Hollow ring project

Been working on our last project. I started out with a lot of sketches and designs, this project was particularly hard to figure out what I wanted to do. Not sure why, but maybe its because I am rather uninterested in big rings.

I finally came up a design I like. Its a bit simplistic, but I think it is interesting enough and will certainly be a challenge, especially with the amount of time we have to work. 

From here I made a paper model of what I wanted.

I dont know if I would wear this regularly... but I suppose that is the hollow ring style for you. From here I made the ring out of copper. I had to get my ring size and carefully measure and cut it, then bend the ends together and solder it. Turned out pretty well. 

From here I also had to do the same process for a brass ring and shaped it into the form I wanted the ring to be in, then solder it closed. Because I want to have holes in my plates, I could close the brass ring. Once I had these two, I soldered them onto my copper plate. This proved difficult (as always with soldering). Thankfully, Justine helped me solder this together by adding another touch to the bottom, increasing the heat and the solder finally melted in place, though it took a few tries. She also gave me some good tips for soldering!

Big dipper constellation from behind

I am thinking of doing some salt etching to the copper plates, because I think it looks a bit simple as it is now. I am not sure though, because I cant think of something that will go with my design. I also cant do anything else until monday when we have saw blades to work with. Hope I will have enough time to finish. 

new project

So this new project proved to be quite the task! I had lots of plans for it, and in the end I deviated a lot, but I am happy with how it turned out.

Getting started with the project is always the hardest part, but I started off by working on some jump rings and making some organic shapes. This on its own proved to be terribly difficult and tedious, mostly due to the tiny soldering precision needed. I had to re-make a lot of the bars until I was able to make a shape I was happy with. I made the chains out of brass as I liked the yellow/gold look, and I wanted the flower itself to be a stained copper. I considered painting it, but I liked the metal shades. I thought there was something very pretty about the brass yellow and the pinkish copper together that went with my piece. However, the brass chain made cleaning the solder seams extremely difficult. no matter how much i sanded away, I simply couldn't get it clean enough!! If I colored it, I think it would look a bit tacky. I have always found the rustic look a bit appealing

I had a very difficult time getting the flower together. Mostly the soldering. Always the soldering! But I am learning and the practice is helping I think. I often try to get as many tips as I can from those around, and I am improving. at least a little. I started out with a plate of copper and thinned it quite a bit to make it lighter and more flexible.

I liked bending the flower to an organic shape, it felt like sculpting, something I am more familiar with. However, in retrospect, I would have done some things in a different order. I would have soldered the inner ring, the two back coiled sticks that go into the hair, and the chains BEFORE I etched and shaped the flower. But having etched the flower before I soldered left a lovely affect of the solder bleeding into the etched grooves in the center of the flower. I with the ring in the center turned out neater though. Really frustrating. I think I took the torch to that flower at least 10 times. The advanced students were helpful in giving me some advice as I worked through my struggles, and in the end I am happy with how it turned out.

the struggle of getting good photos of shiny things... photography is legit business. Anyway, I hope to wear this when my hair grows long enough to have it in a bun! I think turned out how I intended it to,  I wanted it to be like the lovely hair japanese hair pins I saw many fancy dressed girls wore while I was in japan.