KingAZAZ

Hello,

Since I haven't been able to turn up any good info with Google, I figure I'll turn to the place where I know many crafty folks hang out. I'm a beginner smith but since I accumulate hobbies and generally just want to make things, I've decided to make my fiancee her wedding ring.

I made her an engagement ring from coco bola and unfortunately with her sensitive skin she broke out in pretty short order with a rash everywhere the ring touched. Fortunately we aren't very superstitious so we didn't take that as an omen.

Anyway, my plan is to get a raw chunk of jade, probably from ebay, and to fashion a band from that. Then I'd like to inlay some silver around the band, maybe in a wavy line, maybe just a few dots, maybe a plain ol' band around the middle. Thing is, I can't find any information telling me how to go about this, so I'm issuing an open request for tips and suggestions.

If I were to take a crack at it tomorrow I would probably cut out a piece of jade, drill a hole roughly her size (size 5) and then begin the laborious process of filing the edges until it's a ring. Then I'd stick it on a mandrel in a lathe and try to put a groove around the middle and see if I could work the silver in by heating it and hammering it lightly. I dunno, I'm just making it up as I go along. What do you think?

I've been lurking around the boards for a while, usually while I'm at the office, and wanted to add this tidbit to the thread.

My fiancée studies French and, after I'd been forging for a couple of weeks, she told me that the French expression equivalent to our "Practice makes perfect" is "It is through forging that one becomes a blacksmith."

I like it. :)