Finishing some projects in time for new ones

I finally finished my bracelet thanks to the instructor giving me a toggle already made. I had to shorten it but it was the right size for my bracelet. It's wearable right now although I'd prefer to tumble it to make it all sparkly and beautiful.

I'd also made my ring too big so I had to re-size it which involves cutting it open and trimming the excess out. The ring is still a little bit big but I'm not changing it again so I'm calling it ok. Once I got it all soldered together I spent a lot of time sanding the top flat so that the bezel for the stone would have full contact on the ring. It's really important that the two pieces fit together perfectly or else they won't stay together.

I kept sanding the ring and checking the fit of the bezel against the ring and it kept being bumpy. I couldn't figure out why the two pieces weren't fitting together and I was getting a bit frustrated (I had to consciously tell myself to relax my shoulders) when all of a sudden I realized that the bezel wasn't flat. I'd assumed that it was flat and spent all this time on the ring without stopping to check the bezel. Once I got that sorted out, I was able to get the two pieces to fit. On my first try the bezel was shifted to one side so my instructor helped me move it just a bit. I'm really pleased with the result and I'm excited to finish the ring by putting the stone in the bezel at the next open studio session.

Tomorrow night I start the stone-setting metalsmithing class. I don't know have a clue when I might use these techniques but I have nothing else to do on Wednesday nights, right? I also want to learn as much as I can, even though I can't see an immediate application for the knowledge. It might turn out that all the stone-setting possibilities inspire me to create something new.