Celtic ring keeps it shape?

Hello from Quebec. I have a customer who wants two rings made as a
knot one made of sterling silver size 10, and the other made of gold
10kt size 8. My question is 1mm size guage is it ok so that the ring
keeps it shape? Is there a special way to go about making these
rings?

Thanking you all kindly
Caro

caro working on custom celtic rings…

if I am making a cutout…it should be 2mm thick to prevent from
bending, with a support ring (.5mm to 1mm) on either side.

If I were gong to make a 1mm thick knot, then I would put a 1mmm
underband that is solid and still with the side rings (they look
nice.)

how do you make this…get a copy of your knot and place it on
your metal (rubber cement works great for this…) drill lots of
little holes and start cutting…you do break alot of sawblades and
drill bits (if you get a drill bit stuck, you will have to place the
gold in nitric acid until it works out) This is a time consuming
effort, and I hope you are up for the challenge (be prepared for a
bruise mid chest from threading your sawblade through those little
holes.)

as far as silver goes, this is an awful large project, and I would
think that the cost of time and effort will outweigh what the
customer wants to spend (especially when you can buy a cast silver
knot ring almost anywhere for about $30.00)

if you need more advice, or would like to see a pic of one of my
knotwork rings, let me know. I always tell my customer, to get a
special piece of jewelry in the knot of their choice, this is the way
to go! (I am currently in the process of finishing a set as we speak)
let me know how I can help! (I also have pics of work in progress if
you need)

-julia potts

Continue from:

Hello Caro

I make many celtic band rings. If I use 18 guage (i mm) I always flush
solder the knotwork to a 1 mm thick band. The rare times I do open
celtic knotwork in a ring I have always used 16 guage, or 1.3 mm
thick, sterling silver or 14 kt gold. I’d prefer to use 14 guage (1.6
mm), but it may depend on the design. Since I only fabricate it may be
different for cast rings, though I doubt it.

If you go to my rings page, here:
http://homepage.mac.com/markdefrates/Rings/PhotoAlbum3.html

You’ll find newer celtic band rings than I have on my site. As Julia
Potts says, email if you have any questions.

BTW Julia, I much prefer white glue sticks to rubber cement to place
the paper designs (designed on computer). This works for silver, but
on sheet gold I have to abrade the surface. I’ll try rubber cement
for gold sheet and see how it goes. I can’t stand it when the paper
rides up with the saw. Anyone else have personal preferences for
adhering paper to sheet?

You really drill through 2 mm sheet? A tip of my optivisor to you!

Mark Defrates
http://www.markdefrates.com

BTW Julia, I much prefer white glue sticks to rubber cement to
place the paper designs (designed on computer). This works for
silver, but on sheet gold I have to abrade the surface. I'll try
rubber cement for gold sheet and see how it goes. I can't stand it
when the paper rides up with the saw. Anyone else have personal
preferences for adhering paper to sheet? 

Catching up on my Orchid after a long time…there is an easy way to
transfer designs to sheet metal. No glue, no mess, durable until you
use a torch, at which time it disappears. One caveat, it requires
access to either a carbon-base toner used in a photocopy machine or
laser printer (b/w only, no color). Just draw or use your computer to
design your art work, print or photocopy (carbon-base toner,
remember) to a high quality paper. Tape the design along the edges of
the paper to the sheet metal.

Turn an iron upside down and block it to keep it stable. Place a
sheet of paper on the iron bottom (which is now the top), which
prevents any carbon or tape getting on the iron, and prevents the
husband getting clocked with the iron by the wife :-} Place sheet
metal and the paper transfer on top of the sheet of paper covering
the iron bottom.

Turn on the iron, usually to the cotton setting, or about 425
degrees F., and allow the metal to heat up. Transfer the design to
the sheet metal by way of using a folded piece of paper or a Pyrex
burnisher to rub across the design. It is very much like using
LetraPress.

When the design is transferred, use the protective bottom sheet to
transfer the whole works to a hot pad to cool off. Once cool, remove
the paper by peeling it off at a 90-160 degree angle, like you would
peel off tape.

Result is a nice, crisp design that holds up to oil, perspiration,
wax, lubricant, etc. until you finish sawing. The first lick of heat
above 800 degrees F. causes the carbon to disappear (carbonize).

You have beautiful Celtic work, by the way.

I use a method that was one of those things just inadvertantly
discovered one day while piercing some sterling sheet. Draw out the
design (or trace one) with a lead pencil on tracing paper, then take
a piece of matte scotch tape and stick the tape down right onto the
design. Rub your fingernail around pretty well on it to get maximum
amount of lead to adhere to the tape, lift the piece of tape off and
voila! Now you can just stick the tape w. design onto the sheet and
saw happily away. This method has worked like a charm, no messy glues
or peeling, shredding, tearing paper to fight with :slight_smile: BTW, tracing
paper works the best with this method cuz the tape just peels right
off clean without any paper fibers sticking to it when you go to
lift the design (as “regular” paper will do).

Hope this is in line with what you’re trying to accomplish and helps
give you one more idea to try, Carol

Catching up on my Orchid after a long time...there is an easy way
to transfer designs to sheet metal. No glue, no mess, durable until
you use a torch, at which time it disappears. One caveat, it
requires access to either a carbon-base toner used in a photocopy
machine or laser printer (b/w only, no color). Just draw or use
your computer to design your art work, print or photocopy
(carbon-base toner, remember) to a high quality paper. Tape the
design along the edges of the paper to the sheet
metal............... 

A much simpler way to transfer a design to sheet metal is to scan
your design and print it out on full sheet label paper, available at
any Staples or similar store. Or you can draw directly on the lable
paper. Then just peel off the backing and stick to your metal and saw
away. The paper is easily removed with acetone.

Joel

Joel Schwalb
@Joel_Schwalb

Another trick I learned doing a ships carving for a couple of
friends is to print out the image and use the 3m spray adhesive you
can buy at home depot or any hardware store and is a lot cheaper
than the label stuff.

Andrian