A ring made from hallmarked, oxidised, sterling silver of an open form and set with a large cabochon of Swirl pinky-amber Rhyolite.

Size M - US 6.5.

I came across Swirl Rhyolite on a US website called Copper Canyon Lapidary. They sold slabs of a variety of opaque gems and the pink and amber swirls in this one really appealed to my aesthetic. Plus, it purported to be easy to cut and polish – always plus when you are a beginner.

So, a few weeks later the rough slab arrived, and I started to look for shapes within it that I thought might make interesting cabochons to cut, and this was the first piece I created. The Open Rings had already begun with the Orbicular Agate and the Andamooka Jelly Opal examples, so this would be the third in the series.

Like a lot of my rings this is not ‘shrinking Violet’, it makes statement and to add to the drama I decided that the silver would set the gem off best if it was oxidised as well as having a polished finish. Also, the upstand opposite the gem needed to be fairly large to ‘balance’ the size of the piece of Swirl Rhyolite. Thus, the ring was conceived and made.

This ring is 62mm tall, 37mm wide and 30mm deep.

SPECIFICATION

Materials: Sterling Silver
Stones: 35 carat cabochon of Swirl Rhyolite