Custom Tiger Eye ring . . .

This piece of Tiger Eye was one of the last stones left when a friend's father purged his lapidary equipment and his rough material last summer. Sad to see things come to an end but Nancy wanted to take this one tumbled stone and turn it into something for her dad which is where I come in.

Truly a big ol' chunk of tumbled Tiger Eye, I flattened the back to create a cabochon and refined the edges so it would bezel-set. Since it was a pretty big stone to begin with, I wanted this to have a wide band with some echoes of the chatoyance in the stone's banding - hence, the layered ring shank. And I really like the way the band turned out.

I prefer a bit of oxidation and I tried that with this ring but it really cried out for high polish so there you go. Gotta listen sometimes and in spite of what my brain wants, this works better. Too, it will oxidize in the crevices over time so why rush it?