Help looking for a metal wooden ring??

I'm looking to purchase a metal ring that looks like it was made out
of wood for my bride-to-be. Does anyone know what I should be looking
for, what kind of questions I should be asking?

What kind of metal(s) should the ring be made out of? What kind of
techniques would create this effect?

Any info would be appreciated!
Jack

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 09:24:53 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry
(Jack3000) wrote:

I'm looking to purchase a metal ring that looks like it was made out
of wood for my bride-to-be. Does anyone know what I should be looking
for, what kind of questions I should be asking?

What kind of metal(s) should the ring be made out of? What kind of
techniques would create this effect?

Any info would be appreciated!
Jack

Assuming that you want a ring that still looks like it's made of metal, rather
than an actual wood ring (which one might get with some paint finishes on metal,
then probably, what you're looking for is a ring made with the technique called
Mokume-gan, which is a japanese term that means "wood eye metal" referring to
the patterns in burl wood or other complex wood grain patterns. It's a
japanese traditional technique dating from the 1700s, originally used for sword
guards and the like. In the sixties and seventies, Gene and Hiroko
Pijianowski at the University of Michigan art department, in particular, and
others around the country, began intensive investigations into this method, and
from their work and teaching, a number of artists became quite proficient in
these techniques and have made them increasingly familier to U.S. jewelry
audiences. At this point in time, the methods are widely known, taught in most
undergraduate college art metal/jewelry programs, but remain somewhat rare in
commercial jewelry because they are considerably more time consuming than most
other methods of jewelry making, and are not readily appropriate to commercial
scale mass production.

The method involves fusing multiple layers of different metals together, and
forging, twisting, and otherwise working the laminate, then cutting into it
revealing the patterns then formed by the multiple layers of different colored
metals. The method is rather time consuming, compared to commercial methods of
jewelry making (like casting, etc), and each piece is a unique individually made
ring, even if the artist is making lots of them and giving them a "style number"
or the like. No two are quite alike. There are a wide variety of different
metals that can be laminated in this way, and thus quite a variation in colors
and patterns. Several artists in the U.S. specialize in wedding bands made this
way.

Some of the better known mokume-gan artists who you may see represented in some
of the fine jewelry stores or on the web, are Jim Binnion, George Sawyer, or
Steve .Midget. As the work of these three and a number of other "pioneers" in
popularizing this technique have become better known, there have been a number
of more recent additions to the ranks of artists using this method to produce
commercially available rings, who you can easily find with an appropriate Google
search.

Of them, I am especially familier with the work of Jim Binnion, who sells mostly
direct, over the web. He happens to be a friend and fellow pacific northwest
resident, a supurbly skilled jeweler, and I can recommend his work very highly
to you. Find his website at http://www.mokume-gane.com/

Hope that helps.

Peter Rowe

In article , Peter W. Rowe
writes:

Assuming that you want a ring that still looks like it's made of metal,
rather
than an actual wood ring (which one might get with some paint finishes on
metal,
then probably, what you're looking for is a ring made with the technique
called
Mokume-gan, which is a japanese term that means "wood eye metal" referring
to
the patterns in burl wood or other complex wood grain patterns.

Peter, I need to ask . . .one of my students recently got into Mokume-gane, but
finds that the patina used, doesn't stay on. Any suggestions on what to use to
distinguish the colors of metals better???

Thanks in advance!

On Sun, 28 Sep 2003 19:33:18 -0700, in rec.crafts.jewelry
ojunk (Fishbre396) wrote:

....
Peter, I need to ask . . .one of my students recently got into Mokume-gane, but
finds that the patina used, doesn't stay on. Any suggestions on what to use to
distinguish the colors of metals better???

Thanks in advance!

Well, the chemistry involved would depend a lot on which metals are being used.
But a number of folks doing mokume-gane don't depend on a patina, but rather on
perhaps etching to bring up a texture, a low relief 3 dimensionality to the
pattern, and then surface treatments like sand blasting or satin finishing, or
the like. to make the existing colors of the metal show up better. If your
student is just finishing the surface with a polish, or even a fine satin, and
then oxidizing, it's not surprising that with time the patina comes off. You
are not bound to any one specific patina. Choose whatever you like for the
metals used. If you choose them carefully, you'll have some which react to
liver of sulfur, and others which may not, or not in the same way. Or, if using
things like Shakudo, then there are specific colorants which work on these, but
not on, say, sterling. As with any patina, part of how well it stays on is how
it's applied and to what surface. Patinas applied to highly polished surfaces
will wear off more quickly than those applied to a textured surface, like
sandblasting, or an etched relief. If you look at the wedding bands I was
sending the last poster to check out, on Jim Binnion's site, you see mokume done
with silver, and with for the most part, precious metals after that. These
don't generally oxidize. Jim doesn't patina his wedding bands. They're often
etched, which depresses the silver lines, but not the gold or palladium, or
whatever, and then usually just llightly sandblasted. The result, as you can
see from his web site, shows plenty of contrast between colors. In other cases,
such as the silver and palladium white gold, or those with platinum, then
there's simply enough difference in hardness from one metal to another that the
end finish just automatically ends up showing some slight relief, and in wear,
the different metals wear to a different "user patina", again showing up the
different metals.

As a general rule (which you're welcome to break when you like), I try to avoid
using a chemical patina like liver of sulfur, etc, on smooth/convex/exterior
type surfaces on things like rings. Those unprotected surfaces simply get too
much wear for the colored patina to hold up well. Strong textures, or designing
the surface so it's a recess or otherwise protected from wear, is the main
solution.

Hope thathelps.

Peter

There is a gentleman who is making Damascus rings that are gold plated and
they have a yellow/black appearance.
http://www.geocities.com/rock65cc/ringpage.html I like the look of them,
but my wife does not so I advise caution :-)

Richard Lee
"Jack3000" wrote in message
...
I'm looking to purchase a metal ring that looks like it was made out
of wood for my bride-to-be. Does anyone know what I should be looking
for, what kind of questions I should be asking?

What kind of metal(s) should the ring be made out of? What kind of
techniques would create this effect?

Any info would be appreciated!
Jack