Mokume-gane, translated to “wood grain” or “curly grain,” is a unique art form with hundreds of years of history. Art or jewelry created with the mokume-gane style layers thin sheets of metal, shaping them to form a beautiful grain design. The art form originated in Japan and was first used to decorate samurai swords.
One Redditor recently decided to make a mokume-gane ring. The process takes many steps and requires careful shaping to prevent breakage, but with the right set of tools, skills, and some patience, he would create a beautiful piece of art.
He started off by cutting and cleaning a total of 22 plates of brass and copper, which would give the ring its distinctive look.
share
After he was finished prepping the plates, he put them into a clamp before placing them in a fire.
share
The fire caused the plates of metal to fuse together, in turn becoming more malleable. Soon the stack could be easily shaped.
share
After he was done heating them, he compressed the plates with 10 tons of pressure.
share
Here’s what the plates looked like after they’d been fired and pressurized. Now it was time to start shaping the metal into a ring.
share
In order to get the proper design, he had to carefully twist the stack of metal.
share
He had to continually heat and reheat the metal in order for it not to break before he had finished twisting it.
share
Once the metal was twisted into its desired pattern, it was time to start shaping it into a ring. He cut an opening in the center and here it is starting to look more like a ring.
share
Finally, the ring has been shaped into its basic form, but this project wasn’t quite finished.
share
He then applied a silver-copper patina in order to bring out the grains in the ring. He would use these grains to do the final steps in shaping the ring.
share
After some filling and grinding, the ring is finished. Here’s the final product.
share
share
share
(via Reddit)
This really is a beautiful piece of jewelry, and you can appreciate it even more when you see all the work that was put into. Mokume-gane really is an awesome art form, and it’s amazing to see what talented people can do with it.
