Who doesn’t like cool jewelry? For nearly as long as homo sapiens have walked the earth, we have sought to adorn ourselves with nice looking things. Coins, on the other hand, are a relatively new invention. The oldest on record are about 2700 years old. Now both are brought together into a sort of “you got your chocolate into my peanut butter” moment…two great inventions that look great together.
I’ve been hard at work teaching myself the art of making coins into rings. I find the process and outcome very satisfying. As a result, I’ve opened an Etsy store to sell them. Follow the link on the left side of the page or click here. As of this writing I only have one style up on the store, but that will soon be remedied. I have numerous styles in the pipeline.
The rings featured above and to the right are made from a Japanese 10 Yen Coin. These coins are 95% copper with the remainder being made up of zinc and tin. The 10 yen coin makes a novel and beautiful ring. The obverse side (as shown above) has the characters 日本国 (Nipponkoku) which mean the country of Japan or simply Japan. The other two characters on the obverse side are 十円 (Jū-en) which means ten yen.
When the coin is folded with the reverse side out (as pictured in the inline photo above) bay laurel leaves surround the ring, making a unique pattern. My ring forging process maintains much of the original detail inside and out. Additionally, I apply an antique patina to each ring to help highlight the detail. I then coat each ring with 2 layers of a durable protective sealant that not only helps to maintain the patina but also prevents the ring from discoloring fingers.
Stay tuned…more rings are on the way!
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