Savanna's Ring - Process Photos

Another commissioned piece I finished couple of days ago.  The red to red-brown iron oxide crystals in this lepidocrocite seem to have suspended in quartz, frozen in time.  Due to the faceted top, a simple straight silver bezel is used to capture the stone.

Lepidocrocite Ring

From left to right, top to bottom:
1.  Here are all the materials I used - recycled sterling silver sheet, and rectangular wire for the band, recycled fine silver for the bezel, and the lepidocrocite.
2.  I made the bezel and soldered it to the flat sheet to create a cup for the stone, and I soldered the rectangular wire for the ring band.
3.  The parts are prepolished.
4.  The ring setting is now soldered onto the band. 
5.  A look at the back where I signed the piece and stamp the metal fineness.
6.  I blackened parts of the ring with an oxidizer.
7.  Some of the darkened areas are brushed away, and the brushing created the final texture
8.  The inside face of the band is polished to a high shine.
9.  I set the stone and pushed the bezel down so it will hug the stone.

And here's the finished ring.  Ta Da!!!

Savanna's Lepidocrocite Ring

FAM 1/12 - Candy Colored Rings

A new design challenge on flickr - Four A Month, or FAM in short.  We come up with 4 related designs each month.  This will push us to think in terms of series or sets, or even beginning pieces of a full blown collection for future explorations.  By the end of each month, we post our work on flickr to share with others.  Here's the link to check out what everyone else makes.

Wide Band Candy Colored Rings - available in my Etsy store

For January, I came up with some rings.  I was just dying to try to make some wide band rings, and I managed to find some delicious candy colored stones for them.  The stones I used are (from top to bottom, left to right) blue chalcedony, lapis lazulli, amazonite, larimar, rainbow moonstone, chrysoprase, and tangerine orange chalcedony.  What do you think?  I already got a custom order to make a round amazonite ring (center) at a size 7.  YAY!

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 52/24 - Green Tourmaline in Quartz

Rustic & Natural - Rutilated Tourmaline in Quartz

 

Another rustic stone with soft green colored tourmaline, trapped in quartz.  I've only seen black tourmanated quartz, so this is an unusual find.  Here, the band is not soldered to allow custom fit.

This ended up being a ring, along with the other 2 rustic top quartz rings, will be heading to Australia.  Yay! 

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 52/16 - Amethyst Crystal Cluster

Amethyst Crystal Clusters

Amethyst Crystal Cluster Ring

 

Trying my hands on setting crystal specimens.  This is a small cluster of amethyst where the crystals are left in their natural state.  Amethyst is a purple quartz and the birthstone of February.

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 52/13 - Willow Ring

I was working on some new earrings, using bronze.  Too lazy to change out the old pickle (which is perfect for copper based materials), I decided to raise a piece of the same earring material and shape (willow leaf) for this ring.

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 52/10 - Latte Ring

Latte Ring, with Ocean Jasper

Trying to set this stone a little differently, using tabs.  Instead of using a thinner bezel wall, I cut strips of heavier gauge sterling silver to surround the stone.  The little tabs were cut and pushed over the stone to make a secure capture. 

Latte Ring, with Ocean Jasper

With this opaque milky white ocean jasper, it works perfectly with a darken bezel wall to make the stone pop.

RAW 52/09 - Copper Saddle Ring

I've always like forging - something about shaping metal with the hammer.  It's very relaxing and satisfying.  This week, I cut this ring from a flat sheet of copper and it has one solder seam.

Saddle Ring - with patina

Saddle Ring - without patina