In Zee's "spinster" thread I talked about faceting as a way of blinging projects. I wasn't able to provide pictures since my only remaining available sample was not to hand. This post is meant to remedy that omission.
While doing dishes, my daughter was wont to put her wedding rings on the slippery tile counter next to the sink that housed the garbage disposal. With two active sons to distract her, it seemed inevitable that the rings would land in the disposal and be ground to dust.
When I was a kid most housewives had a ringsaver next to the sink to solve just this problem. Typically they consisted of a small over-decorated ceramic lidded jar, often with an internal central post on which to place the rings.
One can still find ringsavers on the interweb but most of them are as ugly as the 50s decade was. I decided to make one for my daughter. A turned brass base, relieved to sit flat, a bit of plastic tubing and a turned brass lid formed the basic structure. I added a teflon pad to cushion the rings when they are dropped into the saver.
The saver cried out for a blingful knob to adorn the top. Now, everyone knows I'm not a bling fan but, hey, it's my daughter. So I decided to make a faceted aluminum knob. The result turned out well enough to please her and me as well.
Here's a closeup of the faceted knob. One ring of flats at 45 degrees and two rings of smaller flats at different inclinations to "knock off" the points of the main divisions led to this...
Around Xmas the subject of amateur machinist-made gifts comes up often. Perhaps you want to think about making a ring saver for your special lady. (Making one for a girlfriend is NOT recommended - it might give them ideas you don't want to deal with.)
