I've been catching up on custom orders over the last couple of months.  This ring was commissioned by fellow artist and Riverside Farmer's Market vendor Bonnie Tickner for her husband.

She wanted a plain band ring with a tiger's eye stone, and not too bright and shiny.  So I created this simple ring with a bit of texture and this beautiful stone.  We decided it looked better with a darkened finish.


Even though the design was simple, creating this ring presented an interesting challenge.  It is a size 18! I have never made a ring that big.
 

My ring mandrel only goes up to size 12, so I had to do a bit of creative problem solving. After rooting around in my studio and house for a while, I found a little souvenir baseball bat that did the trick. My ring blank length chart didn't go up to size 18 either so I had to dust off some long forgotten math skills to figure out the correct length to cut off the sheet of silver, and also the spot on my makeshift mandrel that would equate to size 18 so I could shape and size it properly. 

Sizing a ring is a bit tricky at the best of times, so I was amazed pleased that it fit properly first try!  It just needs a final polish, and then off it goes.