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Newbie request for advice



 
 
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  #1  
Old November 22nd 03, 05:44 AM
Tasha
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Default Newbie request for advice

I was asked by a friend to try to produce a ring for a costume she's
working on from an animation series called Utena - it's a sort of
silver and pink seal ring.

I managed to turn out a version I'm quite pleased with by cutting the
top off a domed silver ring and filling the hole with pink Fimo, which
I then baked in. You can see my effort he
http://www.thenoodlebowl.com/jongleur/ring.html
I drew the design on by hand with a CD marker pen, for lack of any
better ideas.

However, I've now been asked to turn out a whole lot more of identical
pieces, and I'm thinking that there must be a better way than cutting
up rings. If I can find some blank silver-coloured signet rings of the
correct shape, can anyone advise me of the best way to create the pink
and black seal design on them? I assume a thin sheet of Fimo would
break off much too easily... I'll try anything but the simpler the
technique the better, as I'm totally new to this.

Thanks kindly,
Tasha
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  #2  
Old November 23rd 03, 01:24 AM
Liz
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Default

I'm a novice too but perhaps using an enamel would work. Might research
this idea on the web.
Liz


"Tasha" wrote in message
...
I was asked by a friend to try to produce a ring for a costume she's
working on from an animation series called Utena - it's a sort of
silver and pink seal ring.

I managed to turn out a version I'm quite pleased with by cutting the
top off a domed silver ring and filling the hole with pink Fimo, which
I then baked in. You can see my effort he
http://www.thenoodlebowl.com/jongleur/ring.html
I drew the design on by hand with a CD marker pen, for lack of any
better ideas.

However, I've now been asked to turn out a whole lot more of identical
pieces, and I'm thinking that there must be a better way than cutting
up rings. If I can find some blank silver-coloured signet rings of the
correct shape, can anyone advise me of the best way to create the pink
and black seal design on them? I assume a thin sheet of Fimo would
break off much too easily... I'll try anything but the simpler the
technique the better, as I'm totally new to this.

Thanks kindly,
Tasha


  #3  
Old November 23rd 03, 01:41 AM
Peter W. Rowe
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Posts: n/a
Default

On Fri, 21 Nov 2003 20:45:54 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry
(Tasha) wrote:

However, I've now been asked to turn out a whole lot more of identical
pieces, and I'm thinking that there must be a better way than cutting
up rings.


You're right, there are better ways. How, depends on the quantity you need, but
in general, what you're most likely to want to do is to cast the rings, or have
them cast, as most likely you don't have the equipment now to do it yourself.
(By the way, many professional jewelers also outsource the casting to
specialists, so you'd not be alone in this approach)

What you might do is to get some carving wax, a type of plasticized wax,
available in blocks or even in a tube preformed so that a slice of it is halfway
to being a ready made shape for a ring. You carve the ring shape in the wax.
The inside might be hollowed out under the top to reduce the weight, but carve a
shallow recess in the top for the pink inlay. Do this so that what will be the
black lines is left in the model, so the casting will have those lines already
cast in, as raised thin ridges inside that overall cavity. This in essence
means that top recess is actually several recesses, not just one. When the wax
model is cast, and you then have a finished metal ring, you'd only have to fill
the multiple recesses with a pink material, and then oxidize the thin rims, so
they'd show up black. the inlay could be fimo, as you used, or could be one of
several types of plastic resin used to imitate glass/vitreous enamels, or even
might be real fired enamel, if you're ambitious. With the resins, you could
oxidize the black lines, fill the cavities flush with an opaque pink, and then
cover over the whole oval with a clear coat, to the black wouldn't be subject to
wearing off.

But in any case, the method would be to make the model of the first ring by
either carving it in wax and casting it, or fabricating it directly in metal,
much as you already did, though as you say, cutting apart existing rings is
inefficient. Once you've got one model, you can have a rubber mold made from it
which allows multiple wax models to be easily made from that mold. These wax
models are then cast, giving you the multiple rings.

This is the method by which most commercial jewelry is made, and it works well
for just a few multiples, just as it works well for thousands of multiples of an
item.

If you don't personally have the skills to make the model, there are plenty of
jewelers who can do it for you, including many of the readers of this
newsgroup. Same thing with making a rubber mold from the model, and casting
the pieces from the mold.

