This ring is a proof-of-concept for a design that's been sloshing around in my head for a while. There are a few designers out there who make some variation of a 'birch bark' ring or necklace, etc. I've never really thought that they looked overly inspiring. Here's my attempt:
My thought process with the brass daps was that they would look like falling leaves in the autumn. Birch and aspen trees in the fall are my absolute favourite... they're so beautiful. Looking at it now, I should have taken the time to shape the daps into little leaves. I thought that the vague circular shape would still get the point across and allow me to keep my fingertips.
Anyway, here's how the process went... I decided on a size for the ring, and measured & marked on the silver where to cut.
Next I used my line stamp to create the beautiful birch bark texture:
Then started bending it to shape:
And soldering the ends together:
As the band was soaking in the citric acid pickle after soldering, I went ahead and used my circle punch to cut the little brass circles:
When the band came out of the pickle, I hammered it round, and began filing and sanding the edges nice and smooth.
This amazing tool, usually found in a plumber's kit, makes it super quick and easy for me to take the sharp edge off the inside of the band so that it's super comfy for whoever wears it. It's called a pipe deburring tool:
Now that we more or less have a lovely, wearable ring, it's time to take the extra steps to make it look even cooler:
Little brass bits with solder on top waiting to the heat:
After I soldered them onto the ring, which was a bit of a challenge (hence no photos) I used liver of sulphur to oxidize, so that the birch stripes would look bold and black, like they do in nature:
After sanding away the excess oxidization, we're left with this:
I am, admittedly, not super happy with this design. That being said, I am not giving up on this idea, and I had to start somewhere. This is the 1st of I'm sure several tries to get this design to where I want it to be... I think I can take it quite a bit farther but I don't want to over-complicate it. I will probably wear this one out and about to see how I like it, and if it gets any feedback from strangers. What do you think?
