My amazing, intelligent, kind, loving, incredible and gorgeous daughter is leaving on Sunday. She is going to start her away from home adventure. She has been attending a local college but has been accepted into Texas A&M University's Mays Business School (whoop!).
A few months back she asked me to make her a ring. I was given a few rare turquoise cabs by my father. He had these left over from his metalsmithing days waaaaay back in the day and he passed them on to me. My daughter picked out a gorgeous piece and I promised I'd make her a ring.
Fast forward (really fast) to today and I realize she is leaving in just two days. Wow! I made it my mission to get up early and make this ring for her before she left. And here is where it began.
My first issue was that I could not get my solder to flow. Occasionally I'll have that problem and I never know what will cause this. It just seems to happen. It took three tries to work. Finally I got it to flow.
Then, my torch ran out of gas (which may be the reason for the aforementioned problem. The flame was probably just not hot enough.) So, off to the store to get more gas. I knew my tank was low but, hey, procrastination is my best friend!
The band around the bezel caused me fits. It was so hard to fit properly and, when I was stamping the first one (yep, the one pictured is the second one) I stamped too hard and cut it. So I had to do it again.
The ring bands were not too hard as I am used to doing those and I have my system down.
I put a couple little embellishments on the underside of the ring. My "tst" and a little heart with a cross.
After patina-ing and polishing I went to test the stones fit...the first time. Now, remember I am used to working with calibrated stones. They are consistently sized and consistently shaped.
The very FIRST step I did wrong. I soldered the bezel on upside down!!! Do you see? The stone has a little belly on the right side but the bezel has it on the left side! I flipped the bezel over. D'oh!
Now everything, with exception of the ring bands, has to be redone. The band around the bezel and the plate both have to be re-done because they fit the mirror image of the stone. *sigh*
On the bright side, she loves the ring and is okay with getting it in the mail next week. I told you she was amazing!
Oh Amy! It's gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteI love that you put embellishments on the bottom. I'm sure the final product is going to be absolutely wonderful - something that will be passed down through the family.
&Congrats again to your daughter! (She, is beautiful!! I hope she knows that!) She's going to have a great time on her own. It's a real learning experience. &you know she'll be back for the holidays. (:
It's going to be a beautiful ring- for a beautiful girl!!! I totally get what you're saying about doing it all wrong and having to keep starting over- I do that with my cuffs ALL the time. It's so frustrating!!
ReplyDeleteBummer! A mistake we all make. At least you'll never do it again! All the best to your daughter as she begins the next phase of her journey. I'm dreading the day my girls leave...
ReplyDeleteThis ring is GORGEOUS.
ReplyDelete