Coin Carnival

Category: Work

  • Wooden ring with copper insert made out of Australian silky oak – Part 2

    Wooden ring with copper insert made out of Australian silky oak – Part 2

    If you read my previous post here you can view my finished wooden ring with a copper core made out of silky oak from Queensland, Australia. There is no CA finish on it. All I did was use some bees wax and micro mesh pads to polish the wood on this ring. It is not water sealed etc and this finish is very delicate but one thing is for sure – NO CHEMICALS were used. Since I made a few wooden rings and some of them were finished with CA and polished afterwards. This type of finish should last long long time but some people prefer no use of any chems on their jewelry. Even with CA finish I still would take this wooden ring off before any water contact but if you forget you will not damage it or most likely you will not have to refinish it again. Different options, depends on what your preference is. Photos are with different light and some pics look the same but I was trying to rotate this wooden ring to show you some of the timber patterns etc. Queensland silky oak is so beautiful and looks amazing from different angles and with different light source. BTW, this one is SOLD but I just made another one from silky oak timber with a copper core and I will list it on ETSY.

  • Wooden ring with copper insert made out of Australian silky oak – Part 1

    Wooden ring with copper insert made out of Australian silky oak – Part 1

    This is the first wooden ring with copper core ever made by me. Well, if you read this whole post and view all the photos of this wooden ring you will know that I am not telling the truth. This was supposed to be my first wooden ring but since wood does not expand … it ended up being just a prototype. I wanted to make all sorts of wooden rings for a long time now but never got around to it. I bought this small 5 ” in length block of Australian (Queensland) silky oak for $14 and cut out a small piece for my new wood lathe. I drilled the hole for my copper core insert and secured it on the wooden mandrel I made earlier for this purpose. Took no time to get the shavings going and a few minutes later I had this outside wooden shell for my copper insert. Everything looked ok and I decided to keep the copper core to fit nice and tight for the wooden outside of the ring. Well, wood / timber does not expand! Working with metals for a while clouded my little brain I guess and … you can see it on my pictures. Ok, I guess I learned my lesson and since then (I made a whole bunch of copper / brass / silver / coin core wooden rings) and changed a lot of my planning and work flow.

    I was so determined to finish this silky oak wooden ring (or one like it) that I re-used the copper core for the next “prototype” and you can see No2 proto in my next post. Lots of photos as well. BTW, I am starting to list my new wood rings with different inserts / cores in my ETSY online shop.

     

  • 10mm copper band ring with texture finish and natural fire patina

    10mm copper band ring with texture finish and natural fire patina

    Hand crafted by me.  Wide approximately 10mm copper band ring with texture finish and natural fire patina. Size is 11.5 in US size. This ring is made out of very high quality copper sheet (1.2mm thickness). This means that there is no cut anywhere on the band itself. I punched a hole in a copper sheet and in the second step I punched a bigger diameter circle around it. So I end up with a washer like piece. I manual texture / tap / form on my mandrel. A lot of heat was applied during the whole process of creating this ring and for the final finish I use heat and water to create this beautiful colour patina. No other ring will be and can be the same because of my manual texturing (plain use of different hand tools, texturing hammers) but also because of the natural red / black heat patina finish. Pictures were taken in a natural sun light and in artificial light this ring looks so different. It has a very different finish / look in different light settings. All my rings have a smooth finish for a comfortable wear and they are all very unique. I put a lot of heart and my own technique to hand craft each one of them. It is not a 30 minute “process”.
    This type of fire finish will last for a long time (I can’t say forever because I started to make them with this finish 2 years ago). Please DO NOT use any polishing agents / chemicals just wash it with water and natural soap if you have to. I apply bees wax on my ring (yes bees wax on the metal) from time to time and it looks better every time. This ring is chemical free and in the whole crafting process there was not even one chem used. If for some reason you will decide to (or by mistake) remove the finish I can put a very similar finish back on your ring (remember not the same finish but similar as this is a very unique pattern). The cost for re-applying fire patina finish is free however you do have to pay for postage (in and out). Feel free to ask me any questions regarding my rings and be sure to browse through my online shop here on Etsy for my other rings, coin rings and wooden rings. Thank you, Thomas.