Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

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Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 2:17 pm

Hi everyone, this is my followup to my ring posted here:
http://www.pricescope.com/forum/show-me-the-ring/beyond-happy-my-victor-canera-french-cut-re-mount-t155242.html

I was really inspired by a post made earlier on this board by a New Zealander who showed how their ring was hand fabricated from scratch. I was researching for a jeweler to hand make a re-mount for my 2ct round. I started speaking to my jeweler; Victor Canera @ www.victorcanera.com after I saw a couple of his hand made pieces were posted here. His passion for hand made jewelry impressed me the most. I had him promise to take pictures of the making of my ring to get my order.

So without further ado...

Attachments

: All hand made jewelry starts with ingots of metal, in this case platinum that will be later melted.; 20.jpg (160.39 KiB) Viewed 2404 times

Last edited by Angietaren on January 19th, 2011, 2:36 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 414

Love Street

Joined: March 29th, 2003, 12:18 pm

by Love Street » January 19th, 2011, 2:23 pm

Oh good!!! How cool that you and the jeweler documented this - I can't wait to see pix of your gorgeous ring in various stages of "construction"!

<hitting refresh - refresh - refresh... >

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 2:25 pm

Part 2

: Here the platinum ingots have been melted.; 21.jpg (167.83 KiB) Viewed 2392 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 2:27 pm

Pt. 3

: The melted platinum is run through a rolling mill to give it a uniform shape.; 22.jpg (153.55 KiB) Viewed 2391 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 2:33 pm

Pt.4

: The pulled platinum plate is drawn through decreasingly gauged thickness in a "draw plate" or strainer to bring it to the required thickness. This wire will be used for the prongs to hold your center stone.; 23.jpg (94.65 KiB) Viewed 2386 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 2:35 pm

Pt.5

: The wire is now cut to the required lengths. Since you ordered double wire prongs, we'll need 8 separate wires.; 24.jpg (161.1 KiB) Viewed 2385 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 2:43 pm

Pt.6

: To make the prongs more dainty we've made them graduated at the base. In other words, it's not the same gauge from top to bottom. It's not required, just a nice touch to make the ring more attractive.
P.S. Sorry for being out of focus. Didn't realize until afterwards.; 25.jpg (147.35 KiB) Viewed 2378 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 3:00 pm

Pt.7

: Here we've sawed out two circles in different diameters from another plate of platinum. These will serve as the top and bottom cups of the center basket.; 28.jpg (165.5 KiB) Viewed 2363 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 34

orchidlala

Joined: December 30th, 2010, 5:10 am

by orchidlala » January 19th, 2011, 3:05 pm

oh that's soooo cool!!! I love seeing these, I think the final product is so well made. I wish more vendors made hand made products

Last edited by orchidlala on January 19th, 2011, 3:45 pm, edited 1 time in total.

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To
never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of
life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to
its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is
simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try
and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget."
-- Arundhati Roy

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 3:07 pm

Pt.8

: The wires shown earlier and the two cups are now soldered together. This is the finished basket. Notice how graduating the wires gave the basket a more petite look. Also notice the precision and how clean the basket is which couldn't be achieved by casting.; 29.jpg (273.22 KiB) Viewed 2359 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 3:09 pm

Pt.9
I'm taking a break for now and will continue later.

: Another shot of the basket.; 30.jpg (229.43 KiB) Viewed 2359 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 11389

D&T

Joined: October 27th, 2008, 10:07 am

by D&T » January 19th, 2011, 4:12 pm

Hi A- Your ring is absolutely stunning and the workmanship looks to be stellar!

THis is the second ring that I've seen on this site made by Victor, and I'm loving the finer details that he attends to. Just based on the images seen here posted by you and another gal Katedrac of her exquisite halo ring. I am very curious to learn more of him and his work... hmmm :Up_to_something:

Thank you for your pictures !

