Rings, Rings and More Rings

People love rings, but I’ve always been hesitant to make them. I like small, but to make rings, one has to work very small. And, since most of my work focuses on chasing and repousse, I really hadn’t figured out how to make them and stay true to what I do. One of the posters in my booth at art shows is of my daisy bracelet, and I lost track of the number of people who came in wondering where that ring was. That got the wheels turning… Now that I’ve made so many different rings in my apprentice program, the wheels really started turning!

I decided to make some flower and sea turtle rings. The chasing is very small, since they are only about 1/2 inch in diameter. So small, in fact, that I needed to make some extra small chasing tools to be able to do it! Usually I make my chased pieces in two parts - I make the top section with the chasing, cut it out and solder it to a backing plate, and then cut it out again. I thought maybe I could chase directly on to a thicker piece of metal. I didn’t get near as much depth as I would if I were doing repousse (creating volume from the back of the piece), and I wasn’t in love with it at first. But, as I was working on the other rings I kept looking at it and it grew on me so I decided to use it. This takes less time than the rings made with both chasing and repousse, so it is one way I can keep some of the cost down.

I was then ready to try a fully chased and repousse flower and sea turtle. While I really like that first ring, I’m especially happy with how these turned out! My ultimate goal is to be able to use engraving to carve something similar to these - I would be able to add a lot more detail. Lots of practice in front of me to be able to do that, but in the meantime I will definitely be making more of these!

In the process of doing repousse (working from the back to create the depth). This always looks a bit messy!

After the chasing is all finished, before I cut them out.