crisscross

A friend of mine "commissioned" me to make this piece for her friend, who had lost her favourite silver ring. I've been entrenched in textiles-related work for the past few months, so it was kind of nice to get back behind the jeweler's bench and reunite with my old friends, the saw and torch. I think the ring still needs a final polishing, but it's pretty much done otherwise.

It's a simple design-- essentially a band of Xs-- but I like the way it seems fancier when you look beyond the individual crosses and see the negative shapes and ridged pattern. Not that I actually designed it, since I was work from a sketch that my friend gave me so that I could replicate the original. Still, I quite enjoy it, even though I don't get to keep it (it's too big for me, anyhow).

And on the subject of crisscrossy things...

I've always wanted to make challah and so I finally did. Braiding was an interesting process, to say the least, with me running flour-handed back and forth from the kitchen to the youtube videos on my computer. In the end I basically winged it-- unfortunately, running out of eggs to lacquer on the beautiful glossy finish-- but it turned out all right nonetheless. Tender eggy crumbly goodness.