My Precious

[mclien]

I finally had timeto do a special for mainly @Splintercat who first came up with it and some who also liked the idea like @DrHAX and @rygD.

It's not final, more a proof of concept, but be warned:
only those of the fellowship who have proven strong willed should open the spoiler to see the one Pyra ring..

Spoiler: my precious

Last chance to think otherwise (ok, I didn't know how to embed it) (Awesome mod FTFY)

modell is copper on silver, silver is hammered to imitate dragon scales

 

[FBnil]

Man, this is creative. A true ring of power!

 

[ible]

yes, i can sense its power. also i like the greeble on the ring proper.

 

[atari_afternoon]

Beautiful art

 

[Magic Sam]

Hi all

@mclien : beautiful piece of work ! These rings deserve to be on sale at @EvilDragon 's shop.

Just pretend ED is Smaug the dragon if you want to remain in Tolkien's lore

Cheers, Magic Sam

 

[Silent-Hunter]

Hi all

@mclien : beautiful piece of work ! These rings deserve to be on sale at @EvilDragon 's shop.

Just pretend ED is Smaug the dragon if you want to remain in Tolkien's lore

Cheers, Magic Sam

But Smaug would never sell anything! Would he?

 

[levi]

As I remember Smaug mainly coveted gold. Maybe silver would be precious enough to be covered, but copper is still sold for a couple of bucks a pound despite recent market volatility, while silver is about $20 per ounce (while gold is about six times that per ounce).

 

[mclien]

Well, thanks for all the kudos .

It all started with this posts:
https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/th...and-remaining-tasks.77942/page-5#post-1391434
(where I misread "could" with "should")

Now some more details to the ring itself:
I use silver/copper combinations mainly for testing, because copper doesn't keep shiny very long (oxidates in the air).
Material costs for silver/copper a next to irrelevant (about 20-30 Euros) compared to the work you put in (about 3-5 hours I'd say. 5 might be the first run, but with routine, it might get down to 3 hours).
So the cheapest combination that kind of lasts would be silver/silver (where you can blacken one part of it to get some contrast).
In precious metals any material combination should work, so did a little (very roughly) price collecting:
(frist price range is material for the ring, second for the logo, depending a bit on color for the gold or on alloy for the other precious metals)

palladium: 110-140 ; 120-175
gold 585/14ct: 160-190 ; 170-220
gold 750/18ct: 240-270 ; 270 -300
platin: 330 ; 340
plus a bit of solder for each and most likely more hammering to do with the precious metals.

For the gold you can get half the price if using 333/8ct, which will only work for the logo (hammering a ring from 333 is no fun and not eally worth the work)

EDIT:
Oh, I forgot to mention: I normally don't make and sell these things. When I'm goldsmithing, I normaly give workshops so people learn it themselfes and do their own jewelry. (So prices are mostly my buying prices)

 

[levi]

I think green copper on a silver ring would also look pretty good, but I'm not sure of the best way to get that without leaving it out in the rain for a couple of centuries. You can electrolyse copper to oxidise it in the lab, but silver also has a number of oxide states, so it might also be effected depending on the energies involved. You could electrolyse the copper before attaching it, but I'd expect the oxide to flake off with too much work.

But anyway, it looks super-sweet as is. 8ct Gold might look pretty good too, as it happens

 

[DrHAX]

Okay that's pretty neat. As well as pretty!


My PRECIOUS!
[doublepost=1476636258,1476635632][/doublepost]

I think green copper on a silver ring would also look pretty good, but I'm not sure of the best way to get that without leaving it out in the rain for a couple of centuries. You can electrolyse copper to oxidise it in the lab, but silver also has a number of oxide states, so it might also be effected depending on the energies involved. You could electrolyse the copper before attaching it, but I'd expect the oxide to flake off with too much work.

But anyway, it looks super-sweet as is. 8ct Gold might look pretty good too, as it happens

Put it in a container with vinegar. If it can patina bras it should patina copper.

 

[mclien]

While green copper might look nice (it's in the eye of the beholder anyway), it might not be the best idea, because that patina isn't considered exactly heallthy.

So I'd say the lowest price for the metal itself in a non oxidating way will be a silver ring with a red/yellow gold logo (333), which will be around 100,- EUR. (and then is still has to be made)
Patina is an art of it's own, of course. There are some alloys, which where invented in japan called shakudo and shibuishi. Base metal is copper with smaller amounts of gold/silver. which can be patinated in a very wide color range. Those alloys are rarely to get outside of japan,most likely you have to make them yourself and are mostly used in another technique called mokume gane.

 

[FaeMinx]

Wonderful!!


..... I want one. o.o

Are you taking pre-orders?

 

[Grench]

Roll the copper in powdered red glazing glass then fire in a kiln?

