Keisha Shakespeare, Staff Reporter
A WEDDING ring symbolises the union between two people. However, wearing a wedding band made of gold from your home country brings an added feeling of patriotism.
Ronald and Ruth Clarke wear a significant piece of their country's resources every day in the form of their wedding bands made from pure Jamaican gold.
Mrs. Clarke, marketing consultant at the Cement Company, had the opportunity of being a part of Jamaica's historic gold mining project in Pennant, Clarendon. In 2002, Mrs. Clarke was working with Jampro as a marketing consultant and was assigned to the AusJam investors. AusJam was a mining company from Australia that was in Jamaica to mine gold from the mine in Pennant.
Mrs. Clarke's duties were to help the AusJam investors start up their business. She also had to make sure that they complied with the necessary regulations and got all the necessary environmental approvals. As a token of their appreciation, the company gave her an 18-karat gold nugget weighing 10 grams.
WHAT TO DO WITH IT?
After receiving the nugget, she wondered what to do with it. "I could not decide whether to make a necklace or ring so I kept it in a little box at home. Every time someone visited me, I took it out and showed it to them," said Mrs. Clarke.
Though she was in a relationship with her current husband, she did not know her gold nugget would be the band that joined them as man and wife. Mrs. Clarke and her husband dated from 2001 for four years before they decide to get married in 2005. At first, they were going to buy their wedding bands then Mrs. Clarke suggested why not use her nugget to make them instead.
"I went to Mr. Peter Bangerter, owner and managing director of Swiss Stores to see if the nugget was big enough to make two rings. It was, so we decided to make them. My husband put together the design and handed it over to Mr. Bangerter. He then proceeded to make them."
"However, Jamaican gold is very soft and has some amount of silver in it so they had to import some gold from Canada along with six diamonds to make our wedding bands.
Last December 31, when her name was Ruth Crooks, she sealed her union with a piece of Jamaica's history. They were married at the Grace Missionary Church in St. Andrew and the officiating ministers were Rev. Dr. Al Miller and host pastor Rev. Dr. Sam Green.
Mrs. Clarke noted that though her ring is very simple, the fact that she is wearing a ring made from Jamaican gold made her proud. "I have walked and worked on Jamaican rocks for the past 20 years. Thus, my ring gives me a sense of sentimental and patriotic relationship with my country."
Making the rings:
The gold is tested to see what karat it is.
If the gold is not in the desired amount of karats then it is alloyed to the required amount. In the Clarke's case, the gold nugget weighed 18 karats and it had to be alloyed down to 14 karats.
It is then fashioned to the desired design. The gold nugget is placed with flux or borax (this help to melt gold more easily) in a ceramic crucible and melted with a torch.
The gold liquid is then poured into an ingot (metal container) to shape the gold into a strip. The strip is dipped in a container filled with acid to clean off the borax. If borax is not cleaned then it will damage the mill.
The strip is then run through the mill to get the desired thickness. Afterwards, it is reheated with a torch as metal tends to crack after milling if it is not heated.
Then it is dipped in acid and placed back in mill to flatten. This process is repeated until the desired thickness and length is acheived.
The ring is then hammered on the mandrill to make it completely round and to adjust its size. Then the sides and outer surface are filed and sanded to make it smooth.
After the ring is shaped to the desired size, it is polished.
