Signet Rings

An extension of our piercing practice was to make a couple of signet rings from sheet.
The first was a simple band with round area at the front.  Easy enough.

I decided to use the star I had cut out during piercing practice to add a little decoration.
I thought it might be nice and manly, but instead it turned out rather "Wonder Woman" :-)

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The second ring type was one I'd not really seen before.  It reminded me a little of a sovereign ring.
The pattern consisted of a widely curving back and flared ends (which would curve round to make a raised bezel/platform at the front).

I used a combination of ring pliers, a swage block and hammering round a punch shaft, to get the curvature started on the flared ends.  The aim was to get one side of the bezel to meet up first, so this could be soldered and then the other side could be more easily manipulated into position.
Very tricky stuff.  The metal was fairly thick and really didn’t want to get into position.

Once both sides were soldered, both the ring shank and bezel top needed to be made round (with a mandrel and dapping punch respectively).
These two adjustments had to be done concurrently as the action of rounding the ring caused the bezel to close up.

This ring was crying out to be set with a cabochon.
So I soldered in a wire ring for the stone to sit one and set it with a (fairly poor quality) amethyst.