Whilst my Love Heart ring was a beautiful piece to choose for the reasons I did, I had also decided, having turned 30 this year, to dip my toe into the world of gemstones.
As with the love heart ring, this is 14k yellow gold. I mentioned in my post about the love heart ring that I personally prefer the warmth of yellow gold, but it was a colleague of mine, who used to work in the jewellery industry, who pointed out how unusual it was that the setting is also yellow gold, particularly around the flanking diamonds. You can see on this similar ring from Fenton's that the diamonds are set in a white metal - presumably platinum. I really like that the yellow gold is around all three stones, as again I think it gives the ring that warmth that I love. The hero ring does come in white gold, if that is more your taste.
I've always loved green stones (I mean this logic could be applied to anything as far as I'm concerned - if it comes in green, I want the green!) and I thought I'd want an emerald, but after seeing the green tourmaline ring on Chupi's Instagram, I fell quickly in love. The way the tourmaline lets light affect it, bringing out a whole spectrum of shades, really appealed to me - deep, bottle greens are my favourite to wear in terms of my wardrobe and the green tourmaline on the hero ring was far more in line with that than the majority of the emeralds I looked at whilst researching pieces.
I've always been a fan of classic, vintage styles - I grew up on a diet of period dramas and MGM musicals - and so I loved that the emerald cut of the Hero ring harks to that. I find on my short and stubby fingers too that the cut elongates them a little and flatters them more than a round cut stone does.
The cut itself has been used since the 1500s - firstly by emerald cutters as it reduced the pressure during the cutting process, which in turn reduced chances of chipping the stone in contrast to other cuts. Because of this practicality, it was then picked up and applied to diamonds too - but its rise in popularity in the 1920s was when it was first officially named 'the emerald cut'.
The 1920s were all about art deco, clean lines and symmetry, and the emerald cut obviously fits with this stylistically. Politically, the Representation of the People Act was passed in 1918 which allowed women in Britain and Ireland over 30, who met certain property owning related criteria, to vote for the first time. Whilst I do like to get on my high horse and bang my drum a bit about how much work was still to be done after this, the 1918 act was the start of the road to emancipation and the 1920s were a time when women first had some of the rights they'd had to fight for previously.
Chupi's description of the Hero ring relates to this, saying, 'The 1920s were an incredible time for women, it was the start of independence as women found their power. Inspired by the art deco rings of the 1920s, Chupi made the Hero ring as a reminder of our strength... [Emerald cuts] became wildly popular in the 1920s as a symbol of women’s strength and independence.' (Hero ring description.)
I love the idea of this ring linking to being a celebration of women's strength - and that when wearing it, it could serve as a reminder to be strong, to channel my admiration for the woman who have come before me and paved the way for me to make mine.
Although I absolutely love this ring, I've not yet had as much wear from it as I would like - and that's to do with how high it sits up off my finger, which I've tried to show in the above photos. I mentioned this in my previous post, in context that the Love Heart Ring sits flat to my finger and has been more practical in that sense, allowing me to wear it with no interference to my daily activities.
I do think part of the issue has been that I bought the ring in December and the weather has only in the last few weeks begun to change - meaning only recently have I stopped wearing gloves on an almost daily basis. (I'm someone who feels the cold!)
To quote what I've already said - the first day I wore this ring 'I was putting on knitted gloves, the glove caught on the ring, the wool pulled and I thankfully noticed quickly enough to stop pulling and slowly reverse before any rips were caused, but it was a close call. I also don't like wearing it under my leather gloves - they will stretch around it but I'm wary of stretching the leather on that one finger and then ending up with it looking a bit odd anytime I wear the gloves without the ring. Gloves aside, when I have worn the ring, I've caught it in my hair and in a pair of earrings - on separate and multiple occassions - because clearly I talk with my hands and touch my hair and face a bit too much. I absolutely adore it and I'm so glad I own it, but it's been an oddly specific learning curve to adjust to wearing something that sticks up off the hand and because I do wear gloves almost daily at this time of year, I'm not wearing it often enough to have completely adjusted yet.'
As we go into the warmer weather I am hoping to get a little more wear out of it, and through that to become more used to wearing something that sticks up and off my finger - but I did think it was worth highlighting again that this has been a bit of an issue for me, in case any of you are reading this whilst making up your minds about investing in a ring that you are hoping will become daily wear.
Chupi rings are designed to be stacked and I do have some ideas about making this ring the centrepiece of a stack - I think once I have other rings around about it, which slip under it due to the high design of this one, it'll make the lift off from my finger to the top of the tourmaline a little less stark and will hopefully therefore result in less chances of me catching it in things. The downside of that course of action is obviously that I need to save for the other rings involved in my plan before I can rely on it letting me get the desired wear from this ring and - as the intention is to perhaps buy one ring a year - it means the plan isn't exactly the quickest solution.
But although it hasn't become the daily piece I had hoped it would be - yet - I do absolutely love the Hero ring. It makes me happy every time I look at it and when I have worn it, it's felt very special and even if building the stack is a long road, I've got no regrets about starting out down it. Maybe one day I'll be able to say this ring is to my jewellery collection as the 1918 Representation of the People Act was to women of Britain and Ireland's emancipation - the point it really began at, the point it evolved from. Which is quite fitting, really.
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