Monday, April 30, 2007

I Made A Ring

Successfully this time! Sunday my mom and I took a "Making A Ring" class at the Jewelry Arts Expo held this year at the very nice Chase Center on the Riverfront in Wilmington, DE. The man running the class is apparently someone well known in jewelry circles but since I don't tend to run in jewelry circles I didn't realize it at the time. His name is Alan Revere and he founded the Revere Academy of Jewelry Arts. He was a very good instructor and I think that was the most successful class I've ever taken.

Somewhere around lunch time we were to have our rings soldered at the seam and this being my first attempt at jewelry soldering, I was a nervous wreck. It came out beautifully, it was a heck of a lot easier than I thought and frankly when I look at the inside of my band, I can't even see where I joined the ends of the ring together. After hours of filing and sanding (and I mean that literally!) I used the narrow end of a cross peen hammer to make the textured outer edge of the ring. My mom, after hours of filing and sanding, took the wide end of the hammer to make a hammered edge. We laughed about all the work we'd done to make it smooth only to mark it all up again with a hammer!

We took the rings home and put them in the polisher but I think it could still stand to have a little hand polish done. When Alan polished his in class with some rouge and a felt stick, it really shined!

So without further ado, here is how my ring started:


And here is the final result:


I am so proud of myself!

8 comments:

GDS said...

Wow, that's a nifty piece of work.
So, you used a cross peen hammer instead of a ball peen hammer?

Deb said...

How cool, Sara. Very impressive. So have you been bitten by the bug now and ready to take on a new hobby??

Anonymous said...

That is totally cool, Sara! You've always been so crafty so it doesn't come as a surprise to me. ;) WTG!

Sara Laughs said...

Hey Greg, Yes it was a cross peen hammer. We didn't know what it was before class either and went to Sears to see if they carried them there. They had a hammer that looked exactly the same but they didn't call it a cross peen hammer, they called it something else that I can't remember. Maybe cross peen is a jeweler's term?

mel said...

I think you forget the whole ball peen hammer "incident". Maybe she wasnt there for that, Greg. Remember there was that time she was off at some camp and you,a certain el-camino driving guy, mom and I would play board games. We played Scrabble...scrabble with that certain el-camino driving guy who used the word peen. He kept putting out odd words all through the game. If I'm remembering right, Mom kept challenging and losing. Then he put down "peen" and Mom wanted to challenge, but was afraid to. You'll have to help me here Greg, didnt someone add and "er" to make the word "peener?" As in "One who peens?" I'm pretty sure that one didnt stand. In the words of Cosmo Farie (farie odd parents) "Good times, Goooood times." Yes, I watch too much T.V. with the kids.

mel said...

Oh, and apparently at 1:53 in the morning, I can't type or spell. LOL (and don't ask me why I'm up at nearly 2 am)

Anonymous said...

That is SO COOL! I would totally wear a ring like that. Seeing all of your projects makes me want to take jewelry classes!

Anonymous said...

Bravo