RAW 52/31 - Black Tourmaline in Quartz

Here's a ring where I used a quartz that has black tourmaline inclusions.    According to Wikipedia, Tourmaline is a crystal boron silicate mineral compounded with elements such as aluminum, iron, magnesium, sodium, lithium, or potassium. You can see the roughly triangular outline of the elongated crystal structure.

Tourmaline in Quartz Ring

RAW 52/30 - Pyrite in Quartz

A cute button shaped quartz with glittery pyrites, and it has such a wonderful tactile feel.  I might have to keep this one.  :D

RAW 52/29 - Misty Mountain Ring

Another incredible picture stone I picked up recently.  It's a Montana Moss Agate that has landscape-like dentritic moss.  I think it looks like one of those Chinese ink paintings where the misty fog hovers around a mountain top.  To preserve the translucency of the chalcedony, I left the back of the ring open.  It makes me want to stare at it to see if I can find any human inhabitant.  Can you hear the two birds flying above?

Misty Mountain Ring with Montana Agate

RAW 52/28 - Labradorite Ring

Blue Labradorite Ring

This labradorite has a really nice brighter blue sheen to it, which contrasts nicely with the silver.  Ring is listed in my etsy store.

RAW 52/26 & 52/27 - Circles & Squares

Using smaller stones, I created the next 2 rings for the Ring A Week design challenge.   I used circles as a design theme for the first ring, and (rounded) squares for the second ring.  Each stone sits in a blackened well to contrast with the stone and the silver.  The stones used are blue sheen rainbow moonstone and a soft green prehnite.

Faceted Moonstone Sterling Ring

Prehnite Ring

RAW 52/25 - Indicolite in Quartz

Indicolite in rustic cut Quartz

Indicolite encapsulated in white quartz.  Nice tall bezel walls to protect this lovely stone.

Inky blue Indicolite Crystal

Isn't that the prettiest blue?  Such an amazing stone, and that rough surface is incredible.

RAW 52/23 - Gold Rutilated Quartz, Raw and Natural

Here's the gold rutilated quartz set in sterling.  Instead of the usual gold rutiles running through clear quartz, these needles are buried in white translucent quartz.  That surface is so bold and rustic, like touching the walls of a mine.  Again, I want to protect this stone by surround it with heavy gauge sterling bezel walls.

The heavy bezel walls are very strong and fits around the stone very snugly.  This allows friction to keep the stone from falling out.

RAW 52/22 - Raw Aquamarine Ring

Raw Aquamarine Ring

Got this and a few other stones at the recent gem show.  They have the split-face concrete block texture, which I've never seen it cut like that before.  Of course I can't let these beauties slip away from me.

From the top left, blue aquamarine, gold rutilated quartz, indicolite (blue tourmaline) in quartz, and green tourmaline in quartz. I love how the cutter preserved the natural beauty by not grinding or polishing them to the usual glass-like finish. I'll be setting these in the next few days.

Can you see the little bit of pink tourmaline mixed in with the green tourmaline in the stone at the lower right?  So amazing.  Since I consider these as rare finds, I will only finish making them half way.  This way, each of them can be customized to the client's specs - be it a ring or a pendant.  Contact me if you are interested.

RAW 52/21 - Green Turquoise Ring

Long Oval Green Turquoise Ring

Love the dark matrix and the long slender oval shape of this green turquoise cab.  I thought of setting the stone horizontally and make it a two-finger ring.  But then the stone didn't quite span 2 fingers.  Hmmm, ideas are spinning for future rings.

RAW 52/20 - Faceted Carnelian

Big Bold Orange Carnelian Ring

This is my 20th ring for the Ring A Week challenge - a nice bright orange carnelian with faceted top.  And I'm having fun with the texture on the silver.

Another View

RAW 52/17, 18 & 19 - Moonstone Rings

While working on a custom ring, I just thought I would make a few more.  Each of the rings have an inner bearing, open back, and a U shaped band.  Each bezel is treated slightly differently.

Pinstriped Moonstone Ring with a simple bezel.

