Sigil Carving: Help plz?

Hi! I have crafted my own sigils in the past, but I'm interested in carving a sigil into a gold ring and I have NO idea how to do that without it looking messy and shallow. I've tried googling it but I can't find anything helpful, so if anyone happens to know a good method for this please tell me! Thanks.

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Rings and other jewelery can indeed be tricky. working with a small object that has a rounded shape likes to move about, and securing it firmly has its own risk of causing damage (plier/clamp marks and the like). Working with gold is especially challenging because it is a softer metal and can warp if you use too much pressure.

If you have a high quality dremel with a wand attachment, and a relly fine etching bit, cutting the rune in should be fairly simple as long as you have a way to secure the ring. There are jewelers clamps that have vinyl or acrylic clamp blades but in a pinch (sorry for the pun) you can also use a strip of thick fabric around the ring to make a barrier between the metal and jaws. It would also help to stencil out the image first. perhaps draw it on with a fine tip removable marker first so you can make sure it will look appealing before you start.

Another option would be to stamp the image in, if you have the tools for that. I have heard of people cobbling together a set of stamps with very basic details (a line, square, and triangle for example) and used those on top of eachother to make an impression in the metal rather than cut out material. It also has risks though, especially deformation. And can be really tricky if the intent was to put the design on the ring interior. if it is going on the outside of the band, simply slide the ring onto a metal dowel as snugly as you can to give a backing to hit against and keep the ring steady. Give each stamp a tap or two in the right spot and good to go.

Thank you for the quick reply, Spirit76! You've given me some very helpful information I think I can use, thanks so much. The idea about putting thick fabric between the clamp and metal hadn't occurred to me but that sounds promising so I'll give it a try. :) Thanks again!

Hey no worries. I -knew- that one day my geeky nature and having buddies in the SCA would be handy! ^_^

[SCA is the 'society for creative anachronism. Basically they are medieval re-creationists that study then wear medieval garb, armor, and such. And generally make a hobby of re-creating the medieval lifestyle for the fun of it. Complete with having the occasional war.]

Oh my gosh, the SCA sounds AWESOME!! Medieval everything is so interesting, I'm especially enamored with medieval weaponry.

>:3c Heh, if I ever won the lottery I'd probably spend most of it on medieval weapons like different knives, swords, battleaxes, crossbows, flails and maces. I'd be back to broke in no time for sure! ()*: