Blog

Now that my piece of jewellery is made, before it is set with the stones and polished it has to be sent to the Edinburgh Assay Office for testing and hallmarking. Every piece is tested for purity and will not be hallmarked if it fails.  For instance if I were to use 9ct gold and 18ct gold together then the piece would be marked as the lower purity of 9ct. Before it goes off to the Assay Office every piece of jewellery has to be marked by me with my unique mark – in my case it is JT...

Once the piece has been tested, passed and fully hallmarked then I can set the stones.  No glue used here!  It is vital that when I have made the settings I have been really accurate.  Too big and the setting can look uneven and cover too much of the stone, too small and it simply will not fit!  Trying to encourage a stone to fit into a setting that is too small or not quite the right shape will always end in tears!!   To hold the stones the metal is pushed over onto them to keep them in place...