Something a bit different

My girls love the friendship bracelets that you see everywhere. I thought it would be a good to make some using up small bits of left over silver. Took me a while to work out a way to make them adjustable, in the end using a simple coil of silver, flattened. I used naturally dyed hemp which I waxed using the beeswax block I use on my saw blades.

If I was a bit younger I would wear one myself!

A trio of rings

Three new rings for my Etsy shop Tripoli and Rouge

Something a bit more chunky, as always rustic, a large hammered wide band, after soldering looked like this.....

It is more difficult to solder thicker larger pieces of silver because it is difficult to get the silver hot enough before it oxidised, and once oxidised the solder will not melt. I find the trick is to aim the flame anywhere but the joint until its almost pink, then move down to the joint.

Here is the finished ring, hammered, dipped in liver of sulpher and polished.

This one is a variation of my original knot ring (the most favourited item in Tripoli and Rouge) - similar knot, but different shank.

And this last one is actually the ring I made here, etched from a leaf skeleton photo, and now made into a spinner ring.

I didn't know how to flare the edges of the main ring once the spinning ring was slipped on. Various articles I read said to use a bordering hammer, but I couldn't see how, or find any pictures. In the end I used a large steel tool that father-in-law had given me (in case it came in useful one day and now it has). I put the ring on leather, to protect the bottom, and hammered the ball of the tool in to the top of the ring. Then reversed the ring and did the same the other side. It did the job but I think I need to buy a hammer with a big ball end, that would work better....