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 4:14 pm

Pt.10

: Here we have what will turn out to be the shank of the ring. Platinum ingots again melted, annealed (heating to make it more malleable) and run through a rolling mill to give it the approximate thickness needed. It was then bent into a circle.
The two black lines, mark where the "wings" of the ring will go since your ring will have a cathedral shank.; 31.jpg (202.88 KiB) Viewed 2333 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 54

Camus

Joined: January 19th, 2011, 3:51 pm

by Camus » January 19th, 2011, 4:17 pm

Wow, I'm impressed by this Victor Canera. I wish I had not lost the password to my old username, because I had saved some images of similar hand crafted work by another similar artist from Dallas, Texas. I forget his or her name now but wish I had it! does anyone remember??? I think it might have been Gyspy or someone else that first posted about him/her or maybe Gypsy just commented in the Texas thread.

Anyway, back to Victor Canera. amazing! I want to give him a call right now! Is he pricey? what's his customer service like? Reminds me a lot of work done by LM, but hopefully Victor is not as much of a diva

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 4:19 pm

Pt.11

: A notch has now been sawed out to make room for the "wings of the cathedral shank. The basket is pictured next to the shank. The center of the notch is marked so that we can saw out room to solder in the basket.; 32.jpg (221.94 KiB) Viewed 2328 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 54

Camus

Joined: January 19th, 2011, 3:51 pm

by Camus » January 19th, 2011, 4:21 pm

Written by D&T » January 19th, 2011, 4:12 pm:Hi A- Your ring is absolutely stunning and the workmanship looks to be stellar!

THis is the second ring that I've seen on this site made by Victor, and I'm loving the finer details that he attends to. Just based on the images seen here posted by you and another gal Katedrac of her exquisite halo ring. I am very curious to learn more of him and his work... hmmm Thank you for your pictures !

Just searched for the ring you're talking about. I think I remember it but all I couldn't find it. do you know where it was posted? I'm really curious now and am planning on giving Victor Canera a call today. Please let me know if you find the other post you're talking about

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 11389

D&T

Joined: October 27th, 2008, 10:07 am

by D&T » January 19th, 2011, 4:23 pm

Written by Camus » January 19th, 2011, 4:21 pm:
Written by D&T » January 19th, 2011, 4:12 pm:Hi A- Your ring is absolutely stunning and the workmanship looks to be stellar!

THis is the second ring that I've seen on this site made by Victor, and I'm loving the finer details that he attends to. Just based on the images seen here posted by you and another gal Katedrac of her exquisite halo ring. I am very curious to learn more of him and his work... hmmm Thank you for your pictures !

Just searched for the ring you're talking about. I think I remember it but all I couldn't find it. do you know where it was posted? I'm really curious now and am planning on giving Victor Canera a call today. Please let me know if you find the other post you're talking about

Here you go Camus-

It sure is a beauty!!! the workmanship is just stunning!

http://www.pricescope.com/forum/show-me-the-ring/tenth-anniversary-upgrade-3ct-round-with-cushion-halo-t149734.html

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 54

Camus

Joined: January 19th, 2011, 3:51 pm

by Camus » January 19th, 2011, 4:29 pm

Written by D&T » January 19th, 2011, 4:23 pm:Here you go Camus-

It sure is a beauty!!! the workmanship is just stunning!

http://www.pricescope.com/forum/show-me-the-ring/tenth-anniversary-upgrade-3ct-round-with-cushion-halo-t149734.html

hahaha, you're amazing! I love how I couldn't find it and it took you one second to get it

I've been looking for a designer here on the west coast to make a handmade setting. But I've been disappointed to find that hardly anyone still works this way. I think I'm going to call VC today, do you think I should bother mentioning that I found him via PS? wouldn't hurt, right?

Do you know of any other designers who do work similar to LM's, handmade and such, but are located on the west coast??

Angietaren - what lead you to this specific designer and pick him? did you find any other designers who create handmade settings? link link link plz.

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 414

Love Street

Joined: March 29th, 2003, 12:18 pm

by Love Street » January 19th, 2011, 4:33 pm

This is SO cool!! How awesome to have this documentation of your beautiful ring being born! And very cool of Victor Canera to do this for you. I would have loved to have this for my ring, but can you imagine asking LM? :lol:

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 54

Camus

Joined: January 19th, 2011, 3:51 pm

by Camus » January 19th, 2011, 4:38 pm

Written by Love Street » January 19th, 2011, 4:33 pm:but can you imagine asking LM?

oh gawd, can you imagine? I think he would climb through the telephone and choke me. But honestly, I have a feeling that whoever this designer is he's going to give LM a run for his money in a few years. I really need to find out more about him. right now. PS researchers lets get to work! who is this man? where was he schooled/trained? what does he like to eat while working on these rings? does he like to be called an artist or an artyst does he hate princess cuts as much LM does? does he have a cute lil accent?

