Metalsmithing projects I have finished

One of the biggest changes for me in the last few months is that I've actually finished some metalsmithing projects. You read that right - I finished a couple of projects. I have many projects that are partly-done but very few finished objects. To prove that I finished something, I took some (rather bad) cellphone pictures.

Two sterling silver rings that I made. Each was carved out of carving wax, cast by my instructor, and then polished and finished by moi.

A side view of the rings. One of them, as you can see, has a peak all the way around while the other has just the one pointy bit.

Another view of the rings. You can see that the pointy but on the one ring is kind of a pyramid shape.

A top view of the pyramid ring so that you can see the point. You can also see the side view of the other ring.

I guess it would have been useful to include pictures of me wearing the rings, huh? Well, you'll just have to imagine them on my finger (my middle finger, as it happens). I'm quite pleased with these rings, especially considering that they're my first real attempt at carving and casting anything. They aren't perfect but I love them.

We'd learned carving before but I was having trouble carving something that looked good. I was having a hard time keeping my carvings balanced; often when I tried to file away the wax I didn't want I'd end up filing too much off of one side and my design would end up torqued. I did some research and found a fabulous, step-by-step pdf file that helped me tremendously. The best tip from that guide was scribing center and other guide lines on the wax. That tip alone helped me keep my designs from torquing.

Now that carving is easier for me, I'm finding it a very relaxing thing to do. I'd like to do a few more rings around the pyramid theme and maybe some others involving more complex carving. We'll see; I have some other projects I need to finish, too. And still others that I need to start :)