Ring a Month 2019 - February

The theme announced for February for the Make a Ring a Month Challenge was MUSIC & LYRICS. This was a very open theme to be interpreted in any way we wanted to.

It didn't take me too long to decide that I wanted to represent a song and I had an idea for what! 

So, a little side waffle first!! 😉 If you read my RAM January blog post then you'll know I signed up for this year long challenge without properly reading all the info, so I was somewhat taken aback when the first theme was announced as I hadn't realised there was going to be themes!! 😂 Anyway...before the January theme was announced I'd actually had an idea for a ring to make, but then I decided it didn't really fit January's theme. 

I realised that ring would be perfect for the February theme as it fitted a song from an album I've always loved. The idea for making the ring came to me while watching BBC Bargain Hunt (a programme about buying antiques and collectables then selling them at auction) . One of the items was an old wooden paddle with a carved chain link style design along the shaft of it. 

I sat there watching thinking I'm sure I could do that in silver clay. Frustratingly I can't find an image of what I saw to show you, I've tried a lot of online searching but given up. You'll have to take my word on this :)

I worked out the way the link design was made was actually really easy to do. 

I started out making a plain D ring shaped band in silver clay. OK, so I forgot to photograph that bit 😉 Just imagine a plain D ring here...

Then I marked up where each link would be with a pencil and carved a groove for the end of each 'link'. 

I carved out on each side of the centre top 'links' to get the shape....

...and evened it up a bit around the ring...

although a bit of wonkiness always adds some character 😏 ...

..then I neatened it all up a tad more.

Next came the refining. For this I used baby wipes.

The aim was to round off the edges of each

'link' so they started to look like they went though each other...

...and I worked my way around the whole ring, stopping to dry every now and then (the ring, not me! 😃 ) The baby wipes add moisture as I work so care is needed not to make the clay too soggy. 

Finally it started to look more like a chain link design 😁

And then I fired it, polished it and patinated it.

I was quite pleased with the result - I think it does look like chain link!

An unending chain of love.

It's quite a narrow ring and is very comfortable to wear.

Here's a short video to give you a better idea of the unendingness ...

...oh, and the song that inspired it...

'I can still hear you saying

You would never break the chain.'

'Chain, keep us together...'

Yes, I'm sure you've guessed by now!!! ;)

From the Album Rumours by Fleetwood Mac

The Chain

  

I've really enjoyed trying something totally new to me for this ring.

My plan of using up some of my spare clay elements that I have laying around went totally out the window for this ring - but never mind 😇

Until next time...

Have fun!

Joy x

Ring A Month 2019 - January

I decided it was time to join a challenge again so for 2019 I've joined the Ring A Month 2019 challenge started by the lovely Anna Campbell-Hall.

When Anna first posted that she was going to do this challenge and would anyone like to join her I immediately clicked to join. It was one of those impulse things, I love ring making and I'd already decided I wanted to do some sort off challenge in 2019. It was perfect! 

I was busy thinking out what my first ring would be when Anna posted the theme for the January - which rather took me by surprise - because in all the excitement to join it turned out I'd only read the first half of her post about the challenge!!! 😄. I'd completely missed that there would be a theme for each month!! This actually was a good thing as instead of making some easy ring that just sprang to mind now I would have to do a bit more thinking - making it an even better challenge for the year.

So I got making. I didn't really have a plan so I made a plain wide band with natural uneven edges and went from there. First I added varying sized holes around the band.

I then decided it would be a good thing, over the course of the year, to try to use some of the many dried clay elements I have laying around, and I have lots!! This box has teeny, tiny bits in. I chose some textured discs of clay to fit behind some of the holes on the band.

I added them from the inside of the band to create some textured recesses. I tried to make sure every texture I used was different. One or two are similar but no two are actually the same. 

Once I'd filled as many of the holes as I wanted I drew a pattern onto the plain areas with pencil to see how it would look. I'm not a great fan of plain silver so by carving in a design I could fill up some of the area. 

I thought that looked okay so I went ahead and carved the design onto the surface using a combination of the tip of a needle file and a tiny balled headed burnisher tool. 

You can see in the recess at the front in the photo below that one of the circular textures had a little crack in it. I did debate filling the crack, but as it didn't go all the way through I left it as it was - it added more texture!!!! 😉

Um...there was still still quite a bit of plain silver left so I went with my normal filler when doing designs that I feel are a bit empty. If in doubt add some dots, they always seem to work! 😂 

Finally I did a bit of carving to the edges of the band to make it a more interesting shape.

Finished and ready for firing. It went off into the kiln and was fired at 820C for an hour plus.

After polishing the ring I used some patina to make the recesses dark and to highlight the textures. 

Here's a short video of the ring so you can see all around it. 

I quite like the outcome. I've certainly never made a ring by this method before, and I'm sure I wouldn't of done without the challenge - maybe I will develop this technique more in the future :)

Now I will patiently wait to find out what the theme for February's ring will be! 

Have fun!

Joy x