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 5:09 pm

Hey everyone. I actually found him through like 2 postings that I saw here. I decided to just shoot off an email to start talking with him and eventually had phone conversations for like half an hour each. Speaking to him, I think he's young maybe 28 or something I don't know. We had a back and forth for about 3 weeks about the design of the ring and in my experience he was nothing but patient, gracious and flexible with me. I was originally planning on having a 3 or 5 stone ring made for my center but I started simplifying and simplifying over time and we decided just to do a channel set cathedral ring with a 4 prong basket. Originally I was going to have graduated baguettes set on the ring but when I mentioned french cuts that I saw here he mentioned that he's done work in the past with them and could source the stones for me. I've been researching on the internet for a while and found, which Victor confirmed, that "hand made" doesn't really mean casting free hand made from a lot of people after pressing them on the issue. Victor assured me that he doesn't cast any part of the ring and that he defines "hand made" in its strictest meaning and also assured me that the quality would be even better than I want it to be. I got the opinion that he was fanatic about quality; just the type of jeweler I was looking for. I had him take the pictures to confirm.

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 5:12 pm

Pt.12

: Here are the two wings that will create the cathedral shank on your ring. They've been filed to shape from a piece of platinum. You'll see on the next picture where they're going to be placed. Notice that the tips are made concave; that's where the center basket will be soldered onto it.; 34.jpg (222.4 KiB) Viewed 2297 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 414

Love Street

Joined: March 29th, 2003, 12:18 pm

by Love Street » January 19th, 2011, 5:15 pm

Wow he sounds great to work with. I love that he has given you commentary and explanation for every image as well.

I see that he's in Los Angeles so he might be a good resource to add to the list for west coast PSers who want to stay local. I hope you don't mind my pasting a blurb I found on the internet in your thread - I'm sure lots of people will be interested (now and in the future) to learn more about your designer!

Victor CANERA, a native of East Europe, came of age in the world of easygoing, sun-drenched Southern California. It’s no wonder that his handmade collection of platinum and diamond jewelry romances themes of both old-world and contemporary.

A third-generation jeweler and diamantaire, Victor grew up immersed in diamonds, platinum and gold. “I’ve been involved in jewelry, I can say, since the age of 12. I remember the summers I spent helping my family in their diamond and jewelry businesses. At the age of 34, when I tell people I have 22 years of experience, we both have a laugh.” After college Victor managed his family’s growing jewel house, involved in every facet of the business from design, manufacturing to sales. After graduating from the Gemological Institute of America in ‘96 Victor following the footsteps of his father and became a diamantaire specializing in important diamonds.

In his own words; “Diamonds are one of a kind, each has its own characteristics, almost a personality. It was a sad sight for me to see the diamonds that I sold be put in second class, mountings of questionable quality. The idea came to me in ’99 to form a company that would create pieces worthy of these gems. A one of a kind, hand made design, created for and only for that unique diamond. I created Canera in 2000 to accomplish that goal.” What inspires Victor are the jewels created in the 1920s 30s, jewels that are called vintage or estate jewelry today. “It amazes me how craftsmen of of 80 years ago and more, created such stunning jewels without the aid of the technology that people today use. In the modern world, their art is basically a lost one. Today, we mainly have mass produced jewelry, kind of a cookie cutter mentality. Canera is the complete antithesis of this mentality. We design our jewelry based around a diamond. We come up with a design that would best accentuate this gem. We fabricate our jewelry the same way the craftsmen of a hundred years ago did in Europe. By hand. We don’t use the help of wax or casting to make fabrication easier for us but degrade the quality of the final product. Each piece is made up of dozens of parts, like wires and plates of platinum or gold that are assembled to create the final jewel. Ours is a puristic and a bit idealistic approach to the fabrication of jewelry. At the end of the day though our customers have a jewel that’s one of a kind, and made by hand, just for them.”

The result of this philosophy is a stunning collection of handmade jewelry fashioned from only the finest hand selected diamonds in platinum and gold. Each piece of Canera jewelry is a one-of-a-kind, born from a stone and the vision of a designer.

