Ali soldering her ring

20 Hour Jewelry Workshop in Florence

Ali, a jewelery maker, writer, poet, artist, designer and English teacher from Australia now living in Southern Tuscany recently finished a 20-hour jewelry workshop with me. Ali already had some experience under her jeweler’s belt but wanted to brush up on her techniques and learn a few new ones.

Setting a stone in a bezel

Ali’s sterling silver convex curl ring almost finished.

After an introductory warm-up exercise in soldering, she jumped right into some new ring designs. This sterling silver convex ring has a hand-curled embellishment on the top. To finish the piece, it was tumbled and a liver of sulfur patina was added to create depth in the curled part, while keeping the edges highlighted.

Ali’s final piece during the workshop was a unique wedding ring with a tapered band made from reticulated sterling silver (.925), which was…