My First Gold Ring for Aya (2007)
I wonder how many years it has been. I had been holding on to a lump of gold and a lump of silver for so long, unable to turn them into anything meaningful. I tried many times to create something, but nothing ever turned out the way I imagined, and eventually I had almost given up.
Then one day, after watching the film Schindler’s List, I began to believe again that it might actually be possible to make a ring. In the final scene, there is a brief moment where the prisoners melt their own gold teeth and, using nothing more than a gas burner and a hammer, manage to create a gold ring.
Until then, I had convinced myself that I couldn’t make one — but seeing someone else do it changed everything. I thought, If they can create it, then surely I can too. And from that moment, the idea came back to life.
Process:
- Create a ring mold using plaster.
- Melt the gold over the mold with a gas burner.
- Once the gold forms into a ring shape without collapsing under surface tension, cool it and shape it with a metal file.
- Polish the surface with metal polish (Pikal).
