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  • Making simple Jewelry

    I feel sure that I have already produced such a thread, but I can't find it, so...........

    I enjoy making very simple jewelry such as rings, badges, brooches and castings of sea shells. To caste a ring in metal I usually have to make a model of it in wood, and if this will only be used once then I'll cut out the casting model in a cheap softwood, but if it will be used often I will cut it out in ebony.

    Sometimes I like wearing wooden rings and many years ago I made 'wedding' rings in walnut for wife and self to commemorate our wooden anniversary.....mine is shown in the picture below, leaning on the hardwood block. Next to my wedding ring, that is my most valuable piece of jewelry.

    But casting in metals is my main activity. To get things going I will show three photos, a collection of wooden models or blanks, a pair of ring bands in rose silver and electrum, and two rings with stones, again in electrum and one in rose silver.

    P1030059.JPGP1030060.JPGP1030061.JPG

  • #2
    Very nice! What are the stones you used in the two rings pictured?


    Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

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    • #3
      Originally posted by mossrose View Post
      Very nice! What are the stones you used in the two rings pictured?
      Nothing special, I only make inexpensive items as a rule..... the only reason that the metal in the star ruby is electrum is because the lady recipient cannot wear silver for long periods and the spare gold ring which I had was not quite big enough for the casting, hence a small silver addition.. My stuff is usually just silver!

      The pink stone is a star-ruby which I have had for ages; I'm sure that it was a lab-created stone.... probably cost £10.
      The Opal is an inexpensive lab-creation, I have purchased much better ones but that was the only one of its size that I had left.

      You will notice that as far as ring-setting goes I just cheat. The tiniest drop of gorilla glue holds any stone to metal and I have never known it to fail.
      (Sorry about my tatty fingernails!)
      P1030043.JPGP1030049.JPG

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      • #4
        I do enjoy making castings of sea shells, and they make good gifts.
        But I don't often cast in silver because of its cost. The little oyster in the picture is only 3.5" in length and so I cast it in silver some time ago, but I won't be doing that again...... it weighs 13 ounzes and in scrap value its silver is worth about £300 today... the cockle shell weighs 2 ounzes and so even that is an expensive casting.

        For years I have purchased old damaged pewter items at boot fairs and after cleaning the molten metal and casting it in to ingots I can test it and mark it according to type and quality. With this I can cast larger items........
        P1030062.JPGP1030063.JPG

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        • #5
          Originally posted by eider View Post

          Nothing special, I only make inexpensive items as a rule..... the only reason that the metal in the star ruby is electrum is because the lady recipient cannot wear silver for long periods and the spare gold ring which I had was not quite big enough for the casting, hence a small silver addition.. My stuff is usually just silver!

          The pink stone is a star-ruby which I have had for ages; I'm sure that it was a lab-created stone.... probably cost £10.
          The Opal is an inexpensive lab-creation, I have purchased much better ones but that was the only one of its size that I had left.

          You will notice that as far as ring-setting goes I just cheat. The tiniest drop of gorilla glue holds any stone to metal and I have never known it to fail.
          (Sorry about my tatty fingernails!)
          P1030043.JPGP1030049.JPG
          I thought that was an opal! My engagement ring had opals in it, so I am fond of those.

          They all look lovely, including the shells!


          Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by mossrose View Post

            I thought that was an opal! My engagement ring had opals in it, so I am fond of those.

            They all look lovely, including the shells!
            Thank you for those kind comments........
            It is a laboratory made stone........... the real items are somewhat more expensive....

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            • #7
              Cuttlefish bones can be prepared and used to cast jewelry items. If I was running short of these I would go to the beach and just pick them up, dry them and so I could always have them handy for casting. But the problem with CBs is that they have a strong grain in them, and however smooth an impression in the CB, the casted metal will show this 'grain' on its surface.
              xx.jpg

              I prefer to use very fine sand-clay and casting 'shells'. Pictures enclosed show how fine and unblemished a mould in clay can be, and another shows a collection of casting shells.

              P1030064.JPG
              P1030065.JPG

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              • #8
                Originally posted by eider View Post

                Thank you for those kind comments........
                It is a laboratory made stone........... the real items are somewhat more expensive....
                Oh, I know they are costly. Some lab grown stones are just as beautiful as the natural ones.


                Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by mossrose View Post

                  Oh, I know they are costly. Some lab grown stones are just as beautiful as the natural ones.
                  Yes.... absolutely! I am a great fan of cubic zirconias in various colours, and inexpensive stones that imitate high value ones, like lab opals.
                  My wife has collected gemstones in rings for decades and has some very valuable items and that is her hobby (she never wears any 'hobby rings', only items that have personal value). This gives me the opportunity to discover look-a-like stones, for example the massively expensive Brazilian tourmaline called Matuca Indicolite can be imitated almost perfectly by the much less expensive 'London Blue Topaz' .

