Back in January I received an e-mail from Rob Sigafoos about a gift he wanted to have made for his wife's Birthday. He wanted something simple and it to reflect the "bed" he and his wife made that is posted on his website. visit vinewoodsforge.com to see it...it's also been posted here on ArtMetal.

Rob decided to have me create a ring with the vine as the design for the ring. I wanted to really capture the design of the vine as best I could on such a smaller scale, and came up with the idea of taking 2 Sterling Silver wires at 18 gauge, and soldering them together then locking one end in the vise of the soldered two and twisting 'til there was enough curve for the effect of a vine. then I took a 14 gauge Sterling Silver wire and soldered the end of that one to the first two and locked off in the vise and then wrapped the wire around the first two going in the opposite direction. Again I soldered the third wire completely to the other two, and then added the texture.

I really wanted the vine to have a hand wrought effect like the blacksmith would give to wrought iron. So, I hammered the surface rotating the wires around and that's when it came to life! Also hammering the surface added a nice shimmer as the flats from the texture catch the light! Sooooo Gorgeous! I then filed out one side of the vine creating a flat, so that the vine would lie flush to the surface of the ring. After soldering the vine to the ring, I hammered the surface of the vine again to make the vine flush with the curves on the sides of the ring.

The technique I used to create the ring is Anticlastic raising, and with this technique the ring has a concave curve to the surface. Once The ring and vine were soldered, cleaned up, and tumbled I added a blackened antique finish that really make the details of the vine pop out. Then I polished the surface of the ring by hand using a sunshine cloth which has a polishing compound.

I really want to Thank Rob for choosing me to do this project. I had the best time creating this ring, and challenged myself with ideas and techniques that I hadn't tried before. Now I visualize more dimension in future pieces. I also want to wish Susan a Happy Birthday!
Thank You to QuiQue for creating this site, a cyber place where we are able to share our talents and stay connected!

Cheers!

I've included some pictures of the some of the stages of the ring.

The rough Sketch: This was the rough sketch of the ring and the vine.

Vine: The Vine

The VIne and the RIng: The vine and the ring before they were soldered together.

Vine Ring: Here is the vine and ring once they were soldered together.

Vine and Ring: Just another view.

Vine and Ring Finished: Here is the finished piece!