Visit this designer’s web site:
http://www.canera.com/

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 2972

LGK

Joined: November 27th, 2007, 4:31 pm

by LGK » January 19th, 2011, 5:29 pm

This is the first ring by Canera that turned up on PS (as far as I know): http://www.pricescope.com/forum/show-me-the-ring/round-three-stone-with-a-little-something-extra-t79797.html?hilit=canera. Also killer! That is *so* cool that he sent pics of his process. What an amazing ring with the graduated french cuts. Wow! Totally putting him on my list of possibles- I'd forgotten he did truly handmade.

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 5:31 pm

Pt.13
P.S. Since I've contacted him originally he's moving his online presence to victorcanera.com. He shot me an email last week, with the news.

: Here we've soldered on the wings of the ring to create the basic outline of a cathedral shank. You can see your ring taking shape at this point. The joints where the wings have been soldered will be slightly filed down.; 45.jpg (138.6 KiB) Viewed 2280 times

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 5:43 pm

I actually hadn't seen that thread before.
I was basing on:
http://www.pricescope.com/forum/hangout/wanting-to-propose-would-a-cz-be-ok-for-now-t150367.html
http://www.pricescope.com/forum/show-me-the-ring/show-me-your-halo-that-is-not-the-same-shape-as-the-center-t150755.html
the 4th post.
and
http://www.pricescope.com/forum/show-me-the-ring/think-i-ve-found-my-dream-ring-second-opinions-please-t150994.html

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 54

Camus

Joined: January 19th, 2011, 3:51 pm

by Camus » January 19th, 2011, 5:56 pm

oh wow, sounds nice and not like a diva... just yet! that's great that he's so young and dedicated to the craft. I love hearing about artists like this.

After looking and looking for the perfect designer out here on the west coast, I got SOO excited to come across this post. I have not posted on PS for over a year (although I browse every few weeks) I had to create a whole new username because I forgot my password and the email listed is my college on so I can't log in, but Ella is working it out for me. ANYWAY, I feel like I was destined to start browsing here again last night because if I hadn't I would not have seen this post. Angietaren, thank you so much for making this post. I don't think I would have been able to find this designer on my own. It has made my day!

Are you happy with the quality and durability of your ring? customer service and everything else?

BTW, the rest of you ROCK for digging up that info about him, lets see what else we can come up with. there's gotta be more on the net. I feel like we're going to hear a lot about this guy in the coming years, so lets make sure to document his work. PS has once again sucked me back in!!

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 78

Victor Canera

Joined: October 8th, 2010, 11:20 am

by Victor Canera » January 19th, 2011, 6:08 pm

Hi everybody. I'm Victor.
I was tipped off by a caller and an email today about this thread. Kind of surprised.
Angie! Now I realize what you wanted the pictures for, that was the first time I've ever been asked for something like that. Anyway, I'm really glad to hear that you love the ring. It was great working with you.
If you guys have any questions about me or something I'd be glad to answer your questions.

www.victorcanera.com

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 70

Angietaren

Joined: October 27th, 2010, 2:21 pm

by Angietaren » January 19th, 2011, 6:16 pm

Lol, hope you don't mind Victor... I've been so happy with the ring I wanted to share with others...

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 11389

D&T

Joined: October 27th, 2008, 10:07 am

by D&T » January 19th, 2011, 6:18 pm

Written by Victor Canera » January 19th, 2011, 6:08 pm:Hi everybody. I'm Victor.
I was tipped off by a caller and an email today about this thread. Kind of surprised.
Angie! Now I realize what you wanted the pictures for, that was the first time I've ever been asked for something like that. Anyway, I'm really glad to hear that you love the ring. It was great working with you.
If you guys have any questions about me or something I'd be glad to answer your questions.

Glad to have you Victor! Welcome to PS. Your workmanship looks amazing and well crafted. We are looking forward to see you around these parts and more gorgeous pieces from you :appl:

Re: Hand Crafting my Victor Canera ring from Scratch

Posts: 5999

CharmyPoo

Joined: December 10th, 2004, 6:52 am

by CharmyPoo » January 19th, 2011, 6:33 pm

Wow - this is really neat and brings me to a whole new level of appreciation to the art. I mean everything looks big in these photos but they are really super duper tiny!

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