60s Inspired flower ring

Here is my first ring for February.  It is made in faux bone in two pieces; the ring shank and the flower separately.  I then drilled the two sections and a small circular piece of sterling silver and riveted them all together.  I had filed the lines into both sections and added the alcohol ink before sanding back and then joining the pieces.  Faux bone is a great medium for practising rivets as it is very durable.  I wondered whether to make a spinner type ring but in the end opted for joining the sections firmly together so this one is static.

That big faux bone ring

Here is another view of one of the rings I posted yesterday.  I don't really like the finished thing but it has been  an interesting exercise in working out how to construct and assemble it.  First I roughly cut the circle in the faux bone.  I then measured it on a ring mandrel and used that as my 'size' for the art clay silver ring.  I rolled out the strip for the ring band and made the ring with the texture on the inside (it has text inside the band) and set it aside to dry.  I then rolled out a sheet of clay and textured it to match, cut the side plate, dried it and assembled and fired the art clay silver.   I had also made a little art clay silver stamp - this is my initials in reverse done with a photo polymer plate and it had a short post with a knob on it.  After firing I added a pin to the back of the plate using osp and re-firing the ring part with the post supported in a bit of kiln fibre, so that I could use the pin as a rivet (it shows on the previous picture).  I cut the texture on the top surface where the 'signet' is using a graving tool, the other marks are made using a file I have forgotten the name of (bought it from Robert Dancik).  I drilled a hole to take the peg of the signet and warmed the faux bone up so that I could push it in and it is held securely.  Filed the end of the peg smooth then inserted the silver ring into the faux bone.  I have used a bit of expoxy resin to stick the two sections together as didn't think the one rivet would really be enough - may have been if the fit had been really tight!  I then coloured the faux bone using alcohol inks and sanded then back to re-expose some of the white surface and sealed it with renaissance wax.

It has a small area cut out on the other flat surface where I put bits of gold leaf embedded in UV resin - the whole thing is really too messy for my taste but I have learned a lot in making it.

Inspired by birds, flight and travel

The ring I have made today is part of my Inspired by Heritage series of pieces.  It relates to all the early sketches I did of birds and feathers and the way in which bird motifs are used in all kinds of other objects.  I have also been thinking about the way in which birds feature in artefacts from cultures all over the world.

Based on the pattern I used yesterday.  This is cut from a sheet of faux bone, filed, sanded and hand engraved (I knew I would find a use for those gravers one day).  It is then dyed using alcohol inks and sanded back and polished.  There is a bit more variation in colour on the feather than appears in my photograph and because the faux bone is very lightweight it is quite comfortable to wear.

I have a huge debt of gratitude to Robert Dancik, the artist and teacher who developed faux bone for use in this way.  He is an inspirational teacher and if you get a chance to attend any of his classes then jump at it!  He is due to teach a class at West Dean from 15th to 19th February called 'A bead like no other' and also runs workshops at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery from time to time.

Remember me, ring or pendant

A reference to memory in the circle, flame and the ruby set into the faux bone and the shape inspired by pieces of whale bone from Whitby Museum.  The circle is also supposed to reference stitching (although I think I maybe should have drilled and stitched it with red thread).  It can be worn either as a ring or as a pendant, shown here on a ribbon hand dyed to match.  It is surprisingly comfortable for such a large piece but is also comforting to play with inside the hand.

It is made using Robert Dancik's Faux Bone sawn, filed, sanded and carved then dyed using with alcohol inks and re-sanded.  The ruby is a cabochon and is set by drilling a hole slightly smaller than the diameter of the stone, heating up the faux bone so that it becomes slightly soft and pushing the ruby in, then cooling the piece.

Back to work again

although in reality I have never been away.  As I live so close to my studio I have been in there at some point every day over the holiday period.  Today though I have decided that I need to be a bit more focussed and disciplined about what I do, now everyone else is back at work too.  I have been trying to make a set of glass beads for a bracelet but couldn't quite decide on the exact colour I wanted.  In theory I needed only 9 beads but now have the kiln on annealing a fairly large batch.  Some of them a light blue with flecks of gold; others or transparent with aventurine old gold frit so look quite dark.  I have experimented a bit with transparent and inclusions of fine silver (but had a fairly high failure rate so am not holding out much hope for these) and I ended up by making a few more of my odd bird beads.

I also finally got around to cutting a negative shape in faux bone to use in my press to form another bird shape from a thin sheet of sterling silver.  I still haven't really got to grips with press forming.  I can see the potential for making multiples of shapes but at the moment still have a preference for casting if I want to produce multiples of anything.  All that work and nothing to show you!

Robert Dancik's Faux bone workshop

Last weekend I attended a workshop run by Robert Dancik working in the medium of Faux Bone. It was inspirational and I could immediately see ways of incorporating it into my current work.

The first two pictures are of the Robert and the class up in Edinburgh and of my first attempt at using the faux bone. I also did another small piece but haven't really finished either of them or made them into anything.

When I got back into my own studio I just had to have another go and went to my sketchbook looking at ideas for beads for my Inspired by Heritage project. Here you can see I have had a couple of attempts at making beads for one of my charm bracelets. I don't think they are quite 'there' yet but definately work in progress. I am really excited about the potential of this and think it will add another level of interest to my project. Robert is an inspiring teacher and I would recommend you try and get onto one of his courses if you can. He is running a faux bone workshop at the beginning of September at the Mid Cornwall School of Jewellery.

Edinburgh

I have travelled up to Edinburgh to take part in Robert Dancik's 'faux bone' workshop and have spent a day learning a little bit about this very interesting material. Under Robert's guidance we have sawn, filed, sanded, scraped, scratched and bent our pieces and some of the group have made really lovely things. As usual it will take me quite a bit of time to get to grips with this stuff but I think I can already see ways of using it within pieces of my work. I will try and post some pictures when I get home but still another full day to go!