Jennifer Rabe-Morin makes a statement with a fire agate

By Shannon L. Brown

While shopping the gem shows in Tucson, a large fire agate with lavender lights caught the attention of designer and jeweler Jennifer Rabe-Morin of Santa Barbara, California. A fan of large rings, she instantly knew the agate belonged in such a ring—but not just any ring. For this stone, she envisioned a larger-than-usual ring, one that she would create by placing the fiery stone on top of a hand-carved piece of olive green nephrite jade, which she would encircle with a bezel of pavé-set gemstones.

Rabe-Morin began by carving a block of jade for the ring, coaxing it into an oval 1.5 inches long, 1 inch wide, and a half-inch tall, with undulating rings. To keep the weight of the piece light, she hollowed out the underside of the jade, being careful to avoid piercing the rings.

The next step was to create the bezel. Using a ring bending plier and half-round plier, she shaped 18k palladium white gold half-round wire into an oval shape, annealing it as needed. Shaping the bezel was a bit of a challenge because it was going to rest against the agate on its inside edge and against the jade on its outside edge. She purposely chose wire thicker than she needed so after soldering the ends together, she could use files and sandpaper to further shape the metal to better match the undulating shapes of the two stones.

For the bezel, Rabe-Morin opted to use round white and brown diamonds, amethyst, and green garnet because she felt they best complimented the agate and jade. She wanted an organic and random arrangement of the stones, using amethyst and diamonds minimally to blend with the colors of the agate. Before setting the stones, she prepared the surface of the bezel to a Tripoli polish to ensure a clean, accurate surface for setting as well as to lessen potential stone damage caused by a heavy polish after setting. As she seated the stones, she worked through the main setting challenge: the brittle green garnets and the loss of stones that inevitably comes with the process of setting them. To minimize breakage, she made sure the stones fit snuggly so little pressure and metal was needed to secure them.

She opted to hand craft the ring’s shank from 18k white gold sheet because the hollow form she could create would be lighter than anything cast. To create the outer portion, she first made a paper pattern in the correct ring size, playing around with the shape of it until it was perfected. She used the final pattern as a guide for cutting the metal, and soldered the ends closed. To create the inside lining, she inserted into the shank 18k white gold tubing that matched the ring size she desired. Rabe-Morin soldered the tube to the outer shank sheet, then trimmed and shaped the edges of the shank. “It isn’t economical either with time or materials to craft a shank from sheet—it would take half of a day to carve it from wax but two days to fabricate, and metal is lost in the shaping process—but I like the results,” she explains.

With the shank complete, she was ready to begin assembling the ring. She first glued the fire agate onto the jade with five-minute epoxy, adjusting it until it was correctly situated. The pavé bezel was then carefully attached with Loctite 325, an anaerobic curing glue, using a toothpick so the glue did not get behind the stones and affect their brilliance or spread onto the jade or agate.

The final step was to secure the shank to the jade. Rabe-Morin cut small notches into the jade that corresponded to small pieces of wire that she welded to the top of the shank. She then used a generous amount of glue to secure the jade to the shank, making sure her work was not disturbed for 24 hours so the piece could set.

Although she admits that the finished ring didn’t meet the initial version she had in her mind when she first glimpsed the agate in Tucson, she’s thrilled with the final result. “I tend to be a little too critical,” she says. “I wish the jade had been less tall. I wish I did the strip a little differently, the pavé more perfectly. At the same time, it’s done, it’s showy, and it’s fun. I love it.”