The first time I got my hands on a piece of 22k gold was for the purpose of making Malachi's wedding ring. All alloys and karats of gold behave differently and you have to treat them with the skill and respect they demand.
I must admit, I absolutely LOVE working with 22k. It's so clean, heavy, bright, and malleable.
Here's what I started with, a 6mm X 2mm, 2.5'' bar of gold.
I began bending the thick gold so that the ends could meet. I fused this ring, which means that I didn't use any solder. Instead, I heated the gold up hot enough for it to become one single, seamless circle. This is the strongest way to connect metal, but is can be more difficult. You will see in the time lapse video below how red hot it gets! I had to get it hot enough to fuse, while also making sure it didn't get hot enough to melt into a puddle.
Usually, a piece of jewelry looks rather rough when you're working on it. It can be difficult to remember that after the final polish, everything really comes together. I try to remind myself of this in other areas of my life.
This is what his ring looked like after I fused it. You can see all the discoloration from the torch.
It's beginning to look more like a ring! I chose to hammer some facets into it. Malachi didn't want a perfect and polished ring and I didn't want a common hammer finish on it.
...and the final piece....
We chose 22k yellow gold because of the rich and beautiful color of gold, the heft of the metal, and purity. The inside of my engagement ring has a band of 22k yellow gold and this kind of creates a likeness between the two. High karat gold is a beautiful thing and so few pieces of jewelry in the US are made with it, so it really is a treasure for us!
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