                  I sometimes hear about people who own, say, a massively high value necklace and have an imitation one made to wear to social functions...... If a person can achieve a £100,000 affect with £1000 then I think that is excellent. I've got a clear CZ that is so large that if a diamond it would be worth scores of millions..... in fact I have got several rising in size from a few millimeters to 50mm. Hang on...... that's yet another picture, I think.......
                  Why? I got the chance to buy one from china for £50 and thought that I would risk that deal, and it's such a good conversation piece, and surprisingly heavy compared with glass. In the UK such large CZs can cost £300.

                  P1030070.JPG

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                  • #10
                    Nice!

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                    • #11
                      I have become fond of several stones over the years. I received, from my then boyfriend, an alexandrite ring for my 16th birthday. When we broke up I offered to return it to him but he told me to keep it.

                      I love how it changes colour depending on whether it is in artificial or natural light. I had it appraised about 25 years ago, and it is synthetic, but very good quality. The stone itself, about 1/4" in diameter, was worth about $100 when I had it appraised, and the setting is gold. No idea what he paid for it, let's see, 52 years ago. I don't wear it very much, since I don't want to offend Mr. mossy, although I don't believe he really cares very much. I don't wear any rings right now because I've lost weight and they all fall off my hands.

                      My mother was very fond of emeralds, as that is her birthstone. I have come to love those, as well. I have 2 rings, one purchased for me by Mr. mossy, and one given to me from him, that belonged to his great-grandmother. That one is an antique by now. Those will pass to Buckwheat when she is a little older. Her birthday is 3 days after my mother's, so emerald is also her birthstone.

                      My stone of choice in the past decade or so is tanzanite. I adore the blue-purple colour, so much prettier than amethyst. I have a couple of rings, and a necklace and earring set with that stone, all gifted to me by my husband.


                      Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

                      Comment


                      • #12
                        Originally posted by mossrose View Post
                        I have become fond of several stones over the years. I received, from my then boyfriend, an alexandrite ring for my 16th birthday. When we broke up I offered to return it to him but he told me to keep it.

                        I love how it changes colour depending on whether it is in artificial or natural light. I had it appraised about 25 years ago, and it is synthetic, but very good quality. The stone itself, about 1/4" in diameter, was worth about $100 when I had it appraised, and the setting is gold. No idea what he paid for it, let's see, 52 years ago. I don't wear it very much, since I don't want to offend Mr. mossy, although I don't believe he really cares very much. I don't wear any rings right now because I've lost weight and they all fall off my hands.
                        Many years ago I purchased an octagon cut lab alexandrite of about 4 carats for my wife and had it set in to a pendant. She still has it.... as you know a russian alexandrite can be extremely expensive, but then it would only do what a synthetic one can and would be a horrid risk.

                        My mother was very fond of emeralds, as that is her birthstone. I have come to love those, as well. I have 2 rings, one purchased for me by Mr. mossy, and one given to me from him, that belonged to his great-grandmother. That one is an antique by now. Those will pass to Buckwheat when she is a little older. Her birthday is 3 days after my mother's, so emerald is also her birthstone.
                        Lovely gemstones...... many years ago, if I was passing by Piccadilly in London I would walk up the Burlington Arcade to look in the windows of the Jewelers' shops. The most exotic cases would be open to show complete collections of jewelry in either diamond, emerald, sapphire or ruby. The gemstones were all so huge, and those four gemstones were the only ones that those jewelers offered for sale. Most of those shops were gone when I last walked the arcade, about 13 years ago,.

                        My wife has an emerald gemstone ring of about one carat, but good emeralds can be worth a car!

                        My stone of choice in the past decade or so is tanzanite. I adore the blue-purple colour, so much prettier than amethyst. I have a couple of rings, and a necklace and earring set with that stone, all gifted to me by my husband.
                        Oh wow! Tanzanite is my wife's favourite gemstone! Your stones will be of the highest quality and I know that from your description. blue-purple...... four star quality. And a necklace?........ wow! My wife has two 3.5 carat rings, an oval and an octagon, but my favourite is a one carat oval which is in her collection. She tends to collect one carat gemstone rings to make a consistent collection but she bust her rules with tanzanite! She always wanted a trillion cut tanzanite of about 2 carats but on the few occasions that we saw one they were just too expensive, so I cheated..... I purchased an inexpensive trillion cut in a gold ring, purchased a tanzanite colour cz from a cz dealer and exchanged one stone for t'other in the ring. Impossible for a lay person to ever tell, and she doesn't mind wearing it out...... her genuine stones stay home!

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                        • #13
                          Originally posted by eider View Post
                          Many years ago I purchased an octagon cut lab alexandrite of about 4 carats for my wife and had it set in to a pendant. She still has it.... as you know a russian alexandrite can be extremely expensive, but then it would only do what a synthetic one can and would be a horrid risk.