What many smaller jewelers do is to do their own wax carving, and then send the
wax to a caster, who can cast the original, and make a mold from it. Then all
you need do when you need castings is to call your caster and place an order for
the castings, which can be shipped to you as raw unfinished castings, or in the
case of many casters, fully finished castings. Some such casters could also
handle things like the enamel inlay for you. If you get raw castings, you
spend less on the castings, but then have to put in the time and effort to
finish the rings. If you work with someone who can do the whole job, you pay a
wholesale price for the rings, and resell them to your customer at your choice
of a markup, not needing to do the actual metal work. While this may be less
satisfying in terms of the craft of jewelry making, if you're a beginner, it
makes a certain sense for this kind of large order. You get the product made to
your specs, and it ends up being made to professional standards, efficiently,
and with little uncertainty for you as to how it will turn out. You put in the
original creative work in specifying the design and working with the caster or
modelmaker to get the design right, but leave the manufacturing to the
specialists. It makes a certain sense, and has the potential to make you a
decent profit, if your customer is willing to pay a fair price for the product.

If you wish, I'm certain there are many readers of this newsgroup who could help
you produce either the models, or the complete product, or we can refer you to
others who could also do such work.

Hope that helps.

Peter Rowe

  #5  
Old November 23rd 03, 09:55 PM
Peter W. Rowe
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On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 12:49:16 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "-SP-"
wrote:

Peter, there is something else about the original image - to me, it
looks as though it could be some kind of black line under a dome of
coloured clear material, even a coloured glass cab maybe? The cartoon
image, with its highlights and reflections, looks like this to me. I'm
just thinking of the rings that may be produced here, gotta get it
right first.


It does indeed look domed, your right. but I'm not sure I see it as the black
line being under much of anything. Seems to me that it just looks black and
shiney or metallic. thats why I thought just silver lines that could be
oxidized would be a good way to do it. But if, as I suggested, the pink is
something like Ceramic or a similar resin (such as the more durable U.V. cured
things that are now out there, derived I think from the dental field), then it
seems like it would be easy to overcoat the whole thing, pink opaque parts AND
the oxidized silver lines, with a clear coat. This would work just as well, or
better even, with vitreous enamels too. And would have the advantage then of
protecting the black oxidation against wear, so it would stay black. If one
wanted a real domed covering, then it would be of course possible to leave a
little bit of the recess to the overall design's edge, to be used as a bezel for
a quartz cab capping it. But that would considerably complicate things, I
think. What I was thinking is essentially just cloisonne enamel work, only with
cast in place cloisons, and perhaps the easier to use resins instead of vitreous
enamels.

Peter
  #6  
Old November 24th 03, 02:55 AM
-SP-
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Posts: n/a
Default


"Tasha" wrote in message
...

However, I've now been asked to turn out a whole lot more of

identical
pieces, and I'm thinking that there must be a better way than

cutting
up rings. If I can find some blank silver-coloured signet rings of

the
correct shape, can anyone advise me of the best way to create the

pink
and black seal design on them? I assume a thin sheet of Fimo would
break off much too easily... I'll try anything but the simpler the
technique the better, as I'm totally new to this.


Well, as mentioned earlier by Peter, it would be good to make your
own model for casting. You've obviously got the talent in making that
first ring. Just make a model and get it cast in the metal you want,
but please see my reply to Peter in this thread first.

Regards,

-SP-



Thanks kindly,
Tasha


  #7  
Old November 25th 03, 05:00 PM
Tasha
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Posts: n/a
Default

Peter W. Rowe pwrowe@ixDOTnetcomDOTcom wrote in message
. ..
On Sun, 23 Nov 2003 12:49:16 -0800, in rec.crafts.jewelry "-SP-"
wrote:

Peter, there is something else about the original image - to me, it
looks as though it could be some kind of black line under a dome of
coloured clear material, even a coloured glass cab maybe? The cartoon
image, with its highlights and reflections, looks like this to me. I'm
just thinking of the rings that may be produced here, gotta get it
right first.


It does indeed look domed, your right. snip


Thanks to all for the help! For what it's worth, I've since found a
production sketch and I believe the ring is meant to be flat on top as
Peter says:
http://ohtori.nu/gallery/sketchbook/Misc08.gif

I'll certainly look into finding some casting wax then, though I've
got to admit I'm rather intimidated by the idea of carving my own ring
shape... I might look into finding a jeweler somewhere nearby (I'm in
the UK) to do it for me, as you say.

If having the rings cast is impractical, am I likely to be able to
find similarly shaped rings with blank settings somewhere, which I
could simply add a flat version of the seal to? I'm thinking of rings
sold for purposes of adding gems and suchlike.

Thanks again,
Tasha
 




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