I'm not a jewelry wearer, but that looks well done.

 

[rygD]

Oh, wow! I should have checked this thread sooner.

I personally think the silver and copper combo is great. I don't have money to waste atm, but that is what I would want, or even straight copper (or maybe all silver, if I want to be fancy, but there are a couple copper items I need to make soonish, so that is what has been on my mind).

Those are the two metals I experiment with forcing a patina on the most. I have yet to find a way to consistently create and keep green on copper, but I am more fond of the red/brown/black spectrum. Red is my favorite, but it seems unstable on things that are used or carried, and that may be why I prefer it.

Amusingly, I recently pulled out a couple of old decorative brass candlesticks I put away a few years ago that had some decent patina, including a bit of green. When I pulled them back out recently the green had grown, with one being a bit more blue after cleaning them up (scrubbing with soap and water using an old toothbrush), and it seems nice and strong. They are still mostly brown, but they look a bit more interesting than before.

I have been considering getting into casting pewter, and possibly other low cost stuff, for jewelry and whatever. I played around with it a bit on my own long ago, and figured I could try to learn how to do it properly to make a bit of money while being creative. If I could cheaply and easily get into copper and silver I would probably try that first, especially if I don't need too much to get started, so any tips or anything to help me get started would be appreciated (plus copper logo plates!). I just kinda suck as an artist, so I don't want to invest much time and money in it if I can't make custom items to sell. I would love to work in gold and such, especially for some of the items I want to make (and because the artist I used to work with has died). I think I should consider this a bit more seriously.

Sorry if I got a bit too off topic. The ring looks awesome, and I am glad to see it actually happened.

 

[mclien]

Wonderful!!

..... I want one. o.o

Thanks. And I'm still unsure, if I should fear or wellcome this ;-)
I surely risk this reaction by showing the result of the outcome. It was mostly my urge to have a "Did you mean something like thiis?" to the post of Theppinkgamer here:
<a href="https://pyra-handheld.com/boards/th...and-remaining-tasks.77942/page-5#post-1391443">GamesCom Video and Remaining Tasks</a>

Are you taking pre-orders?

To qoute Crichton: "Yes, no, maybe again"
Hesitation reasons:
- Usually I much more enjoy to teach people to make these things themselfes
- If you look closely at the image you will notice some "unfinshed-ness" and unperfection (some solder blobs in wrong places, some uneveness in the logo shape..). So I need a bit more practice to get it right, especially when working with more precious metals.
- As for all people with many interests and skills and endless diversions, time is kinda always short.
- On the other hand, if I'll compensate that by making the time to build such things part of my income, it might be to expensive.

@all:
The idea of covering the copper in glass is interesting, but has some drawbacks:
- apply the glass first -> will crack while soldering
- solder first -> solder will melt while applying glas
( And I think, glass has a higher melting point than either silver or copper)
- even if you manage it somehow, glass is still "soft" for jewelry and will get ugly scratches quickly

Discussing patina would derail the thread somehow...
Just a short mention: shakudo is known to be possible to get bright red patina..

 

[FaeMinx]

^ I'm a great person for the fixer upper project... as I'm a crafter myself... so if it will save you time and keep costs within the affordable ballpark... I would be very happy with what you have shown already... I could finish it off myself If I thought It was necessary.
I would even be happy with solid copper...
... and the health 'issues' don't concern me at all. I wouldn't even spare it a second thought.

Other people worry about their health and the finish though, so my order would probably be a one off.

Sent from my GT-S7580 using Tapatalk

 

[rygD]

Yes, solid copper, although silver is also a nice metal...actually, I like many metals, but I mean for rings and stuff. Whatever.

 

[DrHAX]

I've always wanted to learn casting, or metal forging in general. I took a metals class in highschool where they actually touched on that. I need to look up viking age forges again. It seems quite easy to make one. The only issue is anvil are rate and its illegal to apparently own a section of a railroad track unless you have documentation from the scraping process. There's many things I've wanted to get into, or at least see if I could do including glass. Honestly if I could be a blacksmith I would.

 

[mclien]

I know what you are talking about. I learnd a metal working profession years ago an kept working with metal ever since (with changing amount of time spendig in these works). The goldsmithing variant of metal working I now do for about 2 Years in my spare time and now staring to make at least a partly a living of it (not working so far..).
The nice advantage with precious metals above steel (blacksmithing) is, that you can forge the metal at room temperature and have less stuff in weight and volume. The last part is important for me, because I hold workshops for the goldsmithing and have to travel with all my stuff.

 

[spud42]

this guy shows how you can forge simple rebar into knives, turn files into axes etc.... first vid is on mokume gane and the second is how to make a soup can forge...