Today is our 17th wedding anniversary and I made my wife a mokume* pendant and ring. The pendant is pure copper and silver with a sterling rope chain. The ring is five quarters with nickel silver powder sandwiched between each one. The quarters were welded in a graphite crucible that I machined out. Between each quarter is layered the nickel silver powder. After getting it up to near melting I used the end of a 1" steel rod to tap the stack down and then re-heat.
I made the box out of cherry and red oak laminates and brass hardware. It's lined with purple velvet. The bed is a foam rubber pillow wrapped in velvet.
I hope she likes it since I have over twenty hours into it.
* Mokume (mo-cue-may) is an ancient Japanese art of fusing two or more dis-similar metals together in layers. The layers are then worked to create a variety of paterns or shapes. Sometimes an acid etch will make the metals have more contrast with each other.