...as I started writing this post, I began to hear Single Ladies playing in my head...
There was a time when, if my daughter wanted to annoy me a little bit while we were spending some quality time in the car, she would begin to sing the chorus of Single Ladies (if she wanted to annoy me A LOT she would begin to hum Nutcracker music). I do miss my daughter, but honestly, I don't miss all those hours driving the mom bus afterschool, evenings and weekends (now I spend that time at the jewelry studio).
Over the past several months of buying larger stones for my pendants, I have accumulated quite a nice collection of "littles" that the lapidary artists have included as extras with my purchases. As I spread them out and looked at them recently, I thought "I should put a ring on that" (ok, what I really thought was "I should put that on a ring..."). The thing is - I hadn't made a ring since I took Fabrication 101, and I'd never put a bezel on a ring shank.
I had some wire odds and ends - small pieces of bezel and a length of 12 gauge round - so I started playing around with them and decided to take a day or two off from pendants, and try my hand at rings (pun intended).
Despite all the hours I've spent at the bench over the past few months, I actually approached this simple project with a little bit of trepidation. The only rings I wear are my wedding and anniversary bands, so I hadn't had much interest in - or given much thought to - making any other ones.
I was pleasantly surprised at just how quickly and easily I could create some simple stacking rings. There are some things that require special attention - like making sure not to melt the much smaller bezels, and lining up the ring shank with the backplate to make sure the stone sits in the right place.Over the course of the afternoon, I worked up the beginnings of a nice little collection - and was limited only by the length of wire I had to make the bands. I got three nice pieces assembled and I've ordered more wire to go with the rest of the small stones.
Not only do the rings go together relatively quickly - especially compared to the large pendants with the cut outs on the back - they require a lot less silver. The pendants are large, complex and expensive, and it will be really nice to be have some pieces in my Etsy shop at a price below $50.
So - if you like what you see, hop on over to the shop - and put a ring on it.
Until next time.
It's amazing what can be done with those small overlooked pieces that we have, mixed in with the more typical supplies. They also offer a nice opportunity to expand the product line and price point. The ideal projects do this while still sticking so closely to the store theme that customers are not confused by their placement in the shop.
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