July Ring Re-cap...

Here's a group pic--35 rings made in July!  Phew!

Does anyone have a favorite?  My favorite is probably the large purple flower with the blue/white/purple ikat band (upper right hand portion of the pic).  I've made several and I never get tired of them.  The ring I wear the most often from this batch is the small purple flower on the white outer/purple inner band (lower left corner portion of the pic).  All in all, a few misfires, but many more that I like quite a lot. 

Countdown - ring #1

Well, I think it looks better, but I'm not so sure how comfortable it would be to wear...

Compare to yesterday...

Thanks for joining me during this month long exploration of polymer clay rings!

Countdown - Ring #2

Eh.  I was trying for something similar to that twisted bracelet that looks so cool.  Unfortunately, I didn't look at the bracelet or the tutorial, so the ring is something...lacking.  Oh well.

Coundown - ring #3

Yes, yes...another lace ring--I told you I liked them!

Countdown - ring 4...

I like this lacy look.  I had a hard time deciding whether or not to put flowers on it.  I finally decided I'd done enough flowers (at least for now), so just went with the little bow.  It looks quite nice as a thumb ring...

Coundown - ring number 5

Hmm...not quite what I envisioned, but not bad.  It's quite a bit like one of the first rings I ever made, but I was trying for a different look--next time I'll use a different cane...

Countdown: six more rings--6

So, six more days in July.  Here's #6:

Yet another flower...

I can't help it!  I love making flower rings:

Still raiding the craft table...

I had this ring that's been baked and sitting around forever.  I had the flower that's been around since April--in progress for another piece that I've since abandoned.  I put them together and...I like it!

More scraps...

I had this little bit sitting on my table as well.  I took a couple of headpins, snipped off the end and wrapped them around a "mandrel".  Then I tweaked the ends and sandwiched them between the top and the bottom.  Finally, I wrapped it with a bit of clay and...ta da!

Another view:

Let's see what I've got on my craft table I can use...

...ah, here we go:

I've had this deer thing for a few weeks now.  I was originally going to make a button or two, but this ring popped into my head.

I also had this marbled sheet of clay left over from making the deer.  I cut it up and made the actual ring part.

I don't know if you can see it, but I put a little heart (also out of the marbled sheet) inside.  Maybe I should look to my craft table more often for inspiration....

Translucent experiment...

I tried another translucent ring.  This time I lowered the baking temp, but baked it for one hour.  I'm thinking the longer you bake it the darker it gets.  I don't want to bake it less, though--it won't be as strong.  I'll have to give this even more thought....

A "small" ring...

I tend to make larger rings (probably to compensate for my short, stubby fingers), so I really, really tried to make a smaller one today:

Here's how it looks next to yesterday's ring:

I need to think smaller, don't I?

Heart ring

I got home from work rather late, so I was trying to figure out something simple to make.  I had this lovely bullseye cane, so I shaped it into a heart and put it on a sterling silver wire to make this ring:

I like the way it looks on my hand....

Flower ring...

I seem to use this cane quite a bit for my flower rings.  I think this is the fifth ring I've made with it.  The ikat makes lovely petals and the ring part goes well with it.

Playing with translucents...

I love working with white and translucent clays together.  They can be a bit touchy, though.  Example:

The longer you bake, and the more you bake, the darker the translucent clay becomes.  You can get around it by baking at a lower temperature, but it affects the durability of the piece.  I guess I'll have to rethink how I put the pieces together so I can minimize the total baking time.  More views:

I put a little glass flower on the inside to help hold everything in place, as well as tie the colors together.

Three rings today!

I have a bunch (and I do mean a bunch) of canes floating around.  Okay, okay--covering every available surface in my living room and dining room.  So I grabbed a few (well, three) and made some rings:

Cat ring 7

I thought I'd see if I could make cat rings for one week.  Here's my final cat ring for the week:

Here's a pic for scale:

I've been trying to make my rings different sizes--this one doesn't really fit me....

Cat ring 6

When I worked at the cat shelter, there was a sweet older kitty named Nina.  She was a tubby feline who was a lovey.  She was a favorite of one of my good friends at the shelter.  Dree would call her Nina Ballerina.  After Nina passed away, I thought of making something memorializing Nina.  So here's my "Nina Ballerina ring."

More views:

Cat ring 5

Ahhh...much better!

Cat ring 4

Not perfect, but I really like the concept...

Cat ring 3

I had some leftover pieces of a rainbow cane; combine it with cats...

Cat ring 2

Heh.  I knew I could put my cookie cutters to good use!

Cat ring 1

Ahhhh, this is better: