It’s the first piece I’ve finished that actually LOOKS like proper jewelry someone would buy. It looks worn because it is, I haven’t taken it off since I finished it yesterday hahah
It started life as 5 pennies. I like the permanence of overbuilt things, so the shank is staying too thick. The alexanderite is synthetic, and honestly a pretty sub-par cut. But it wouldn’t have fit in the head if it wasn’t abnormally shallow, so I can’t really complain.
Beautiful! May I ask how you made it? I don’t know a thing about reshaping pennies. Do you own a blacksmith’s forge?
Copper has a low enough melting point that I’m able to just hit it with an oxygen-acetylene torch and turn the pennies into a solid little blob. Then I hammer that down to a somewhat regular size and shape that’ll fit in my rolling mill.
On this particular ring I ran either side through the mill while leaving a bulbous lump in the center. I was originally planning to set a moderately larger oval ruby in it, so I needed as much metal for the head as possible.
From there it was just minor shaping, setting the stone, and a long stint on the buff. The slanty body lines and slopes on the top are actually an artifact of the rolling mill step. The mill is older then me, and likes to consistently cockeye your stock to the left. But consistent angles make for pretty geometry!
Cool, thanks for the writeup! Looks great :D