Trickier than it looks

I finally finished a new piece -- a massive lava stone ring. It looks like a very simple setting, but I decided to jazz it up two ways. First, I perforated the ring band to mimic the lava. I thought it'd be easy, but it took some work to make sure several of the holes didn't look like perfect circles. Second, I decided to cut out part of the backplate so you can see through some of the lava holes. However, I needed to leave enough support for the wide shank. After thinking it through a little, I ended up with a speedometer-shaped cutout. That shape allowed me to expose the best through-holes, but also left room for the shank.

Left picture shows the shank and cutout; right one shows how the cutout works with the holes:














I love making work more difficult for myself! :-)

Sharon