With this ring

Following on from the wedding cake I was working on earlier on this week, I’ve just finished the artwork for a wedding and engagement ring ‘Zing Thing’. There are over thirty separate elements to this image – all carefully drawn and coloured, and as I spent the day with these jewels I naturally began to wonder about the origin of the traditional band of gold and the diamond solitaire.

A plain ring in some form or another has signified the lifelong promise of marriage for centuries. No surprises there. The impulse to a diamond engagement ring, though, is a more modern custom, and wouldn't you know it, is the creation of a successful marketing campaign by de Beers at the end of the Second World War.

I didn’t know it when I got engaged, and I don’t think my husband did either, but there are even guidelines on how much a guy should spend on the ring to be taken seriously. In the early days, two weeks’ wages would do the job. Now, it’s three months’ salary. Another jewellery industry marketing campaign I expect.

Two weeks after her wedding my mum was doing the washing up and lost both her rings down the plug hole. I have been luckier with mine, but then I do wear rubber gloves.

Some people of course, object to wearing a ring as a sign of their married status, but apparently some singletons envy couples their domination of the jewellers windows, with the result that a Swedish company has started selling ‘Singelringen’ you can wear on your right hand, to show your availability. So now you know.

Visit my handiwork at www.zingpictures.com