MONTANA SAPPHIRE BOOK RING

THE GREEN LAKE SHOP YOUR CUSTOM DESIGN YOUR GEMSTONE MODEL & CASTING THE JEWELER'S BENCH YOUR FINISHED PIECE

THE GREEN LAKE SHOP

Translating our client’s ideas into beautiful custom jewelry
to celebrate the iconic moments in life since 1996.

Your piece was crafted in the
Bellevue studio

The Bellevue shop is a state of the art custom design and production studio where the artists work in full view of the public. This location is also the heart of our stone cutting dept, with a full time lapidary on-site cutting Sapphires and other gemstones from rough.

The design Bellevue studio has 15 design stations including 3 private meeting rooms and a full scale coffee and wine bar.

Green Lake Jewelry Works opened its doors on Seattle’s Green Lake Drive in 1996. Since then, its craftspeople have grown to win national recognition for excellence in the art of fine jewelry making with two distinct workshops where each piece is made by hand.

Learn More
In 2016, celebrating 20 years of artistry, Green Lake Jewelry Works created a second studio in Bellevue, WA with the aim of creating the perfect environment for both jewelers and clients.

Named one of the ‘Coolest Stores in America’ by Instore Magazine, the Bellevue studio is home to some of the most talented jewelers in the country, where a tradition of dedicated craftsmanship is passed from masters to journeymen and women.

YOUR CUSTOM DESIGN

Custom jewelry at Green Lake always begins with ideas, inspirations, and a sketch, where the many design elements that make for the perfect ring are discovered through ideation.

Oftentimes, a ring will go through many iterations and changes along the way before the final look is achieved.

YOUR SKETCHES

DESIGNER

Britt G

Britt has spent the past 11 years in the industry with the last 7 years focused specifically on CAD. As she describes "I love the honor of being trusted with important projects and the teamwork of working with the customer to create exactly what they want. I think the jewelry design process should be fun and not intimidating and I am happy to go into the nerdy details of the CAD modeling and jewelry-making process!" Britt’s inspiration comes from her customer’s passions. She loves incorporating these into her designs and building unique pieces that specifically fit the wearer.

YOUR GEMSTONE

Your gemstone was hand and eye selected from thousands of stones that we view before choosing the finest, most beautiful gems that suit our very choosy designers and clients.
We are as picky about our gems as we are about every other aspect of our work.

GREEN LAKE GEM LAB

Above and BeyondTM Gemstones

The Green Lake Gem Lab sources rare stones through a responsible network of globally dispersed miners and reputable traders, and verifies the validity of each gem with sophisticated testing equipment and independent certifications.

MONTANA SAPPHIRES

Green Lake’s collection of ecologically sourced Montana sapphires come from small-scale, low impact mines that sort through alluvial deposits which were once the riverbeds of ancient waterways.


Sapphires discovered in this region of the world come in a wild array of color - from lush peach to deep teal - and it's exceptionally rare to find any two that are alike. From Victorian-era jewelry to contemporary design, sapphires are a favorite gemstone for bridal pieces to last the ages. A gem variety of corundum, sapphire gets its colors from subtle differences in chemical composition, such as varying amounts of iron or titanium. This produces colors that range from deep and inky to lighter tones, with a cool iridescent sparkle.


Sustainable mining stewards

Sapphire mining in Montana is an echo of the original gold rush. Today miners search for the very stones that many of their own prospecting ancestors had unwittingly tossed to the wayside, on an 1860's-era search for gold. Today these miners use both sustainable and environmentally friendly systems to protect their communities and legacy.

3D MODEL

CAD

Engineering the X, Y, and Z coordinates of a design is not only a way to inform sophisticated milling and growing machines to create a model; they’re also a powerful way to communicate the vision for a ring.

Realistic renderings and physical models help transform sketched ideas into reality in an interplay between the client, the designer and the CAD team, all of whose input and ideas help create something that both looks right and fits perfectly.

The entire Green Lake project team collaborates on each piece, adding nuanced details and subtle improvements to the design, all while making sure that design cohesiveness, stability on the finger, and stone security are perfected.

Learn More
BRITT G
CAD Designer

Bringing your design to life

CASTING

At the workshop, the model was cast in a specialty plaster-like investment and heated to release the wax or resin from its mold, then cast using a specialized induction casting machine from Italy.

GEMSTONE SETTING

It required steady hands and confident mastery to set your gemstone for a lifetime of confident wear. Gems can be especially small and terribly rare, so the responsibility for this final stage in crafting a ring falls to our most experienced professionals.

HENRY
Stonesetter

ARTFUL FILIGREE

Filigree is the thinnest of wire extruded from precious noble metal, and fashioned by hand into delicate curls to add intricate details to open spaces. The ability to form fine wire like this is almost a lost art. In a world of mass produced jewelry, it’s a skill that takes years to master and it imbues pieces with a beauty that’s nearly impossible to match.

HENRY
Filigree Artist

HAND ENGRAVING

Hand engraving is the pinnacle of the jeweler’s craft, displaying fine artistry in crisp detail. It takes perfectly honed, hardened steel tools, a steady hand and years of dedicated practice to get it right. Green Lake's skilled engravers maintain world class craftsmanship within the increasingly rare art form, of which this piece provides a stunning example.
HENRY
Hand Engraver

YOUR FINISHED PIECE

Montana Sapphire Book Ring