Platinum

PLATINUM

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Platinum Crystals

Platinum is a rare element that came to Earth in meteorites and can be found in the Earth's crust and in larger amounts on the moon. It has been on this earth for billions of years, but was mostly likely discovered sometime around the 16th century. 

Antonio de Ulloa

One of the first writings about platinum came from Antonio de Ulloa, a Spanish general and explorer, who in 1748 reported finding a Colombian black sand, platina del Pinto or "little silver of the Pinto river" in his account of his journey on the French Geodesic Mission, an expedition with the goal of measuring the roundness of the Earth. In his account, he described Platinum as neither separable nor calcinable.

Platinum Ore

Unsure of what Platinum might be good for, scientists tried hammering it, heating it, and dissolving it into gold but nothing seemed to benefit them. For some time, it was discarded and banned by the Spanish trade authorities.

It wasn't until Charles III of Spain provided a laboratory to the scientist Pierre-François Chabaneau, that progress was made in realizing Platinum's true value.  The trouble was, Platinum contained six elements that would make the ore react in various ways when heated, hammered, or alloyed.  These six elements are ruthenium, rhodium, palladium, osmium, iridium, and platinum. Once he realized this, Chabaneau was able to produce pure platinum that he could form by heating and hammering. Because platinum was not fusible, but was malleable and strong, it became incredibly valuable. They put it to use creating commercial goods like utensils, which began the Spanish platinum age.

A 1919 Jeweler's Circular 

 reports excitement over platinum ban lift.

Platinum quickly became a precious metal, with a variety of uses. Its compatibility with the human body means it can be used to make pace makers and medicine. Many chemical processes cannot be performed without platinum as a catalyst. It is also used in computers, other electronics, and automobiles. During war time it was even banned from non-military uses.

The images below are just a few of the platinum pieces we carry in the shop: 

Edwardian Platinum, 18K Yellow Gold, and Diamond Ring

(SOLD)

Platinum Stackable Bands by Lori McLean

Platinum Pavé Diamond Engagement Setting 

by Max Bartashnik

Because of it's practical uses, platinum wasn't largely used to make jewelry until the late 19th century/early 20th century.  It is now 35 times rarer than gold and mined mostly in South Africa, Russia, and North America. Platinum's strength and weight make it ideal for heirloom jewelry. We encourage you to stop by the shop any time and take a peek!

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Lori's Pretty Sapphire Rings

Pretty sapphire rings by Lori McLean for the shop's own LMc Private Label collection!

I love sapphires because  even though the word sapphire comes from the Greek word sappheiros that means "blue stone" they actually come in almost any color you can imagine. The stones in the rings above are rectangle cabochons, meaning their top surface is shaped and polished rather than faceted.

The rings above to the left are emerald and ruby teardrops.  Rubies are really red sapphires, they get their red color from the higher amount of chromium they have in them which absorbs yellow-green light. The rings above to the right are all rubies or shades of red and pink sapphires.

  

I love the shades of blues in these rings. Some have rose gold bands, the contrast of the warm gold and cool stone is just enough contrast to be intriguing. Lori roughs up the bands so they have this really beautiful and interesting texture.

We love a few stacked together in different shades of the same color and with a different shape or two.  Stop by the shop and find your perfect combination!

How to Make a Ring

It's wedding season and Lori's been busy carving wax for wedding bands. We thought we'd show you how it's done.

The method we use is lost wax casting. That means first we have to carve the ring out of wax and then send it to the caster who replaces the wax with metal.

First, you slice a ring of wax from a long wax tube. This should be a bit bigger than the width you'd like the ring to be.

These are the wax rings ready to be carved down into the shape of the ring to be cast.

This electric tool helps to grind away the top of the ring quickly.

When the wax form is getting closer to the size you want it to be, you use less aggressive tools like a hand file. See all the pink shavings!?

The inside of the ring is a size five, so you have to use this sizer with a blade to slowly carve out the center of the ring until you reach the size that you'd like.

It's important to carve away all sides evenly to slowly arrive at the perfect size, width, and height. There are finer tools that resemble dentists tools and picks that allow you to add detail to your ring or to smooth out the surface of a plain band. Anything you can carve into the wax can be carved!

When you're finished, you have a wax version of the ring ready to be sent to the casters. When it comes back you must cut off the sprue (a metal bit left over from where the molten metal was poured into the mold) and polish the metal.

In the end, you may have something like this platinum wedding band by Lori McLean herself!

Hello!

At Lori McLean, we like jewelry made by hand. We like the stories behind beautiful objects. We like writing with pens and paper. We are a little bit old school.

Maybe the thought of a computer was a little intimidating, but now that we have it we're blending the digital and the hand made and realizing what great things we can accomplish, like our very first BLOG.

The blog is our way to involve you in our daily conversations, the facts we discover about jewelry, the history behind the vintage pieces that come in, the trends we are excited about, and the little stories and conversations that fill up Lori McLean's jewelry shop.

We hope you'll follow our blog when you need a little jewelry fix. We'll be posting images from the shop: the new items that come in and selections from our ever changing vintage collection. Stay tuned for a post on vintage charms and Lori's fabulous trip to Paris! Ou La La.