My wife made the sketch. I modeled the ring in 3d (using Blender).
ShapeWays.com printed it out.
Gems from firemountaingems.com
You can commission your own custom jewelry via my commission page:
http://www.peripheralarbor.com/commission/
I occasionally do handyman work along with other physical products. If you'd like to commission a custom build, I can help you with that.
Continuing on the experiment with the "Large triring" I further exaggerated the cutout on the side of the Tristone Ring Mk2 to make room for the little web of skin between my ring and index fingers. I could have made it even larger, or perhaps even pull it out to the side more, but it is comfortable as-is.
Like most of my ring designs, the Tristone Ring Mk2 has a symmetrical pattern. Unlike others, it is modified to get the swirls to line up with the gemstones (which are not positioned symmetrically). I rather like the effect, but it's difficult to show with a photo.
A closeup of the Tristone Ring Mk2 mounted gemstones. Ever since I broke a gemstone while mounting it, I take my rings to a professional jeweler to mount the faceted gemstones. Have to say I'm not particularly happy with the small gaps between the prongs and the stones, but they are certainly secure.
Wedding ring by Phil and Kaja. The authors of Girl Genius designed this as their wedding ring years and years ago. I thought it was a pretty neat design, so I modeled it up. Here's the original art.
Large Tri Ring Side
Large tri-stone ring top
The underside of the Large tri-stone ring. The flowers eventually wore smooth, but you can still tell what they are.
Oval Ring Worn
Oval Ring Held
Wife Tristone Ring Bottom
Wife Tristone Ring Top
Here's the finished full set. Two earrings and a ring. You may be able to see the resemblance in the pattern bewteen the ring and the earring. Or not. Either way, my wife likes them and that's what counts.
Thanks again to Shapeways.com for these excellent products!
Finished Earrings. These are the first set of 3d printed earrings I've done. Came out perfectly!
Another view of the finished earrings.
Another picture of the custom ring. This is the third silver product I've ordered from Shapeways. They did a good job with it!
The ring without the gem. The printing came out perfectly, except for the fourth gem setting clasp. It would have been in the top-left corner of the oval. Fortunately, three (or even two opposing) clasps is enough to hold the gem in place.
You can see the texture of the ring here. It's not perfectly smooth, but at a distance this gives a more lustrous shine. Of course, these cavities also fill up with dirt eventually. The band here proved too thin, and I went with a thicker edge for future designs.
There it is, the ring with the gem mounted, on the intended finger. This design appears to be more fragile than the last one, but I think it may actually be stronger. In any case, it certainly looks more elegant than the three blue gem design. We may try another version with thicker strands, just to see if it would feel better.
3D render of the matching earrings for the Oval Ring set.
The second design is actually a set of ring and earrings. The design looks good enough to eat, but we'll see how the final product turns out. (fingers crossed)
Anna hasn't seen the renders yet, so here's to hoping I can keep it a surprise. I don't think she ever looks at my website.
On the right is the original sketch (scanned, leveled, and generally processed) and on the left is the top view. The perspective is distorted because of the ring's shape, but you can see the general concept has been maintained. I've moved a few things around to produce a more robust structure. (the first ring is a bit flimsy) Hopefully this design is a bit more solid.
You can see the intertwining of the design here fairly well. The structure is fairly complex, but I'm learning how to more easily model these kinds of forms.
Here it is; The finished original tristone ring, whorls, spheres, gems, and all!
After Anna wearing it for about five months, I've learned a few things. I need to make rings more sturdy. It may look good in the 3d model, but silver is soft, and this design tends to deform under stress. Along with that, the band around the back is too thin for the wide front. This causes it to push into the finger more than necessary. I thought I had made it strong enough, but it needs more!
The final printed ring without gems. Printed in silver by Shapeways.com who did a smashing job of it I say! Lovely details, all the features came out looking good.
This is just a pretty render of the final design for the first version of the tristone ring.
This is a render of the 3D model that I sent to Shapeways. The final product came out exactly right (as far as I can tell).
This is the original sketch that the ring design is based off of. We had to play with it for a bit, but the final model matches quite closely.
Anna sent me this ring to engrave. I put a threefold braid around it. Not really a celtic knot, but it will pass for one.
I engraved the band around this ring for Anna. She was non-specific as to the design, so I went with something simple. I think it turned out okay.
Quarter for scale only.
