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The Atomic Structure of Iron

Iron – The 26th Element

Atom ring

As my readers and customers will know, I’m not a scientist by trade. I’m a jeweller. But science still fascinates me and I love to create commissions like this one.

My Customer

My customer wanted a special ring to give as a gift to her other half and asked me if I could somehow make a ring inspired by iron. It was to be a gift for a chemistry teacher named Felecia, who goes by ‘Fe’ for short. What a great idea for a chemist! Combine her name with an element.

I sent a few designs and we worked together to finalise it.

The Ring

The front of this ring shows the atomic structure of iron. Each of the 26 holes show the electrons and the engraved circles show the orbital rings. The dot in the center represents the nucleus.

There is an engraving on the inside of the band reading ‘that one’s all mine’.

Production

This ring was fun to make because it set me a bit of a challenge. Along with the usual cutting, drilling and soldering, I wanted to engrave the circles by hand, but in my mind they had to be perfect. After all, this is a scientific diagram, for a scientist and (unlike some of my other work) not really open to abstract ideas! After a few trial runs I was happy that I was going to be able to make them as I envisaged.

Capture3 Capture2Science ringThat one's all mineIron Element Ring

 

Feedback

 ”My experience was wonderful. Emily really worked to create my vision. She stuck in there as I changed my mind on the little details, and the ring was flawlessly executed, and looked and fit perfect. Fe loves it and hasn’t taken it off since Christmas. All her colleagues find it to be a perfect fit for her. I will definitely be commissioning another piece.”   L.Sullivan

Want to commission your own piece? Contact me, I’m looking forward to working with you.

 

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The Science of Snowflakes

‘In winter with warm tears I’ll melt the snow’ by Racey Tay

Snowflakes are such an iconic image for the wintertime, unsurprisingly, because they are so beautifully formed and delicate and really are one of the many wonders of nature. But how are they formed? Are they really so symmetrical and intricate?

Well it seems so! I’m going to describe to you how a snowflake forms in simple terms (because let’s not forget I’m a jeweller with a love for science and not the other way round).

Each snowflake starts as a tiny droplet in a cloud which freezes as the temperature drops. This miniature drop of ice is surrounded by water vapour inside the cloud and this vapour starts to condense and freeze on the droplet’s surface in a hexagonal pattern. As it grows it starts to sprout branches from each of the sides.

Then as the temperature inside the cloud changes and the newly forming snowflake is whisked around, the growth of the branches speeds up and slows down – depending on the temperature it is exposed to. This is what forms the patterns in the branches, the branches match because each branch was exposed to the same conditions at the same time.

So the snowflake is a beautiful symmetrical formed inside a cloud and the unique conditions it was exposed to. Pretty amazing!

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Adreanaline: A sneak preview.

I’m redesigning my adrenaline jewellery range, its not finished yet but here is a peek at the new earrings for you. Sterling silver with a black finish to echo the strength and power that adrenaline brings. As with all the pieces from the Chain Reactions Collection the shape of the jewellery is based on the molecular structure of the hormone, in this case, adrenaline.

Want to see more? Check outDopamine, Serotonin or Phenethylamine.