wedding bands: a reflection on marriage

Coming from seemingly opposite backgrounds (Africa and the Canadian West Coast vs. the East Coast), with different strengths (one enjoys gathering the ingredients, and the other putting it together), the goal for these bands design was to represent the couples relationship and their destination.

The imagery of a triangle, with the couple at the lower apices and God at the pinnacle, represents the means through which a couple make spiritual progress as central to their union: “they draw closer together as they each draw closer to God.”

a uniting center

Together these bands illustrate the unique diversity and strength of each individual through the various materials, but more importantly they make an allusion to their relationship and their Creator: on each end is an imperfect, rough, and unfinished band of blackened , separated by curves drawn from the Greatest Name, a symbol in the Baha'i Faith connected to its Founder, Baha’u’llah. In between the two fields of black, is rose gold with a highly polished finish, an allusion to the perfection and grandeur of God.

As the couple progresses, so too will the blackened silver. Through wear and “tear”, the surface will naturally become marred, exposing the reflective silver underneath.

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numerical relations

The rings are also linked numerically: the ratio between the metals in each ring are approximately 1:3, and sum of the average height of the gold and that of the silver are related to the overall heights of each ring.

CURVATURE STUDIES

Every aspect of these bands have been methodically planned, from the use of materials and their finishes, to the curved boundaries separating the two halves of the rings.

Wax Models

Four individual ring pieces were hand carved

Post-Casting

Two silver and two 10 karat rose-gold forms were produced from the wax models

Dry-Fitting

To ensure gaps were minimized, the halves were test-fitted and filed down

Soldering

Using hard silver solder to ensure a strong seam

Post-Soldering

Soldered bands ready for finishing

Rough-Finishing

The first step was to remove the excess material left from the sprues, and rough filing and sanding to give and bands an even finish

Finishing

Using 600+ grit sand paper and a variety of buffing compounds, the bands were given a high polish finish prior to oxidizing the silver

creating the bands: gallery

With most projects taking advantage of newer technologies, such as 3-dimensional construction and printing, and laser soldering, the making of these bands were fully made by hand using the lost-wax method, with each ring half cast separately due to the different materials (silver and rose gold) used.