Circle Statement Wire Rings

1. Introduction: And welcome to a new class. Today we're going to be going over three different variations of this super cute circle ring. We are going to be using a couple of different types of wire jewelry making techniques, such as shaping wire with objects, as well as using our pliers to bend and shape and cut the wire, and we're also going to be doing some wire wrapping and wrapping wire on wire, as well as attaching beads with wire. I'm super excited to share these tutorials with you, and I hope you enjoy them. Now, let's jump into the videos and get started. 2. Circle Statement Ring: Hello, Katrina here, and welcome to a new Tutorial. We're going to be creating a few different variations of this circle ring. For our tools and supplies, we will be needing a pair of wire cutters. Then I'm going to be using a pair of bent chain nose pliers. We have a pair of Nylon jaw pliers, and then we have a file to smooth down all the ends of our wire. For our wire, we are going to be using an 18 gauge silver plated wire, as well as a solid brass wire to create the bands of the ring. Then we need a 24 gauge wire to wrap the circle, as well as attach the bead onto the ring. And then we have a ring mandrel, and in the size of your choice, I'm going to be making the rings as size eight. And it's always fun to use random objects because sometimes they're just the perfect size. So we need a regular size two pencil for the circle. Okay, now you need to pause the video, go grab your supplies, get your wire and your pliers, and then come back, and let's jump in to creating this design. Before we begin creating, I always like to start off with a smooth base, a clean slate, if you will. And so, even though the wire looks straight, I might just grab my Nylon jab pliers and straighten out and run it across the wire a few times just to make sure everything is nice and smooth. Creating a ring, we need to remember to leave enough space not only for the band of the ring, but also for whatever type of closure we are doing. So I need to leave a little space of wire for wrapping the closure, the band of the ring, and then we need to wrap enough wire for this double wrapping of the circle, or I guess it's 1.5 times around. So we need to leave enough wire for creating that circle. Then we need to measure enough wire for the other side of the ring. Keep in mind that how much wire you need for your ring is going to depend on the size of ring that you are making. Now, once you have a rough idea of how much wire we need for the band of the ring and the ring in its entirety, then we can know where to place the pencil onto the wire to shape the circle. Now, for the ring size eight that I am making, I'm going to leave out about 3 " of wire from the pencil, and that point is where I then am going to begin wrapping the wire around the pencil into that circular shape. The wire so that it criss crosses itself. We are then going to slightly bend it down into a V shape. Now using the bent chainos pliers, I'm going to grasp the wire directly next to the circle and bend it straight out to the side. And then gripping firmly, I'm going to press it against the pencil so it gets a nice tight bend in the wire. Now we want to repeat this on the other side. I'm going to turn it around because I'm right handed, and I'm going to do the exact same thing here using my pliers to bend the wire directly over to the side, and then press it in against the pencil to create a nice tight bend. Now we have created our circle with the wire coming out the sides, which will become the band of the ring. Now we are going to place the wire onto our ring mandrel and begin shaping it into the ring. I like to hold the center of the ring with my thumb and then wrap both ends of wire, criss crossing them around the back of the ring mandrel. We want to create the closure of the ring at the center point at the bottom of the ring. So we want to make sure that where the wires cross in the back is directly underneath the center of the top of the ring. Now, holding the ring tightly on the ring mandrel, I'm going to take this top wire and bend it directly straight down the ring mandrel. Checking for my center point, I'm going to use bent chain of pliers to grasp that wire and bend it over 90 degrees and bring it down along the ring mandrel. Remember to hold the wire tightly against the ring mandrel because if you let it loose, it will spring back. So we want to make sure we're pressing it against the ring mandrel as we bend the wire so that we bend the wire in the correct space and the ring stays the size we want it. Now I'm going to turn the ring around on the mandrel so that I can repeat the same process with the other end of wire. Making sure that we are holding the wire tightly against the ring mandrel, we can then use our bent chains pliers to bend that upper wire 90 degrees downwards and kind of interlock these two wires together. Then taking our needle nose pliers, we are going to press the two wires together, and this is the beginning of the closure of the ring. We want to make sure that those wires are pressed tightly together so that the ring maintains the size that we want it to be. Holding that criss cross point in our pliers, we are then going to begin wrapping each end of the wire around the band of the ring. Wrapping one end of wire at a time. We want to make sure that these wrappings are nice and tight so that the ring holds its size correctly. So we're going to use our bent chaos pliers to tighten down those wrappings. It can be helpful to put the ring back onto the ring mandrel as you're tightening the wrappings. Whenever creating this type of closure, I always like to wrap the wire around at least two full times. How many times you wrap the wire is totally up to you as long as you are sure that this closure is secure because that's what's going to keep the ring together. Working with 18 gauge wire is a little bit tricky sometimes because it is such a heavy gauge of wire. It can be hard to bend, and everything wants to move all at once instead of individually. So make sure you have a nice strong grip on those pliers and holding the ring so that nothing moves as you wrap that wire around. Now I'm going to begin wrapping the other end of wire. So I'm going to change my grip with the pliers and just make sure however you hold the ring that it is secure and nothing will move around as you wrap the wire. Remember to tighten the wrapping as you go wrapping it around the band of the ring, squeezing it down with your chain nose pliers. Once you have finished wrapping the ring, I like to place it onto the ring mandrel and use my pliers to press the band of the ring just to make sure that it has its circle shape. Then using our wire cutters, we are going to snip off the excess wire. After we trim off the excess wire, we want to make sure that both ends of wire are pressed into the ring and the ends are not sticking out. And then don't forget to use your file and smooth down and file the ends, testing it against your finger to make sure that there are no rough or sharp edges. Now that we have finished the closure itself, I like to take my pliers or the Nylon jaw pliers and squeeze that wrapping from end to end as well as side to side and from the top and bottom, just to tighten everything up once more. And with that complete, we can check the circle, make sure that it is lined up correctly, and do any adjusting here if we need to pressing the wires together so that they're sitting directly on top of each other, and then we have finished the ring. Now that we have created this ring, it is going to be the base for our other two designs. 