22 June 2013
17 June 2013
14 June 2013
11 June 2013
Iron & Gold Ring- from a scythe.

I cut this ring from the chine of a 19th century scythe blade.
I cold forged this to the desired thickness. This kind of old iron blackens easily- a good contrast to the 18k gold ball.
My method for making the ball (you can just buy them):
-calculate volume of gold req'd
-melt gold into a round cavity in a charcoal block
-attach this resulting crude sphere to a brass rod
-fasten rod in drill (voila: rudimentary lathe)
-turn on drill and file the sphere to perfection as it spins. Then cut off the rod.
-It looks a bit 'hard' and 'perfect' at this stage. To soften the perfection, I then rolled the sphere round and round between two marble slabs imparting a nice stone texture.
A little olde world scythe inspiration:
6 June 2013
3 June 2013
Lapis Lazuli Lesssons
Gold and lapis lazuli beads.
Ur, souther Iraq. c.2600-2400BC
British Museum
Diadem. Southern Italy. c.250-200 BC.
Gold with lapis lazuli.This diffusion-bonded ornamentation is very tiny!
Note twisty wires (stone rolled), granulation (little balls) and
the mark-out scribe-lines on the substrate. A mix of crude and virtuoso!
British Museum.
Raymond Templier 1934
Brooch. White gold, glass, lapis lazuli.
V&A Museum.
Marco Zanini, 1983
Ring. Gold, coral and lapis lazuli
V&A Museum.
Plinth, Lapis lazuli (or is it blue marble?). Musei Capitolini.
Roman(?) I assume gold and lapis lazuli (?)
Amazing flatness and patina to modulate the rich colours.
Musei Capitolini
Following the lessons;
Keep it simple, let the gold and lapis lazuli do the work...
~Here, little ring I made for someone (their design),
she has much daintier and better-looking fingers I'm sure!
Gold and lapis lazuli.
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