Fngrs-a-Rings-art

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Fngrs-a-Rings-art - 1/19/19

"Fingers and Rings" by Ld. Gerald Loosehelm. Why hand and finger configuration affect ring design.

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NOTICE -

This article was added to this set of files, called Stefan's Florilegium, with the permission of the author.

These files are available on the Internet at: http://www.florilegium.org

While the author will likely give permission for this work to be reprinted in SCA type publications, please check with the author first or check for any permissions granted at the end of this file.

Thank you,

Mark S. Harris...AKA:..Stefan li Rous

stefan at florilegium.org

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For more work by this author, see his website at: www.livingstonjewelers.com/aiglets.html

Fingers and Rings

by Lord Gerald Loosehelm

I made a comment on a post and it brought up a memory that I think is important for jewelers to realize.

I had commented "I have had women ask specifically for a woman to help her design a jewelry piece because men have no idea what to do when designing jewelry."

...

I will not bore you with that story as it is pretty stupid. But it does remind me of the time I helped a set of young students in love design her engagement ring.

The young lady had what I call classic "model hands". Size 7, long fingers that were very proportionate to her palms, and very well trimmed fingernails.

So we design a ring around the diamond they can afford (about 0.35 to 0.40 points as I recall) and have the jewelers make it. A simple bypass ring in yellow gold that works well with the lines of her hand. They declined approving the wax as they were out of town. It was a simple design anyways.

It comes out from the back a couple of weeks later and I QC it and call the client.

Long story short, they pick it up on a day I am not there. 2 weeks later, they come in and HATED IT!

I look at it on her hand, and I have to agree. It looked like crap.

Then I notice something. I ask her to put it on her right hand.

And the ring looks better. I go and grab my sketch book, pull out her sketch, and we discover that for whatever reason, the jeweler made it in a mirror image to the drawing. So I ask them to keep it for a week, wear it on the right hand and see how they like it.

Well, a week later, they come in and LOVE IT! So we remake the ring, switch the diamond to the new ring, put a colored gem in the old ring and put that in the jewelry case.

The clients are over the moon, have a story to tell, and the old ring sold within two weeks.

Now, after that long lead in, WHY did the ring look so bad the first time we made it?

Because the design did not fit the clients hand. Look at this picture I found on the 'Munsell Color Blog'. The first one.

Ok. Here is the list of things that are identical in this picture.

1. All of the hands belong to women.

That's it. Done.

Now, a partial list of differences that need to be considered when designing jewelry.

1. overall hand size

2. finger length (including length of phalanges)

3. palm width and width

4. left or right hand?

5. prevailing lines and curves made by the fingers and where they attach to the palms.

6. skin tones

7. knuckle size

8. wrist size

9. webbing between fingers

10. arm size

11. muscularity

12. number of fingers (and/or number of phalanges)

And these are things that need to be noted BEFORE you even start working with the client on what styles they like, gems, colors of gold, all of that other jewelry stuff.

The reason the clients ring looked so bad, is because it fought the natural lines of her hand visually and just made it look bad.

Many people (men and women) will try on rings, and know it does not look good, but will not be able to say why.

They just know when they try on a ring, that it jumps out at them and looks good. Most of the time the lines of the ring complement their hand. Hold your hands out. Notice that they are mirror images?

That is why there is a difference in stores for "bridal rings" and "right hand rings". Look at the second image that I overlaid with some simple lines Notice that while some are similar, no two hands are alike. These lines have to be considered when designing rings.

Go look at my sketches (look at my Facebook albums). Many of the designs repeat, but with subtle changes in the angles and designs.

Many times I have talked people into a smaller gem, or using side gems to accent curves knowing that they will like that design better than one big honking rock. Many times changing the shape of the gem helps as well.

What looks good on your friends hand, does not necessarily look good on yours. this is not a good or bad thing. It just is because you and your hands are unique.

So remember, when designing rings, take a closer look at the hand you are designing it for.

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Copyright 2019 by Gerald Livings. <loosehelm at yahoo.com>. Permission is granted for republication in SCA-related publications, provided the author is credited. Addresses change, but a reasonable attempt should be made to ensure that the author is notified of the publication and if possible receives a copy.

If this article is reprinted in a publication, please place a notice in the publication that you found this article in the Florilegium. I would also appreciate an email to myself, so that I can track which articles are being reprinted. Thanks. -Stefan.