                          Lovely gemstones...... many years ago, if I was passing by Piccadilly in London I would walk up the Burlington Arcade to look in the windows of the Jewelers' shops. The most exotic cases would be open to show complete collections of jewelry in either diamond, emerald, sapphire or ruby. The gemstones were all so huge, and those four gemstones were the only ones that those jewelers offered for sale. Most of those shops were gone when I last walked the arcade, about 13 years ago,.

                          My wife has an emerald gemstone ring of about one carat, but good emeralds can be worth a car!


                          Oh wow! Tanzanite is my wife's favourite gemstone! Your stones will be of the highest quality and I know that from your description. blue-purple...... four star quality. And a necklace?........ wow! My wife has two 3.5 carat rings, an oval and an octagon, but my favourite is a one carat oval which is in her collection. She tends to collect one carat gemstone rings to make a consistent collection but she bust her rules with tanzanite! She always wanted a trillion cut tanzanite of about 2 carats but on the few occasions that we saw one they were just too expensive, so I cheated..... I purchased an inexpensive trillion cut in a gold ring, purchased a tanzanite colour cz from a cz dealer and exchanged one stone for t'other in the ring. Impossible for a lay person to ever tell, and she doesn't mind wearing it out...... her genuine stones stay home!
                          Your wife has excellent taste!

                          None of my jewelry has very large stones. The alexandrite is the biggest one. But I like the delicate ones I have. I expect the emeralds from my husband's great-grandmother would be the most valuable. It had 4 small square cut stones set in a line down the middle of a square, with tiny diamonds on both sides of the line. The square has been turned sideways and the setting is platinum.

                          Sadly, when it came into my possession, 2 of the emeralds had been lost, so we took it to a jeweller friend of ours who had it for months, looking for emeralds to replace the 2 lost ones. He found a single stone with the perfect matching colour, but it couldn’t be cut into 2 tiny squares, so we chose to leave it as one piece. It’s fine, the ring looks a bit odd, but I don’t mind, and I know my granddaughter won’t, either. I do expect that it’s lost quite a bit of it’s value, though.

                          If I remember I’ll take a picture of it later and post it.


                          Securely anchored to the Rock amid every storm of trial, testing or tribulation.

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                          • #14
                            Originally posted by eider View Post

                            Yes.... absolutely! I am a great fan of cubic zirconias in various colours, and inexpensive stones that imitate high value ones, like lab opals.
                            My wife has collected gemstones in rings for decades and has some very valuable items and that is her hobby (she never wears any 'hobby rings', only items that have personal value). This gives me the opportunity to discover look-a-like stones, for example the massively expensive Brazilian tourmaline called Matuca Indicolite can be imitated almost perfectly by the much less expensive 'London Blue Topaz' .

                            I sometimes hear about people who own, say, a massively high value necklace and have an imitation one made to wear to social functions...... If a person can achieve a £100,000 affect with £1000 then I think that is excellent. I've got a clear CZ that is so large that if a diamond it would be worth scores of millions..... in fact I have got several rising in size from a few millimeters to 50mm. Hang on...... that's yet another picture, I think.......
                            Why? I got the chance to buy one from china for £50 and thought that I would risk that deal, and it's such a good conversation piece, and surprisingly heavy compared with glass. In the UK such large CZs can cost £300.

                            P1030070.JPG
                            FWIU, insurance companies have been known to require owners to wear a high quality imitation of their real jewelry to big events.

                            I'm always still in trouble again

                            "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                            "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                            "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by mossrose View Post

                              Your wife has excellent taste!

                              None of my jewelry has very large stones. The alexandrite is the biggest one. But I like the delicate ones I have. I expect the emeralds from my husband's great-grandmother would be the most valuable. It had 4 small square cut stones set in a line down the middle of a square, with tiny diamonds on both sides of the line. The square has been turned sideways and the setting is platinum.

                              Sadly, when it came into my possession, 2 of the emeralds had been lost, so we took it to a jeweller friend of ours who had it for months, looking for emeralds to replace the 2 lost ones. He found a single stone with the perfect matching colour, but it couldn’t be cut into 2 tiny squares, so we chose to leave it as one piece. It’s fine, the ring looks a bit odd, but I don’t mind, and I know my granddaughter won’t, either. I do expect that it’s lost quite a bit of it’s value, though.

                              If I remember I’ll take a picture of it later and post it.
                              Do you still have any of the pieces that Crow sent you?

                              I'm always still in trouble again

                              "You're by far the worst poster on TWeb" and "TWeb's biggest liar" --starlight (the guy who says Stalin was a right-winger)
                              "Overall I would rate the withdrawal from Afghanistan as by far the best thing Biden's done" --Starlight
                              "Of course, human life begins at fertilization that’s not the argument." --Tassman

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