December Ring

I decided to make another ring. There's really no excuse for not making more than one, but the holidays have been what they are, and I haven't had the spoons. However, this single ring is hands down more successful than last month's. The soldering all went smoothly, the bezel was a tiny bit too large, but that's better than too small. The stone is still set firmly. And I properly polished this one. 

The one sad thing, I got on a polishing kick and was polishing the rest of those Byzantine clasps from August (yes, they've sat unpolished this whole time). And one broke. The solder join at one of the bails wasn't as secure as I thought it was, and it broke off. In attempting to attach a new bail, I messed up the filigree. So that's frustrating. 

Finishing the August project

So I had already posted about one of the necklaces, and I still have one more to go, but this one has the correct bead pattern to match the original. It's a mix of amethyst, black glass, and pearls. The original only has one pearl, and a bunch of empty links. My assumption is that the empty links, given their placement at every other bead, and the correlation of the one pearl being in that spot, once all contained pearls. The links are created with fine silver wire that's 24 gauge. I think that might be a little wimpy compared to the original, but it's what fits my pearls nicely. I might try 22 gauge, but it won't be until my next iteration of the clasp, which will have a bail that's more bulky, like the original. That's a project for the future. 

Here's my reproduction. The hook is a tiny bit wimpy as well, but that's easy to fix. The amethysts are a touch small, and the pearls are a touch big, but overall, I'm pleased with it. This piece is being donated to the An Tir 12th Night Peers Auction. 

Note the empty links in the original, with the single pearl between the amethyst and the black glass bread at the center bottom.