Project Runway Challenge Season 9 - week 3 (RAW 18)

This is the third week in the Etsy Metal Project Runway Challenge. Here are the details:

Episode 3: "Go Big or Go Home"
Air: 8.11.11
My Lifetime, Thursdays, 9pm PST.

The Project Runway Challenge:
The designers were asked to design a piece for a model on stilts for the first ever outdoor runway show.

For our EtsyMetal Translation:
Since this challenge was all about going over the top, this week make it BIG, over the top, larger and crazier than you would normally do, but still trying to keep it wearable and fashionable. Should be a fun one!

I had this ring designed for a few weeks now. I was meaning to make it for the RAW challenge but haven't had a chance to yet. It actually is the perfect piece for this week's Project Runway Challenge as well so here it is! It's a very long Norwegian Moonstone (also known as "Larvakite") set in a sterling silver double finger ring. The stone is approx 3 1/4" long and the ring itself is about 3 1/2" long by 1" wide at its largest point. I have always wanted to make a two finger ring but never got around to it until now. I actually am typing this blog post with the ring on my left hand and even though it is really large it actually feels just like any other ring. So I guess it meets the "keeping it wearable" requirements!

To see  the rest of the pieces in this challenge you can check them out here.

RAW 16

I just realized I never posted my RAW #16 ring so here it is....better late than never!

I made a sterling silver band that I then textured and then added brass spikes to. It actually is a very comfortable thumb ring. I wouldn't really recommend wearing it any other finger tho...it's a bit too dangerous to be so close to another finger!

RAW 14 & 15 (ring a week)

I do not seem to have a problem making my RAW rings, it's posting the photos/info of them is where I start slacking off! So here’s one post with my last 2 weeks of rings…..and don't forget to check out the rest of groups RAW rings too!
My RAW 14 ring was a custom order from a woman for her boyfriend. She wanted me to make a ring exactly like he had only in silver so it wouldn't turn his finger green like the base metal one he owned did. It is a cold connected ring. A piece of silver has been wrapped over itself a few times and then riveted. I have riveted many times before just not on a ring. It wasn’t as hard as I thought it would be.

My RAW 15 ring is something I have never done before either. I really like the more 3D rings I have made for this challenge and my “flat” rings just aren’t doing it for me anymore. I wanted to make this a hollow form ring but due to the price of silver being over $40 an ounce I decided to challenge myself and try to come up with a way to raise the stone but also use less metal. This is what I came up with. The stone is called Royal Savannah Jasper. I liked the way the stone was divided down the center so I decided to follow that line and divide the metal as well. Half of the silver is textured and half is not. The way I raised the stone is to put the piece on “stilts”. I cut little pieces of wire and soldered them onto the base and then attached the top to that. It used less silver than if I was to create a hollow form. I am pretty pleased with the outcome. J

Killing 2 birds with 1 stone....

EtsyMetal Monthly Challenge & RAW #13 (ring a week)
I am finally caught up on my postings of my RAW rings so this post is right on time! This week's RAW ring actually had a theme "kinetics". It just so happened that the EtsyMetal monthly challenge that is due March 31 is also the same theme so this ring does double duty! The "Rattle Ring" is made from sterling silver and filled with little stones inside made of glass. I then topped the whole thing off with a piece of acrylic to hold the stones in. Since the stones are not set in a setting they are free to move around inside the ring...hence the kinetic part! It also makes a great little rattling sound when you shake it. The stones are very small (3mm) so it was hard to capture the movement in the video below but I think you get the idea! You can see all the RAW Theme Challenge rings in a new Flickr group set up just for these challenges. I can't wait to get working on my next theme ring!

RAW # 12 (ring a week)

My week 12 ring for the RAW challenge had some issues....it is made from sterling silver and "brass" and is set with 3 garnets. The "brass" was a scrap piece that my dad gave me from his stock pile of metals he has had in his basement for years. I don't know what kind of "brass" it is but it did something I have never seen happen before when I soldered the 2 metals together. If you look closely at the ring you can see what I mean. All around the edge of the "brass" and under the bezels you can see a melted/wrinkled looking thing going on. I did not use an over abundance of solder on this piece so I know it is not the solder. I don't know if the "brass" was coated with something that I didn't know about or maybe the metal wasn't really brass like I had been told. So I'm not sure exactly what happened there but it only happened to the "brass" and it happened consistently and evenly all around the ring. And since it was so consistent I decided instead of trashing the ring and starting over that I would to keep it as an added detail. I do really like the curve of this ring. The way it hugs is SO comfortable on the finger that I will be making more rings with the same curved shape in the future....although I probably will stay away from the rest of that "brass" I have left over!

RAW #11 (ring a week)

I am a little behind in my RAW postings so I hope to get all caught up by the end of this week. My RAW 11 ring was inspired by some mixed metal cuffs that I made a few weeks ago. I am really enjoying working more and more with adding texture to mixed metals. This ring band was made with brass, copper and sterling silver. Each metal was given a different texture and the combination of all three seem to work quite well together. Below are images of the ring along with a photo of the bracelet that was the inspiration.

RAW #9 (ring of the week)

I didn't really have much time this week to make anything totally fabulous for my week 9 RAW ring. Last week (week 8) I made the Ravioli Ring and I also made a set of mixed metal stackable rings. I listed them on etsy and got a lot of attention from Facebook friends and then decided I really liked them for myself. So this week I make another set to keep for myself and even though they are not what I had planned for my RAW ring, they do technically qualify as "rings made this week". So here they are:

These stackable rings have even inspired some new earrings and necklaces so all in all even though my week 9 RAW ring is not as challenging to me as some of the others I have made, it has not been that bad of a week! :)

necklace inspired by stackable rings

sterling earrings inspired by sterling stackable ring

copper and sterling earrings inspired by stackable rings

brass and sterling earrings inspired by stackable rings

Sunburst Ring

My "Sunburst Ring" , which was my 3rd RAW is featured on Thomasin Durgin's blog. She is the one who came up with the idea for this years Ring a Week Challenge. Thank you Tomi for featuring my ring! And don't forget to check out the challenge to see some of the other amazing rings made by artists from all around the world!

2011 ring a week challenge

In 2010 I came across the ring a day challenge while messing around on Flickr. The challenge was to make one ring a day every day for the entire year. By the end of the challenge you would have 365 different rings. Being such a ring person, I thought it was the COOLEST idea ever and wanted to join in but I didn't come across it until day 115 which put me VERY behind :(

On Jan 5, 2011 I decided to check out all the completed rings in the challenge. There were a lot of rings and it was great to see all the creativity that just came oozing from everyone who participated. Much to my surprise I also discovered the ring a week challenge (RAW) for 2011. Needless to say it was something I HAD to participate in. Although the first week in January was almost over when I discovered the challenge I was able to submit my first ring made from bulls eye onyx and sterling silver. I hope I am able to follow through and complete the challenge!