As usual I got side-tracked again. I've been seeing lots of Viking and other dark ages jewelry and decided to make some 'treasure':
So far I've made arm rings, bracelets, and rings. The bracelets and arm rings are designs of own that fall in the viking aesthetic. The difference between the bracelets and arm rings is just the size of the twisted ring.
I made two terminals for the ends. A wolf that came out so-so:
The rings are all attempts at reproducing the Kingmoor ring, an Anglo-Saxon ring in the British Museum:
The first is fairly far from the original:
I started cutting the wax with a graver and it gave the wrong kind of cut. But I liked the style anyways so I went ahead with it.
The next one is much closer:
The runes are almost right stylistically, but I made it to fit my finger which is only size 9 so it's a bit out of proportion. The original is about size 13, based on photos and measurements I've gleaned from the web. I'm working on a full size version of the ring now. We'll see how that goes.
These are all made from copper-based alloys that attempt to mimic the look of gold. The wire for the twists is Nu Gold (or red brass), which is 15% zinc 85% copper. The castings (finger rings & terminals) are done in manganese bronze, which is 58% copper and various amounts of zinc, iron, manganese, aluminum, and tin.
And yes, I'm selling these on Etsy :-)
