Look at what I did this week!!

Hi everyone,

Well, it has been a busy week.....I decided to give myself a goal that I had to produce for. You know, instead of a project to be made sometime in the future, I joined the RAW (ring a week) group on Flickr. So, I have a week to produce a ring of some kind and to post the photos....otherwise, I am out. I think this is a good way to try out all the little experiments I have been wanting to work on.

This week, I focused on epoxy set into a frame of some sort. I had some metal clay sheets with tearaway images of earth spirits on them that I thought would be great for the front and back of the ring. I also wanted there to be a tree reference for the earth spirits to be connected to.

I had this rod of molded plastic that I ordered last year and it is a lovely ivory color and I can cut it as thick or thin as I want to. It takes a bit of time to cut it...it is too big to go under the blade of the bandsaw, and I would lose too much material if I use the power mitre saw, so I had to do it with my jewelers saw and a big spiral blade. So, I cut it (it took about a half hour) and then sanded it a bit so I could draw my pattern on the surface, drill my holes and then cut out all the leaves and the hole for my finger.

I decided to use some of the copper metal clay sheets that I had made in Gordon's class last Feb as the outer sides with the "french ivory" sandwiched in between. I cut the sides out and filed the edges.

I then fit the "tree" frame to the sides so I could cut out the outside edges. I then sanded everything and put packing tape on the one side and went on to mix up my epoxy and ink to get my leaf color. I used one drop of a pea green and 5 drops of a blue to get the color I did. I was trying to make the epoxy color work with the paint patina I had demo-ed on the metal sheets (at the PMC Conference this past July). I filled the spaces with the epoxy...some were over-filled and some had a little less than needed, so on one side of the ring, the leaves look thick and thin and on the other side, they are all the same level and sanded to a matte finish. I then riveted all three pieces together. Not my best riveting, but I haven't done any in about a year, so I am not going to cry over it.

It is a comfortable ring to wear even though it is quite tall...about 2" and about 1&1/2" wide at the leaf edge. It is a little thicker than a quarter so just about right. I can't wear wide bands.

I learned a lot on this ring....it was the first time I had worked with the "french ivory" and was happy with the way it was easy to cut and carve, but after I saw the spaces with the epoxy in them, I saw where I could have been a bit more careful at the points of some of the leaves. I also should have waited to cut the sides of the "french ivory" until after I had riveted everything together.

I am already to start my next ring....toooo many ideas and not enough time....I am thinking about using this shape ring for all my rings to see if I can work myself out of a corner.....well, maybe not all.....Hope you like the ring and please, post some comments so I know what you think works and what may not have...it is the only way to learn....thanks, and have fun, Kelly

the photos are....1. a close up of the "Flora" side with the sun shining through the epoxy.

2. a close up of the "Earth Spirit" side and you can see the difference in the leaves.

3. a over all view of the ring, "Flora's" side.