3. Adding a Bead: Now after creating our base design, the circle ring, I'm going to show you how to add a bead into this design. First of all, the fun part is getting to choose the bead that we put into the ring. Now, when choosing a bead, we want to make sure that we pick the correct size. We want a bead that will not only fit into the circle, but also leave enough room for when we attach it with the wire. As we wrap the wire around the circle, it's going to take up space so we aren't going to be able to use as large of a bead as would fill the circle itself. For an example, this bead is much too large, and while you could wire it onto the circle, it's not going to fit. This bead fits perfectly into the circle, but it leaves no room for the wrapping wire. So I'm going to go back to this first bead that I picked up on the first try and we're going to use our 24 gauge wire now to attach the bead. Pulling out a length of wire, we definitely need to use our Nylon jaw pliers with this wire to smooth it out and straighten it. As I mentioned before, I like to leave the wire on the spool until I have a better idea of how much wire exactly I need. So after unspooling the wire, we are then going to thread on our bead, which is just the way my brain works. The order of process says, add the bead next so that it is ready to go. Now to begin attaching this wire onto the circle, we're going to lay it across the top of the circle and then bring it up through the center of the circle, from the outside, up through the inside of the circle. I'm going to wrap the wire around three or four times, and you can make this wrapping as wide or as narrow as you want. But I would recommend doing at least three wrappings so that that wire is secured into the circle. As we wrap the wire, we want to use our bent chains pliers to press it tightly and make sure that everything is tight and secure. Now, I begin this wrapping on the side of the circle that has the two wires stacked on top of each other. So we just want to make sure that they stay directly on top of each other. And I'm going to use my pliers to make sure that they are sitting on top of each other and don't start to slip side to side. Finishing up the wrapping, we're going to press it together from end to end with our pliers to make sure that the wrapping is pressed tightly together. And then we are going to finish this side of the wrapping by bringing it up through the center of the circle and wrapping it in equal amount of times around this other half of the circle. Pressing the wrap tightly together with our pliers as we go, not only around but also from end to end. Now that I have the wire wrapped around as many times as I want it, I'm going to bring up the bead and place it into the circle. I didn't have to add the bead beforehand, but that's just how my brain works. Next, we are going to snip off the excess wire, and we could just add the bead at this point right here. Now we can finish securing the bead into the circle. I'm going to bring the wire to the opposite side of the band of the ring that I started on. So it's going to slightly angle across from the one side of the band to the other side of the band. Then bringing the wire up through the center of the circle, we are going to use our bent ganous pliers to help us tighten this wrapping as it's going to be a little bit tricky to wrap the wire with the bead in the circle. Wrapping the wire around the same amount of times as we did on the first side of the ring, we are going to make sure we press it securely and then also squeeze the wire wrapping from end to end so that everything is tight and pressed together. And continuing that wrapping on the other side of the band, we are going to finish securing this wrapping onto the circle. Once we have finished wrapping the wire, we are then going to snip off the excess wire with the wire cutters. Then using our bent chain of pliers, we want to make sure that the ends of wire are pressed up into the circle. Check with your finger to make sure that there are no rough edges and file if necessary, and then we have completed the ring. Adding a bead into a wire design is always a fun option, and I love the way that it can bring color to a design. Now that we have completed this variation of the ring, I'm going to show you one more. 4. Wire-wrapping the Circle: After creating the initial design with our circle ring, we are going to use the same technique when adding the bead, but we're going to wrap the entire circle with our 24 gauge wire. Threading the 24 gauge wire through the circle, I'm going to pull out probably about 6 ", at least, just to give myself some space to work with. Now, obviously, this design is super straightforward because you're simply wrapping this smaller gauge wire around and around the circle of the ring. Now, we want to make sure that the entire circle is filled with the wrapping. So we want to make sure that we press the wire end to end together as we go so that it is jam packed, full wrapping, completely wrapped because that's just what makes this design so cool is the full wrapping of the circle. Now, as we come to the end of this length of wire, I'm going to make sure that the end is pressed in to the circle with my pliers. With this end pressed down and finished, we are then going to bring out a length of wire. Now, as we finish filling the circle with the wire, we are then going to hide the end into the wrapping. And clipping off the excess wire, this was so satisfying to finish the wrapping by pressing that end up into the last little space that finishes and completes the wrapping of the circle. Go back with your file and check all the ends with your fingers to make sure that there are no rough edges, no sharp edges, and if you need to smooth it down. And now that we have finished wrapping the circle, we have completed this design. And here we have all three of the finished variations of this circle ring. I love the color that the baited ring adds, the uniqueness of the wrapped one, and then the classic circle is just so cool. Thank you so much for watching, and I hope you enjoyed creating these rings as much as I enjoyed sharing them with you. Be sure to like this video. Give it a thumbs up. Be sure to check out my channel where I have many more designs waiting for you. Thank you again for watching, and I look forward to seeing you in the next video.