New Silver Rings!

These rings were first and foremost an exploration. I was just enjoying the process of trying something new, letting go of the need to produce something useful and just being curious. I began melting silver and seeing what I could do to form it, how would the silver react to being hammered, run through a mill or carved and sanded.  After awhile of this I thought hey, that looks like a flower and then I tried to maybe make a leaf shape and before I knew it a day had flown by and I had a bunch of little botanical elements that made me smile as I watched them emerge from little blobs of silver. After work I realized I was still thinking about this process,  I couldn't wait to get to work the next day. I spent the rest of the week making more leaf and flower shapes, honing the process a bit and seeing how they would look arranged together. When I started to from them into rings I had one of those moments where your head is just YES THIS IS IT! Each one starts the same and I followed the same steps to arrive at the end point but since there are so many little serendipitous moments in this process each one comes out a bit different and I think that's what makes them really special. 

Getting the weight and finish just right on them was something I spent a lot of time on.  I wanted them to have a nice substantial feeling while at the same time being really comfortable to wear.  I also wanted the finish to have oxidized contrast alongside very shiny and reflective highlights and to do this takes time.  I went back and forth polishing, oxidizing and then polishing again to achieve this and I love the way they turned out.  I also made sure to solder down every tiny detail so there isn't anything to be pulled up or come apart the whole band and all the accents are securely attached.  

I truly enjoyed the way they came together.  The day of free play followed by days of thinking a lot about how to incorporate what I had come up with and finally how to fine tune that into something I am truly proud of was in itself a joy and the fact that these are so cool is a really awesome bonus!  I hope you like them too :)