Dendritic Ring

by Rhonda Johnson.
(Idaho)

My grandson requested a custom ring for his 19th birthday, and wanted to pick out a stone from my collection. Although I’ve set stones, and experimented with many aspects of metal smithing, I’d not embraced the challenge of designing a ring.

It took a grandson’s wish to force me to overcome fear of failure. And I did!

Dendritic Quartz Highlighted

For this design, I used Argentium® for the following: bezel, #4 low dome shank, 24 gauge sheet for the platform, hard solder pallion for the bezel, and medium solder pallions for the platform.

I didn’t have Argentium® easy solder on hand. Instead, I used sterling soft paste solder for the shank.

Ring on Grandson’s Hand

The dendritic quartz has been in my stone collection for many years, and presented a design challenge, due to the way it was cut. It has curvature on the bottom and didn’t seat flat in the bezel.

Ring against Dark Background

When burnishing the ring, small fold-like warps appeared where the stone’s bottom edge sat above the base inside the bezel. I thought the ring was ruined.

My husband, a metal smith for over 50 years, encouraged me to continue burnishing, and to use my polishing wheel. To my surprise, the folds disappeared and the ring turned out wonderfully.

Ring Highlighted

Rhonda Johnson
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