Wednesday, January 13, 2010

Custom Sonas Ring

This ring is sterling silver with the word 'sonas' (Gaelic for happiness) pierced through the ring in the ancient Ogham alphabet. The band is about 5/16" wide.











It was created as a custom design. This was the first Ogham ring I tried making. I enjoyed making it because the process reminded me of the first rings I made in jewelry class. Were we started with a sheet of metal then cut and formed a ring out of it. Filing the joint so it lines up before soldering.

I am very pleased with how this ring turned out but am not planning on continuing with this style for several reasons. The first being the piercing process would not adapt well to narrower bands. The main reason is a stability factor while sizing the ring. Before I worked on this in sterling silver I did a test run in copper.

I started with the design printed on a piece of paper that I spray mounted to the metal. For balance in this design I added a second drill hole to the end of the word.



The part I wasn't pleased with when making the test ring became apparent when I started to form the ring. Because 'sonas' is cut through the metal it created a weaker point at the top of the O and A causing the letter to spread on one side (shown on right). I was able to avoid that while forming and sizing the sterling ring because I saw it as an issue in the copper test ring. Though I have found that it is possible to avoid the letters spreading as they did, this design will be left as a one of a kind.

The process of testing to see what works and what doesn't is part of what I love about custom work. It gives me a chance to play with designs I may not have thought of otherwise and to push the boundaries of what I can make.

5 comments:

  1. This is an awesome ring. I love unqiue and it certainly qualifies!



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  2. i have actually been searching high and low for a ring exactly like what you made for my up and coming wedding! it is too bad that it is a one of a kind! i have been looking for something with gra but to no avail! it is an extremely beautiful and truely unique piece!

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  3. Ray,

    Thank you for your positive comments. I actually have some good news for you. The pierced (cut through the metal) version shown here is one I won't be doing again, however, I have made a few with the Ogham stamped into the ring and that is a style that I am planning on adding into my line. If you send me an e-mail at ash@unicornsgarden.com I would be more than happy to send you photos of the ones I have done so far and discuss this further with you.

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  4. Now a days this kind of rings are fashionable. Thanks for sharing. I hope to see more creativity of your work. Its nice to see such things.

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