It has not been THAT long surely since I last posted!!?? Nay.. Anyway hopefully this post will make up for some of my neglect..
I just love to make spinner or meditation rings! There are sooo many variations on this theme, different textures, different satellites/spinners, different metals, wavy tops, flat tops - any top you want, wide ones thin ones... I'll stop there and show you this fun ring making process.
I will be teaching a Spinner/Meditation Ring Making Workshop on Sunday September 20th in my studio in Corbridge, in The Upper Storehouse (above Il Piccolo) . 10am until 4pm, the cost is £70.00, this includes all materials.
In the beginning there was lovely shiny sheet silver, covered in plastic to protect it from all... cut to size for the perfect fit.
Now for the fun part! Texturing the silver, there are so many possibilities, I chose a random O pattern for this ring, the silver was annealed and the pattern was stamped on with a heavy duty hammer, I find that simple designs work well, interesting images can be stamped with the most mundane objects, nails, old beaten up hammers, letter stamps.
Students practise on copper first, they gain confidence in working with metal, gauge how hard to hit it, have fun experimenting with the many ways to texture.
The ring is soldered, it is raised up on a cotter pin, to allow the heat to travel underneath, it is not round yet, when soldering a ring it is important for both ends to meet and the join to be tight, solder does not fill a gap, the sides to be soldered must be flat for a good fit, hence the D shape. After the solder has flowed and ring has been pickled the excess solder is filed from the inside and the ring hammered around a steel mandrel to produce your lovely round silver ring..
Now for the satellite or spinner rings that will rotate freely around the main ring, above you can see two silver rings, just soldered and ready to be pickled and cleaned up, these rings can be silver, copper, brass or gold, thin or thick and textured, stones can be set onto them, the choices are huge - its what makes these rings so much fun!
The spinner/meditation ring set, all ready to be put together....
The finished rings, they are incredibly comfortable to wear, come along to a workshop, if two or more people would like to make one I can run a workshop when its works for you!
