Scorpio Ring in 14k

This is similar to the silver scorpio rings I have made before, but without the enamel

I felt that the gold had enough presence without adding a color

Here are some pictures of the construction.  It was made from a necklace I bought at a thrift store. I spend a lot of time in thrift stores and garage sales, sometimes it pays off.

Well constructed necklace with a fancy clasp.  The construction was the give-away that it wasn't costume.  Gold jewelry is not constructed in a shoddy manner.  Plus it had a mark they missed on the catch.  I saved the catch.

Melty melty.  Or I could have worn it with my shirt open and chest hair out.  Oh wait, no chest hair.  Hmmm.  Melty.

Hammer time

This is the stage when I figured out if I had enough material to pull this project off.

Rolled out.  Lots of heating and rolling.  The mill is like a pasta machine, but for metal.

Basic design.

Stamped and cut out.  I used a circle punch/cutter for most of it.

14k gold solder.  I think I have more money in the solder than the rest of the ring.

17 solder operations at this point

The left overs from the deign cut-out were melted again.  We use all parts of the gold around here.

 

Formed.  I left part of the design hanging over to be filed away.  It makes the design seem more finished or complete.

I figured out that I had enough material left to put a sleeve inside to add to the heft.

There is one step missing here.  I formed the inside ring into a complete and soldered ring of nearly the same size, flanged one end in slightly and used a car jack set up to push it in.  Then a lot of aneling  and stretching to get to the correct size.

This was a fun project.  Since I got the gold so cheap I think I have about $12 in this.  Plus maybe 10 hours of work.  But I don't work too fast or too hard.  The melt value is about $400 or so, but I plan to keep this one.