Week 5
Ring project + engraving
I carried on with the ring project I started last week.
Now that I have the ring made, clean and polished, it is ready for engraving. The very first engraving pattern will be thin rice grains patterns disposed in squares on the ring. Each side of a square would equal two grains. To make sure they are all divided equally on the surface of the ring, I started by divided the ring in equal square sections. (See picture ring project 1) For that, I have used my compass and found the correct distance in which the last trace line would be at the exact same spot as the first one traced. Each distance measured by the compass would be delimited by a straight line going from each side of the shank. Once done, I crossed the diagonals of each section to create perfectly straight squares. (See picture ring project 2) It took a few tries as the rounded surface of the ring would make difficult to trace straight lines. The next step consisted in tracing the grains by hand with a thin pencil directly on the surface of the piece. It is important to trace them one section at a time as during engraving, the hand will maintain on the surface and therefore erase the grains precedingly traced. It is now ready for engraving.

picture ring project 1

picture ring project 2

With the engraving teacher, I then started the engraving process. I first practiced my engraving patterns on a copper piece. (See pictures ring project 3 and 4) I traced new directional lines accorded with the dimensions of my piece. Each square would have a 0.6mm side which is smaller than the exercises I have done before. I then practiced drawing the rice grains as well as the pattern that will be inside each square of the ring. It is a delicate pattern that involves 3 different types of engravers, and very thin lines going to different directions. When I felt confident, I started the grains on the piece. (See pictures ring project 5 and 6) It is in fact harder as the surface is not flat but silver is a softer material than copper which makes the engraver smoother to create. I’ll carry on next week.

picture ring project 3

picture ring project 4

picture ring project 5

picture ring project 6

Signet ring project
This week I started a new ring. It will be a handmade square silver signet ring, empty on the inside and thick enough to have engraving on the top and the sides of the ring. First, I needed to decide of the dimensions of the top surface. I went for a 1.5mm square. I therefore melted some silver, shaped it into a bar and rolled in in the rolling mill until reaching a 1.8mm thickness which is enough to engrave and set a stone on it. (See pictures signet ring 1 and 2)

pictures signet ring 1

pictures signet ring 2

I therefore traced the square on the silver bar and cut it. The struggle was to make a perfect square and have good angles, it took me quite a lot of filing time, but the result was then satisfying. (See pictures signet ring 3 and 4)

pictures signet ring 3

pictures signet ring 4

The next step was to create the tube that would be the inside of the ring and the last step of creation of the ring. It is important to start by it as we will need its dimensions to create the other parts of the ring later. The thickness of this part is 0.6mm and I gave it the dimensions of my index of the right hand which is size X = approximatively 20mm diameter. Like a normal ring, I shaped it, soldered it, and cleaned it. The teacher suggested me another step that should be useful later in the creation of the piece, filing one side of the tube more than the other to make it thinner and easier to insert in the main piece later. (See pictures signet ring 5 and 6) I’ll carry on with this project next week.

pictures signet ring 5

pictures signet ring 6