Wednesday, January 27, 2010

Graveyard Point Plume Agate Ring

graveyard-plume-agate-ring-sterlingA few weeks ago I decided that it was time for this plume agate, which I've had for a while, to embark on a new life as a ring.


Lately I've found that I have a block of time on Saturday afternoons when I spend a few relatively uninterupted hours in my workshop. ( "....mommy, mommy, can you make me some lunch"..."can you pick up my friend and take us to the mall"... "woof, woof...")

I sketched out a few designs, trying to incorporate the stone's plumes in the pattern. Visualizing it in my head, I went ahead and began to saw out some silver sheet and create the setting.

Remember that I've said that sometimes the designs seem to create themselves. THIS TIME it wasn't the case.

Several hours later and a couple of ruined bezels, I gave up. The solder didn't want to flow, the bezels wanted to melt, and the design wasn't right.

Let me tell you, I wasn't happy. But I was also stubborn. I WAS going to get it right, even if it took me forever.

Back to my workshop I went the next morning. Several MORE hours later, a design finally started to emerge. No, it wasn't what I started out with. But it seemed to flow with the aura of the stone.

Some leaves, a fern frond, and it worked. FINALLY.

More pictures can be found here. (Oh and yes, you'll find a dragonfly on the underside of the setting!)




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6 Comments:

  1. Virginia said...
    O.K. That does it. I'm watching and as soon as you come up with a system for making custom ring sizes, I'll be grabbing one. :)
    Anonymous said...
    Lovely as usual....very nice design.
    Contrariwise said...
    Virginia,
    I can't retro-fit a ring to a smaller size once I make it. But I can make a custom ring at any size. If you're interested, I have a bunch of cabs that can be made into rings. Let me know if you're interested.
    WillOaks Studio said...
    That setting is lovely and really does a beautiful job of showcasing a very lovely stone...Kudos!!
    booahboo said...
    This is beautiful :)
    hopestudios said...
    gorgeous!!!

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