Experimenting with Rings

It’s been a while since I made a ring. In fact, it had been years. And when I was going through my supplies, I realized that I needed to use more of my silver clay stash. Now might just be the time to make a ring.

The design I had in mind incorporated holes into a shaped band. Out came my books and I started reading and remembering.

I wanted a size 6 ring and measured 2 sizes larger. In the end I should have made it 2 ½ inches larger for the shrinkage…next time.

Should have made the size a little larger for shrinkage

I rolled my silver clay 4 cards thick, planned where the holes would be and cut them with a fine pointed tool. Since I wanted a shaped ring that was higher in the center than the edges, I dug out my seldom used cork clay and dampened it. Then I rolled a snake with tapered end and put the clay over it as I wrapped the clay around my ring mandrel that I previously covered in a wrap paper. Marked where the ring should be and started shaping the back making sure the front cork clay stayed in place. I cleaned out the holes and let the ring dry. After it dried the cork clay flipped out.