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Dennis
31-08-2010, 03:55 AM
The Russian wedding ring has a religious significance, but it is also a very decorative piece of jewellery. Traditionally it is made in three colours of gold, but a less expensive version could be entirely of silver.
The three parts are made separately , three sizes larger than normal and finished completely. Here I have used 3.2 x 1.6 mm D shaped wire. Two are then cut at the solder joint with a fine saw blade, opened by a sideways movement to preserve the curve and then linked and re-soldered one at a time. The fit is quite snug as the components tend to cling to the fingers and to take the ring off they must be gently rolled over each other. This rolling action seems to give the ring a life of its own. If using gold, it might be worth doing an experiment with a cheaper metal to verify the fit, as resizing would involve dismantling the whole thing.
Below, a nine carat version I made some time ago and a plain silver one just completed, to road test this post. Dennis.

jille
31-08-2010, 07:28 AM
thank you Dennis for posting this info, i have wanted to make myself one of these rings for a while
jill

FacetNation
31-08-2010, 06:45 PM
russian bands are such a great project - the results are very satisfying. I use the jinks mcgrath rings book for my instructions, and teach this as a project at my silver jewellery class.
question for you dennis - the same carat gold, but different colours - are they the same hardness? so would they wear ok rubbing next to each other? i have always been told that engagement & wedding bands are best off the same metal, so that they wear at the same rate, but working only in silver at the moment i dont know too much about gold & its properties. something i have pondered about 3 colour russian bands!

Dennis
31-08-2010, 09:45 PM
Dear X,
The one you see was made for one of my daughters in 2004 and she wears it quite frequently without signs of damage. In fact I have found 9 carat an ideal upgrade from silver for her as she lives in a hot climate and it is both tough and tarnish resistant.
You will note that Jinks suggests a heavier gage of metal and she uses a lot of maths, which I am much against, because after a couple of cuts to align the edges for soldering the maths goes out of the window. I always make rings about a size too small, around a mandrel, and then stretch them to size on a ring stretcher. I find this efficient and fool proof, but people love bashing things and then filing and polishing the damage. kind regards, Dennis.

caroleallen
01-09-2010, 06:31 PM
It's funny you mention Russian wedding rings as I had a student make one on Saturday. She had to take it apart twice and bash it to within an inch of its life to get the right size. She was thrilled with it once it was finished. I also made my daughter one to wear on her thumb about 5 years ago and it's the only piece of jewellery that she wears all the time.

wheely
01-09-2010, 08:29 PM
Is it wise to make the bands a smidgen larger than your actual size?

FacetNation
01-09-2010, 08:34 PM
wheely - oh yes! ( see below! )

Dennis - i hate the maths too, and got so confused by it that i somehow (i really dont know how...) ended up mis reading the steps and making one of my bands smaller than the others... resulting in a ring which just about fits on a coolish day!

I like dennis's method of 3 sizes bigger than normal. i will give that a try next time instead of the book!

Dennis
01-09-2010, 09:43 PM
....she had to take it apart twice and bash it to within an inch of its life to get the right size. [/QUOTE]
Yes Carole, that's why I am so in favour of the upright ring stretcher. You just drop the ring on, work the lever and the ring drops down to the right size. No sweat and no damage to the ring except for a few shiny marks on the inside. Unfortunately jewellers don't seem to feel that they've made jewellery unless they beat the hell out of something and the spend an afternoon cleaning up the damage. I have a long-winded post about this, and I shall put it on next week to get it out of my system. Kind regards, Dennis.

caroleallen
02-09-2010, 07:00 AM
Mmm, I think I'll have to save up for one of those Dennis.

Myosotis
02-09-2010, 09:46 AM
[/QUOTE]
Yes Carole, that's why I am so in favour of the upright ring stretcher. You just drop the ring on, work the lever and the ring drops down to the right size. No sweat and no damage to the ring except for a few shiny marks on the inside. Unfortunately jewellers don't seem to feel that they've made jewellery unless they beat the hell out of something and the spend an afternoon cleaning up the damage. I have a long-winded post about this, and I shall put it on next week to get it out of my system. Kind regards, Dennis.[/QUOTE]

That's a bit of a generalisation and untrue. I have worked as a jobbing jeweller and we always used a ring stretcher/reducer where appropriate for the style of ring. Most new designer/makers and hobbyists have to "beat the hell out of something" because they simply don't have the budget to buy one of these when there are other tools that they need which they will probably get more use out of. Cookson's are currently selling these for £256.44 inc VAT - and this is about average for a good quality European made one. There is a supplier on E-bay now selling Indian ones for £95 +£15 postage which I recently bought - I debated whether to buy this as I also have a microplating unit on my buy list which isn't cheap. This is still more than some people have to spend. Don't berate people because they haven't got deep pockets.

ps_bond
02-09-2010, 10:58 AM
As an alternative, there are hammered ring stretchers for non-stone rings - similar in principle to the lever action, but a little less controllable (although a lot, lot cheaper). Now I'll need to put my money where my mouth is and get one to try, I suppose...

Dennis
02-09-2010, 12:21 PM
Myosotis, sorry I do tend to rant a bit, but I don't mean to berate anyone. For a long time I was in a class where I was the only one to use the ring stretcher. Truly all the others preferred bashing. Of course it's their choice.
Peter, I have one of those hammering ring stretchers in the back of a cupboard, but it needed so much whacking with a hefty hammer and the expansion happened in fits and starts, that I gave up using it. As you say, not very controllable.
Kind regards, Dennis.

Myosotis
02-09-2010, 12:35 PM
Myosotis, sorry I do tend to rant a bit, but I don't mean to berate anyone. For a long time I was in a class where I was the only one to use the ring stretcher. Truly all the others preferred bashing. Of course it's their choice.


That's all right Dennis, you're speaking to the Queen of Rantsville :-) That's a completely different situation if people have got access to equipment like that but don't use it - IMO the best part about going to classes is to access equipment you can't afford yourself.

DragonflyLynne
02-09-2010, 01:02 PM
I love Russian wedding rings. You have to make sure that the individual rings are aligned in a nice "flower" before you put it on, so that it rolls nicely. If one ring is flipped over the action isn't the same. :)