Dragon Bicycle Bell

This is a bicycle bell made in the fall of 2014.  

 I fabricated all of the pieces except for some bolts

I re-did the enamel and patina for the art show this spring.

I also changed the striker mechanism and gave it an earring.   Way more better.

 Older pictures and construction pictures

Ruby and Monica Rings

These are rings for my nieces.  Beryl on the left and Welo Opal on the right.

They seem to enjoy them!

Gold and Oxidized Sterling Ring - recycled

This is a 14k gold and Sterling ring I made for a friend.  

It is re-purposed from an older ring he no longer wore.

 

The blackish, purplish, bluish part is sterling with a liver of sulfur patina (oxidation).

It is hard to get a photo that shows the color-play

polished silver inside....

Here are some pictures of the construction:

it started as the ring on the right...

Ellensburg 39 jewel - sterling and gold

This was my first attempt at a Masonic Jewel.  It is a Past Masters Jewel for Ellensburg #39, to be given to Ron Graham the Master in 2014.

Shiny objects are hard to photograph.

Work in progress..... Construction pictures are below.

gold ring - modern take on a diamond ring

This is a ring I recently made for a friend.  It is 18k

The stone is off-set, on purpose......

Most rings are perfectly symmetrical.  Nature seems to prefer symmetry and to design objects that look good but are asymmetrical is really difficult.  

The other thing that always bothers me is that rings are nearly always made to be round in the inside.  Look at your finger.  Are you looking?  Is it round where a ring would go?  How is it supposed to fit?  Does it spin around when it shouldn't?

View from the bottom

Here it is on my finger:

Oxidized Sterling and Gold ring - Fall 2014

Here is a ring that I made for my wife, to sort of get back into the swing-of-things.

It is a simple sterling band with 14k gold and it has been oxidized using liver of sulfur.

 Some pictures of the construction:  Basically the gold was sweat soldered to sheet sterling, then rolled flat to 'smush' it together.  Smush is a technical term.

 This is what it looked like before the patina.

 The mixture of metals in the area where the solder alloyed with the sterling and gold creates some interesting differences in the patina.

Pretty fun.  I think it took about 4 hours, and I found all of my tools again.....

Silver and stone rings - Spring 2014

This is a grouping of silver rings from this spring.

Each is a little different, but there is a continuity or theme.

The stones are Chalcedony (orange),  Welo Opal (center) and Moonstone (grey)

There were going to be four, but I got a little overzealous with the torch on the last one....

planning.........

The Welo Opal, from Ethiopia, is so good that it looks fake, or maybe like there are batteries in it somewhere, but it is difficult to get a good photo.

This picture probably shows the colour the best.  It is unaltered, the photo and the stone, that is.

I like this one, even though it is not a normal shape for a man's ring.  This picture is before the stone was set, it doesn't sit so high on the last version.

Eye and heart Pendant - Sterling enamel and Ellensburg Blue

This is a piece I made for a co-worker as a present to his wife for their aniversary:

This side eventually held a stone, but maybe I didn't get a final picture.

Here are some pictures of the process:

Hammered Gold Ring 18k

This is another hammered gold ring, this time in 18k

This is a picture I took in my photography studio utilizing some innovative lighting techniques.

Actually my photography studio is my cell phone and the ring is sitting on an envelope on my desk.  The flash hit the shiny gold and made a pretty flower shape.

Anyway....   In my travels I came across this ring:

Marked Hidalgo 750.  750 is the European marking for 18k gold.  18/24 = .75%

 I looked around the dang old internet and found this: 

Repetition and Variation - Sterling Necklace

This is a Sterling Silver Necklace (with cording) that I made mostly for the CWU Student Art Show this spring.

Here are some pictures of the process used to make it:

Punch out some circles

made them into domes using the dapping block and hammers

aneal

this is the belly button technique.  once the dome is made, flip it over (anneal first) and push back through the center of the dome.  maybe a couple of times each way

I think they are more interesting visually of they are offset or just not perfectly alligned