Teardrop Moonstone Ring with a textured outer bezel.

Round Moonstone Ring with stamped squares.

Each moonstone has wonderful ice blue schiller, and they were fun to make.

RAW 52/15 - Dovetail Ring

Dovetail Ring

The dovetail joint is one of the oldest and yet most common joinery in carpentry.  Examples can be found in tombs of ancient Egyptian, Chinese and Japanese civilizations.  The concept is to rely on a series of trapezoidal shapes to interlock two pieces of wood boards.  When fitted properly, it requires no glue or fasteners like nails or screws.

Since the dovetail joint and hundreds of others joinery techniques are not rigid connections, the wood (being a material that flexes a bit) can expand and contract in different humidity and temperatures, allowing some lateral movements from winds and earthquakes.

For the May 1 Ring A Week challenge, I wanted to spotlight the dovetail joint as found in many traditional Japanese structures.  Had it not been for the tsunami, I believe many buildings would have survived the magnitude 9.0 earthquake in March earlier this year.  This ring, together with many other artisan created rings as featured on flickr, is donated and the proceeds will go toward relief for Japan.

My ring was cut from one sheet of heavy gauge sterling silver.  No solder was used to join the trapezoidal ends together.  It is free to flex a little.  Only a small disc of silver was soldered to provide enough thickness for setting the garnet.  Fits like a US size 5.5.

1.  I drew a template first for cutting.
2.  The sheet was bent into a ring shape.
3.  Dovetails are locked in and pilot hole drilled for the stone.
4.  Finished ring, garnet is set with the pavilion facing out.

RAW 52/14 - Tension Set Ring

Just finished today - tension set ring.  Sterling silver and CZ.  Tension rings rely on the stiffness of the metal to press the stone to hold it in place.  That also means, the stone need to be sufficiently strong to resist the compressive forces.

RAW 52/12 Kinetic - No Nuke Ring

No Nuke Ring

This week's Ring A Week challenge is to create a ring with moving parts, a kinetic ring.  I've never made one and thought I should.  It took me so long to decide on a design concept, but I know that I've been following the news on the recent Japanese disaster.  The reports have saddened all people around the world.  Imagine, even an economic and technological powerhouse like Japan is at the mercy of the natural elements and nuclear catastrophe. It reminds us how vulnerable we are.

Closer to home and as of this moment, I still haven’t heard from our 5 year old nephew, Rui, living near Tokyo. I can only pray for his safety, not just from the events so far but also for the tainted food chains and for the uncontrollable radiation.  Radiation particles have spread to the northern hemisphere.

My response to the ring design challenge is based on my views on nuclear power plants - we need to seriously focus on alternative clean energy.

Raw Materials - Sterling sheets, wires, and tubes.
I hammered 1 of the 2 pieces of sheet stock for texture.

The windmills spin and turn to catch the winds.

Another view of the No Nuke Ring

I'm having trouble loading the video, so you can see it on my flickr page - http://www.flickr.com/photos/tkmetalarts/5572047268/

RAW 52/11 - Steel Blue Flowers Larimar Ring

Steel Blue Flowers Larimar Ring

Steel Blue Flowers Larimar Ring

A steel blue and white colored larimar set in a rectangular sterling bezel.  Petite and comfortable ring.

RAW 52/08 - Larimar Ring

I'm suppose to be doing my taxes but all I can think of are rings.  So this will have to do for now.

Handmade Larimar Ring

Handmade Larimar Ring

RAW 52/07 - Bud Ring

Bud Ring

I had fun making this ring, making it up as I go.  I used sterling silver (recycled, of course), copper, and a lab grown golden topaz (no excavation of the earth to get this gem).  It's my first flush set piece and you have to be SO careful not to cut the opening too big or the stone will fall too low below the surface.  This one turned out to be slightly on the higher side, but it did snap right in there. 

Teh-dah, here's the inspiration for the piece.  That's right, it's the bud bur.  The bud bur is one of the burs that I used to cut the seat for this stone.  

Bud Ring