Congratulations to our latest Student of the Week-Alice Finklestein. She did a beautiful job on her ring. To create her shank we used fine silver wire , twisted and straight. Here is what she did.
We took two three foot lengths of 22 gauge fine silver. We took them separately and doubled them over. We took the two loose ends and clamped them in a vise. One of the lengths we twisted clockwise and the other counterclockwise. When placed next to each other the twisted wires will give a braided effect. Once our wires were twisted tightly and evenly , we cut them. We make three groups six inch long, three wires each. A clockwise twisted, a straight 20 gauge fine silver wire and a counterclockwise twisted. We blob a little solder at the end of each group of three to stabilize them. We then put them side by side in a vise and braid them. Left over the middle, right over the middle. It’s very important to keep the braid flat so we braid one wire at a time and keep pressing it flat with a dowel. When we are done braiding, we anneal and CAREFULLY use a leather mallet to tamp it a bit. Fine silver would normally be too soft for a ring shank but we find the braided ones hold up very well. Here’s to Alice, she did a beautiful job here.
jeanettecaines
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{ 3 comments… read them below or add one }
The braid ends inside the bezel on both sides so the braid that shows is continuous.
Nice work, and I want to try it myself. But to do that, can we please also have a side view of the ring, it’s hard for me to see how the braiding is forming the shank.
Alice, that is a superb job of finishing the bezel. The shank was the main part, but I am fussy about setting the stone!