Flower Power

Here's the next finished Lucky Penny ring, Flower Power! lol. The date on it is 1968. Kate suggested 1969 as Woodstock's year, and suitable for a Flower Power ring, but I'd already picked out a 1968. The stone is a 3 mm blue topaz.


Which brings up a funny point. As I stated before, I started picking up change I'd find in my walks for lottery tickets. Then I started admiring the varying road textures of the coins, and began making jewelry with them. The end result is, a growing mound of unrecycled road change. The only coins I use for lottery tickets anymore are quarters and pennies younger than 1983. (the last year of good copper content in pennies.) If I come across a totally unscarred dime, sure I'll recycle it. But, I have lots of great looking dimes, nickels and pennies covering my table top.

Which means, of course, I need to start selling lots or get a life! Eh. Maybe I'll go get a beer instead....

New Goodies

Here are a couple of new models I've been working on. I was unsure of the Fish ring... fearing it might turn out too dorky. I don't think it ranks obnoxiously high on the dork-o-meter though. I made it for pennies fished out of a fountain. Right now the bezel (where you put the stone) got crunched down a bit in casting. (Insert favorite gosh darn it phrase here.) So I can't fit any penny in. I can fix it. It just was taking a bit too much time and patience so I decided to go ahead and take some pictures with a dime.


**One of my problems with the fishy ring is... I kinda have a dork asthetic. Obviously. But when I tried to stylize the fish at all... I was messing with symbols, it seemed to me. And since I'm not religious, I don't like to utilize such symbols in my work unless its for a particular purpose. A fish symbol with the casual inference of religion didn't feel right. If I could stylize the fish successfully, to where I didn't see such casual inference, that would be best. I didn't make it in this round. I was left with dorkiness.

**This may seem like over thinking. (lol.) But this is one step where things succeed or not. It is not just that a design is pleasing, but whether there is a sense of coherent thought or intention behind the work. Which, in all honesty, may be one reason why my successes are dwarfed by my failures. I do not excel in coherence. In fact, I think dorkiness is okay, the way pizza and beer and football can satisfy if a few brain cells and a certain portion of the psych is left, fumbling for the ideal.
----
This is the flower POWER ring. Both of these models need to get cleaned up, then molded and recast for the finish piece. (They are carved out of wax then cast into the silver shown here.) I made the flower ring so that I can use nickels too. Or dimes.

The Lucky and the Not So Lucky

*Here I must interject. I root for the rookies of the nfl. Its my love of the happy endings interfering with my desire to win, I guess. But, you know how when you're sitting in a high school gym watching some honor ceremony of some sort. You hope that even the girl wearing dark colored long sleeves and long pants in 80 degree temps succeeds. You want everyone to make it.

*But this year I'm tying to ignore the rookie stories. When I heard Tyrone McKenzie injured his ACL in the second day of the Patriots rookie camp... I attempted to be oblivious. But poor guy! Half those rookies at the very least won't make the team. Maybe only 2 or 3 will. And I really want the long snapper from Hawaii to succeed.... as well as everyone else! And to win. Go Pats!

So back to jewelry and my change road rescue. lol. I know the copper content of pennies has lessened over the years. I know the present coin doesn't have much copper. But I thought using easy silver solder was low key enough for a 1985 penny. Apparently not! That poor penny lost it on the ditch of my learning curve. There was way too much tin in the penny. 1983 is the magical date. Now I have to decipher the freaking date on those poor pulverized coins. The next rescue coin I picked on was a 1972 coin. That coin hung in there. The first picture is of the accidental euthanasia of last night. (White metal goes quick when it goes!)

These other 2 are of my first finished Lucky Penny Ring, 1972. *The coins are coins I find while out walking.*