20/52 Agate

Made for EtsyMetal's Project Runway "Go Big or Go Home" Challenge. I carved the agate from a slab using my trim saw, hand tools, and sandpaper and then I set it in copper.

15-19/365

I'M NOT DEAD! Really. I had pneumonia for a month and narrowly avoided hospitalization. Then my DSL went down for three arduous weeks of AT&T customer service hell (just ask for tier II support right away, you'll be transferred back to the states). Here are some rings, I am very behind.

RAW 19/52
sterling silver and 15ct ruby handcut by me

That's right, I'm cutting stones now and I love it!

RAW 18/52

An experiment with stone chip inlay - ruby and chrysoprase, the ring is made from a vintage clip-on earring

RAW 17/52
sterling silver and Washington State carnelian handcut by me

RAW 16/52
sterling silver and aquamarine handcut by me

RAW 15/52 saltwater pearl and sterling silver

I made this back in May in honor of Miki Endo, the brave young woman who sacrificed her life and saved 7000 lives during the Tsunami in Japan.

14/365 mosaic

sterling silver

Tomorrow I start the largest outdoor mosaic I've done this year and that's what's been on my brain today, so I made a mosaic ring. I like the way it came out and it could be a contender for my new production line, if I can speed up the fabrication a bit.

I really should start calling this challenge "A Ring Every Sunday Made Between 9pm and Midnight" as that's what my last 4 rings have been. This disappoints me since its no different than making a ring a day, except I'm not making so many. I also haven't been keeping up with adding other's rings to the blog. I still love rings, but I hate having appointments with them. My experience with Ring a Day tells me this will change, for now it makes me ancy.

after soldering

I like it like this, gives me ideas for pins and bracelets.

13/52 silver and copper

sterling silver and copper

I am still a week behind on rings, this is a really busy time for me. I'm starting to work on some open and airy geometric designs that I can make from wire and a minimum of sheet. I really like rings that are contoured to fit the finger so I incorporated one of my recent sketches into (what I suppose is last week's) ring. It's in rough shape, I beat the hell out of it on the mandrel.

A few of the ideas from my sketchbook, I'm going to play around more with interchanging the circles with pearls and round bezel set stones.

The copper circle is lined with silver so that it won't turn the finger green.

12/52 kinetic

sterling silver, 14k gold, quartz

We had our first Ring a Week challenge to create kinetic rings last week, many participated and I will blog all of those rings tomorrow. Here's my kinetic piece, the two gold balls roll around beneath the quartz cab, one is contained in a silver arc and the other moves around the sterling square post.

11/52 regal prong setting

Phew. This one is late because I made the setting three times. I worked on it for four hours on Sunday and then broke it. So I spent three hours remaking it yesterday, forged the band and got it ready to solder, and then couldn't find the setting. ANYWHERE. Surely it's somewhere in the bowels of my studio but I finally gave up looking and remade it today, in about two hours.


The piece is sterling and I think the stone may be lemon quartz or prehnite, but I'm unsure. It has a nice silky look to it. I made the ring with 16 gauge sterling silver sheet and my handsaw, it's the most complicated setting I've made to date and overall I'm pleased with it. I learned a lot and know what I will do differently with the next one.

10/52 turquoise

sterling silver, stone mountain turquoise

This stone is a super special piece of untreated turquoise from the Stone Mountain mine in Nevada and I wanted to protect it so I chose this setting over a thin bezel. I have only made a setting like this once in the past and I have a lot to learn.

9/52 agate

fortification agate, sterling silver

This gorgeous agate was cut by my friend Beth Day, she does great work and she taught me how to cut my first cabochon. I plan to make a stand for this ring at some point so that it can be displayed when not worn, or maybe a display the holds several rings.

8/52 an eyeful

sterling silver, prehnite

I was talking with a friend last night about feeling stressed out because I hadn't yet started my ring. He said it was no wonder I'm stressed - I'm trying to build the Eiffel Tower every week. That put some things into perspective and tonight my goal was to make a ring that's an eyeful, rather than an eiffel ring. I went into the studio with no plan and had a really fun and relaxing time. I have avoided setting this gorgeous piece of prehnite because I was intimidated by the curved bottom. It worked out ok!

pearl and carnelian

sterling silver, saltwater pearl, carnelian

Ring plus pendant. Once again I procrastinated until day 7,
nevertheless I'm very happy with this one.

6/52 circles and rectangles

Phew, I started late tonight and finished this just before midnight. Ring plus earrings, sterling silver and copper. I'm not completely satisfied with this so I'm going to add a second circle to each earring, but I'm too exhausted to do it tonight.

5/52 squares

Ring with earrings. Sterling silver and copper.