Make Your Own Fossilised Dinosaur Egg Fork Ring
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Make Your Own Fossilised Dinosaur Egg Fork Ring
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Hello fellow makers,
When the egg challenge came along I couldn't think of anything to bring to the table...no pun intended...
Then one day after organising my jewelry making container a little I came across some dinosaur egg shell fossils I bought from a collector 10+ years ago! (yes my jewelry supply container is in such disarray that you can find actual fossils in there)
💡 Light bulb moment 💡
I thought these would be perfect for the challenge, and what better to make an egg jewelry piece with than a antique fork.
Talk about some prehistoric breakfast vibes!
Join me to see how you can make your own...
Supplies
To make your own you will need the following:
- A dinosaur egg shell fragment (not as impossible to find as you might think)
To make your search a little easier here is a Etsy link to some egg fragments for around $4 - Etsy
- An antique fork
- Butane torch
- 2 Part epoxy glue
- Compounding blocks
- Felt polishing bits
- Rubber polishing bits
- Diamond cutoff disk
- Hammer
- Pliers
- Clear coat & lacquer thinners
- Necessary safety equipment
*As an Amazon Associate I receive a small percentage from sales made through provided links at no cost to you, this helps fund future projects.
Shaping the Fork:
First we are going to need to shape our fork into something resembling a ring.
This took some trial and error as it was my first time making jewelry out of utensils and these aren't the fancy sterling silver ones people normally use.
My first instinct was to heat up the fork with a butane torch until it is red hot and then shape it around a metal rod with a small hammer like I always do when making rings...NOPE!
After the first blow of the hammer my fork shattered into pieces.
This is why it's important to always wear all the necessary safety equipment!
After picking up my shattered dreams and fork up from the floor, I tried bending the pieces and they shaped quite nicely without any shearing even after multiple bends.
New approach!
I took a new (still antique just in one piece) fork and again heated it up with the butane torch untill it was glowing red.
This time however I left it to slowly cool down like you would anneal metal and it worked, I was able to hammer away at it without any disastrous results.
I simply shaped the tines of the fork around a metal rod that is mounted in a vice before moving on to the next step.
Cut It Down to Size:
Next I used a diamond cutoff disk in my Dremel to cut away the excess fork.
Because the fork had such long tines I cut it off about 3mm after the tines stopped, this will differ depending on the size of your ring and the length of the tines.
Now we can just refine the curve of the ring a bit.
Time to Add Some Drama:
Now the ring would look fine as is but I wanted to add some drama with a few spirals.
I will be using the middle two tines as holders for our egg shell, so I decided to create some spirals on the tips of the outer two tines.
I simply used a pair of round nose pliers to wrap the tines around into beautiful spirals.
Next we have to shape the middle two tines around the egg shell, you don't have to be TOO careful as they are really tough and it is only sharp corners that can chip away if they are handled a lil rough.
I shaped them to form two frames on the top and bottom of the shell with the help of some smooth long nose pliers.
Make It Shine:
Now to get rid of that patina left by the butane torch and possibly ten thousand or so meal times..
Starting with a felt polishing bit and very course compounding block meant for metal (in my case this was the white block) I started polishing the entire piece, do between the tines last as they will eat away at the felt bit quite quickly.
Some places had some deep marks and pitting and I had to use a rubber compounding bit to smooth these out.
Finally you can just switch to a new felt bit along with some finer (I used the pink and then brown block) compounding to give it a nice shine and remove all the scratches.
Protecting the Egg Shell:
Whist the egg shell might be very strong, being so porous they do tend to collect dirt and stains easily.
To solve this problem I took some automotive clear coat paint (you can just as easily use clear nail polish or some spray can clear coat that you can just spray into a container) and thinned it out alot with lacquer thinners.
I used about 1 part clear coat to 10 parts thinners.
We want it to just absorb and seal the shell and not make it shiny and thick.
I took a needle and added a minuscule drop of super glue to the tip of it, this I then stuck to a part of the shell that will be hidden later to make it easier to dunk the shell into the solution.
Dip it into the solution, shake off any excess and set it aside to dry.
Mounting the Shell:
With the clear coat completely dry the only thing left to do is to mount it into the ring.
I will be using a 2 part slow curing epoxy glue as it gives a extremely strong bond whilst still remaining ever so slightly flexible.
Using a brittle glue like CA adhesive tend to crack overtime due to the movement in the ring and you could end up loosing the shell piece.
I started by cleaning the tines where the shell will be mounted to with some acetone just to get rid of any polish and oily residue that could prevent the glue from adhering to its full potential.
Place the egg shell into its new home and then mix up a small amount of the epoxy glue according to the manufacturers instructions.
Smear a bead on the joints using a toothpick, I also smeared a ultra thin layer over the entire back side of the shell just to make sure that it is not going anywhere.
Leave it to cure for at least 24 hours to ensure the glue has reached its maximum mechanical strength.
Enjoy Your Creation!
I hope you guys enjoyed this Instructable and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment bellow.