First picture of the Blacksmith Ring!

[afmetalsmith]

Here is is! This is just a quick snapshot J took while he was wearing it; we'll get some better shots of the whole thing soon.

Blacksmith Ring #1: Top, on finger Handmade hollow sterling ring, set with a cloisonne glass enamel featuring an anvil on a background of flame.

Comments

[seejenknit.livejournal.com]

wow, that's beautiful!

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! I'm pretty pleased, on the whole. :)

[anderale.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's awesome. I love the fiery colours you got! :D

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks!

The colors were tricky. I had: 2 yellows that aren't lemon-y (one's a bit orangey, and one's a bit gold), a VERY pale orange of Mysterious Origins (which means that when I run out, I'm out- I think it was an old Thompson leaded), and n assortment of reds that all have a pink cast. Not very promising! The pale orange ended up looking almost clear until I really cooked the enamel a couple of times- once I stuck it in the kiln and forgot it for a few minutes, so it went over 1425- and even the least-pink red looked very raspberry-y until I covered it with a ton of yellow AND cooked it. I think mixing the yellow and the red in the powder is what I'll try next time. So, I am pleased and relieved that it came out as much like what I wanted as it did, and feel pretty lucky.

Oranges and orangey-reds are not colors that seem to be very possible within enamel confines, so it's good that mixing worked!

(argh- I kept messing up the reply! sorry!)

[malinaldarose.livejournal.com]

Purty!

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks! :)

[dreamingcrow.livejournal.com]

That's incredible, Amanda.

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Thank you! :)

[niac.livejournal.com]

I want one. How much?

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

Wow! Cool! :D

At this point I really have no idea about pricing. However, I do know that I want to make several more rings in a similar construction style before tackling a gold one for J. So how about if you give me your ring size, and I'll make the next one that size, and figure out a price and if you don't want it at that price, that's OK; I'll be doing more on spec than commission, just making in spec in your size. If that makes any kind of sense...

If the hollow one ends up having to cost too much, I can get a similar look by carving one in wax and casting it; I think that might be faster and thus cheaper, but I don't know yet. The first time I do a technique generally takes me a lot longer than future iterations, but I haven't get discovered a pattern in how MUCH longer!

So- let me know your ring size, and I'll start work on the ring that might become yours fairly soon- I do have a couple of commission pieces I need to concentrate on for the next week or 2, plus some other stuff I'm doing on spec to finish up, but it'll get started within a month, I'd guess.

I am assuming you want silver here- there's no way I'm doing this in gold just yet! :)

Sorry about the double copy- I screwed up the replying...

[niac.livejournal.com]

Size 13. And I hate gold, so no worries there. Thank you!

[medvssa.livejournal.com]

It looks pretty cool (oops, sorry, warm ;P) and the colors don't look pinky at all. Do you have a mortar? you could grind them more to avoid little dots, and even mix yellow and red if you go very fine.

[afmetalsmith.livejournal.com]

In the orange bit above the anvil, I did end up mixing red and yellow, and that looked so good that I overlaid lots of yellow on the rest of the pinky red. That helped, and what helped even more was overfiring it/firing it hot a couple of times. That seemed to blend the colors very nicely, even without grinding them fine. I'd be concerned about compromising the clarity if I went too fine, but then a bit of speckles in a fire theme seems OK if that's how it ends up.

One of the coolest effects i've bgtten was mixing a maroon with flux- I was after a less-intense red, but it ended up a marvelous tweed texture over copper, with all sorts of colors. Very cool!

I need to get an agate morar and pestle, though. I want to be able to grind colors really fine for painting/grissaille.

(and I apologize for the 2 comment notifications- I need to change the way I reply to stuff!)