Ring #5

This is the fifth ring I ever made (the less said about ring #4, the better!).  So far, it is my absolute favorite.  It's pretty out there, isn't it?  But I love it.  The construction was a bit tricky and a little sloppy, but it holds together very well.

Except for the swan.  Oh the swan!  I made the perfect swan.  Put the ring in the oven and baked it.  Then the swan chipped off.  Drat!  I set it aside in a safe place while I finished the ring.  When it was completely done, I went to glue the swan on the pond and...yeah, a safe place. *roll-eyes*  So I made another one.  My workspace is in my living room and I transported the little critter on my baking tile into the kitchen to bake.  Riiiight.  It fell off the baking tile.  Take a look at the picture.  Go ahead, I'll wait.  The silly thing is about 1/4" big.  My kitchen linoleum is in tones of white, beige, and brown.  I couldn't find it.  *sigh*  So round number three.  The swan turned out okay and I got it attached to the ring.  It wasn't perfect, but nobody but me would notice.

Several days later, I was showing it off to someone and I chipped it off again (and lost it, of course)!  DRAT!!  But wait!  Oh happy fortune!  I found the original swan (which is the best of the three I must admit).  This time I drilled the tiniest hole in the bottom of the swan and a corresponding tiny hole in the pond.  I put a bit of wire in the holes and super-glued the thing and now it's perfectly secure.  Whew!  Anyway, a side view:

I totally love the bear!