Fiore d'Inverno ring in silver with citrine quartz, single shank

How it is made

The words of the trade, one by one, explained to those who do not know them.

01

Corolla from a single sheet

The corolla is not an assembly of petals: it is a single sheet, hollowed into a shallow cup and left irregular at the rim, with the folds running out from the center. The wavy rim is not corrected twice — silver once stretched does not come back — so the first fold is the one that stays. In the middle of the cup is the one point that has to stay flat: it is the seat of the stone, and if the cup has moved there the setting will not sit.

02

Sandblasting

A jet of very fine sand takes the shine off the metal and makes it velvety to the touch. Here it is used on the inside, against the rim left polished.

03

Citrine

Citrine is quartz, the same mineral species as rock crystal and amethyst: what changes is only how much iron it has in it and how that iron sits in the lattice. Naturally occurring yellow is rare, and most of the citrine on the market is born amethyst and turns yellow in the kiln — a stable treatment, declared in the gem trade, that cannot be told by eye. At the seventh degree of hardness it stands up to daily wear better than almost any other colored stone; but the same firing that gives it its color can also take it away, and a strong, continuous light or the heat of a nearby flame will drain it. Yellow that goes does not come back.