Spinner Report post Posted January 3, 2012 (edited) Back in November I was requested to make a special pair of wedding rings for a very nice couple. They were looking for a local artist to make them a pair of rings for their upcoming wedding that incorporated metal but needed something that wasn't a hard band as the soon-to-be-groom has serious carpal tunnel syndrome. They had found a ring online that was a sterling silver plate with a brown chrome tan leather band but the ones available were only made in a half dozen small women's sizes. Aside from the size issue, the metal was a concern as well since these would be worn everyday and Sterling Silver is rather soft. I discussed their needs with them and after a few conversations they honored me with the job of creating their wedding rings from Titanium & black oil tanned buffalo. So now the task was to figure out the titanium part of the puzzle. I had never worked with the stuff and didn't even know where to buy it. My first thought was to sub out that part of the job but in the end it was very cost prohibitive to have just 2 pieces machined. A quick internet search and I found Halpern Titanium in Three Rivers, MA. Marianne Halpern was a great help, pointing me in the right direction with info and they had just opened up an ebay store to sell their smaller off-cuts for those folks not needing full sheets. (I also purchased some from other sources but none went out of their way to help like Halpern did.) Long story short, in 3 short weeks I found the titanium, read a ton about it and then bought the bits and such for my TurboCarver II to machine the plates myself by hand. The plates are 1/32" thick titanium with a "brushed" top finish and the underside is mirror polished with the wedding date hand engraved into the center width. Two 1/32" wide channels were cut into the ends of the plates to accomodate the oil tanned buffalo bands. I also made a special jig for my arbor press to curve the titanium plates just slightly so they would lay on the fingers more naturally than a flat plate would. The bands are one piece and looped in such a way as to create a solid inner band with the join at the outer band to make them stronger (rather than two pieces stitched together) they were then hand sewn through both bands with black waxed linen thread to blend the join as much as possible. We met once during the process to size the bands and then again to deliver them before the big day. Below are pictures from the wedding, taken by Donald Norris Photography. Congratulations Eugenia & Richard and thank you for the honor! Edited January 3, 2012 by Spinner Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spinner Report post Posted January 3, 2012 Almost forgot to mention sizes for those curious...the plate on his ring is 1/2" square, the plate on her ring is 5/16"w x 3/8"L. (I had to buy a jeweler's magnifying headpiece just to be able to see the marks on the metal to machine & engrave them). Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Rhide Report post Posted January 4, 2012 What an honor! You're a man of many talents, Spinner. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shadowryder Report post Posted January 4, 2012 COOL MAN!!!! Well done really cool work,A real artist. JJ Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Spinner Report post Posted January 4, 2012 Thanks guys. This was a fun project and has spurred a few new ideas if the bike leather business ever slows down (hopefully not). I checked in with the couple last night, the one month mark of wearing the rings and they're loving them and people are constantly asking them about the story behind them so they're more than thrilled. Definitely makes one feel good about a creation. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
