Before work begun I had requested some pictures of the navel it would reside in. Charles sent me a series of 5 pictures of his lovely lady's navel. I had asked for pictures from front, side left, side right, top down, and bottom up so I could make sure the size of the piece was going to work with the navel shape and the best angle to fix the bar into the back to ensure a good comfortable fit. I wanted to know where the piercing was in conjunction with the naval so as to get it perfect.

A selection of suitable heart shaped Rubies were located at one of BMG's London gemstone suppliers. I was quite keen for the Ruby to be a bright stone so began looking for Sri Lankan rubies as they are brighter with more fire and colour than the Burmese darker stone. I wanted the Ruby to lift the diamonds and give it a vibrant “Barcelona” feel. The Ruby I finally selected from the six on my shortlist was a 1.6ct clean bright stone with the fire and the vibrance I was looking for. It was half way between red and hot pink, perfect for the job.

Norman, the BMG goldsmith and setter based in our UK shop, could now go to work. The first part, known as the collet, is to hold the Ruby. Although these can be purchased in standard sizes, Norman prefers to make them himself for the optimum fit.

As you can see the hand made platinum collet is a perfect fit for the stone and centre piece for the work.

Now Norman can get to work making the base plate to set the diamonds in. He cut the base from a 2mm thick piece of Platinum sheet and domed it up - the curve of the metal will help the Diamonds to sparkle with movement.

Once the base plate was finished Norman soldered in the collet, and attached the bar and threaded ball. This was done with the help of the photos sent by Charles and enabled us to get the angle right for the piercing.

It is now beginning to take shape, the piece is sunk into shellack so it can be worked on more easily and the setting can begin. Norman carefully plans the positions and begins to set the diamonds working from the bottom of the heart upwards.

The last stone goes in which is of course the centre stone, then it is polished and the work is complete. I fitted the final finished piece myself with a short trip to Barcelona taking the opportunity to meet our delighted customers in person.

1) We will of course initially require some ideas from yourself, if you are thinking of doing this as a blind gift forget it, as the final recipient will need to get involved from the outset.

2) Set a budget in advance and be realistic, this is a lot of work for us and will involve a team of 3 staff to complete the job. A starting price of £1000 or $2000 US dollars is realistic for a small basic piece. Please be aware that we will not really be interested if you are expecting something for nothing.

3) The BMG team is based in Burgess Hill, South Coast, United Kingdom. It comprises Managing Director, Jeweller and piercer Richard Soper who will do the preliminary consultation and design work, Russell Benfield continues the design development utilising computer aided design to put the ideas on screen. Norman Williams is our goldsmith and diamond setter, he will be responsible for all of the work.
All navels are different, each and every individual has a different shape, depth and size.

We like to see the navel if possible but if you are USA or outside the UK this may not always be possible. This can be done with a series of good quality macro (close up) digital photographs. Shots from above, below, each side and face on will certainly be required and quite often we will also require different angles to ascertain an accurate idea of how the finished piece will sit.

4) The angle of the piercing is also important and we prefer to do a final fitting ourselves to get the piece perfect. If this is not possible, for example in the case of an overseas client it can be done with the clever use of digital photography.

5) Once a design and price is agreed, we will discuss the work as a team and Russell will put together some computer generated visual images, once we are happy the stones will be purchased and the work will begin.

6) From the outset we will require a deposit for our time, once the price is agreed a 50% deposit is required with the balance being taken on despatch. For overseas customers an insured carrier such as FedEx would be used.