be a very exciting project. It will for sure keep me busy and not think about the trip too much!

Oh well.... this trip is quite fun since we will be passing through South Dakota to see Mount Rushmore and on to Salt Lake City, Utah then Las Vegas and final destination Los Angeles. Most of my travels have been a bit more local and to get a chance to see new places is always a treat. The last couple of weeks we ventured to Rushing River in Ontario and Clear Lake in Manitoba.


Too excited and confused on the equipment to bring, I am planning to shoot mostly film for this trip but my Nikon lens line up is not as good as my Zuiko/Leica glass for my Olympus... But I was also planning on bringing along my Nikon D2Xs to accompany my Nikon F5 film body...but I just hate cleaning my D2Xs' sensor. I am settling on bringing my Olympus E330's instead for this trip. I will still bring my Nikon F5 for my film shots...still thinking if I should. ;-)

Getting too stuck up on gear seems quite confusing at times, I started to shoot 35mm film again just quite recently due to the fact that I am getting too backed-up with all the albums I have to edit and post on the web. It's too much work to shoot digital, it was suppose to be convenient but trust me with my 10 albums delayed(all personal shoots around Winnipeg), it doesn't look too convenient at all. Sure you can be all relax and keep taking shots and delete bad ones but in my opinion film is a saving grace... I go to Photocentral and drop off my roll and the next day I enjoy my photos...simple! Scan then post on the web.

One thing that I always taught myself is that I always make all my shot count, digital or film... with film with the 36 exposures I have(I use consumer films...I don't shoot for anyone so consumer films are more than what I need), I end up with 20-24 really good ones, since I plan my shots ahead of time and tend to be more careful and not waste a frame. Actually a very good waste of my F5's 8 frames a second and high speed auto focus...since I manual focus most of the time and always a single shot at a time.

WELCOME!

WELCOME TO MY BLOG!!!!!!!!

I will try to keep it as interesting as it can possibly be, I am no superhero and certainly not a high paid celebrity...just a regular guy that earns his meal through art. I design jewelry for a living, a fun and very exciting job that pays enough to fuel my expensive hobbies, collecting watches, building sound systems...and photography.

I love what I do and I would like to share some of the behind the scenes of my life, I get too busy with a lot of things and I enjoy every bit of it!