Wire Rings: Open and closed endings

1. Introduction: Hello folks and welcome to this class. We will be creating three different ring designs, as well as using three different ways to close off a ring. The stack chevron is an adjustable ring where we will learn to crease the wire to get a sharper angle on our design. The next design is a heart ring, and this one we will be making two different ways, an adjustable and non adjustable closure. The final design that we will be making is the five strand ring. This one we will learn how to wrap multiple strands of wire to finish off the ring. I hope you enjoy this class and learn something new. It's super helpful to me if you leave comments letting me know how the class went for you and upload pictures of your project. If you like this class, I'm sure you'll enjoy checking out the other videos that I have on my page again. Thanks so much for watching. Now let's jump on into the class. 2. Stacked Chevron Ring: Start off our class, we will be making the stacked chevron ring. We will be using a ruler as well as a file. And I chose a size seven for my ring mandrel for our wire. We are using 20 gauge solid brass wire for our tools. We are using wire cutters, nylon jaw pliers, and our needle nose pliers. Starting off, we are going to grab the nylon jaw pliers and smooth out a length of wire to begin the ring. We will take our needle nose pliers and placing the wire in the very tip of the jaws. We're going to create a small loop at the end of the wire. Now taking the ring mandrel, we will place the wire onto it and start bending the wire around the mandrel with what looks like about halfway around the ring mandrel, we will begin bending the wire to create the first chevron shape. To create the first bind in the wire, you can either use your fingers, as I am doing here, or grab your need in those players to create the bend in the wire. We want to make sure that the peak of our chevron lines up with the loop at the back of the ring. After we check that point to make sure that we are in the right spot with our wire, we will then bend that wire into a sharp angle. Now to create our third and final bind on this little chevron shape, we want to make sure that it is lined up with our first bind on the other side of the chevron peak. A useful tip for getting a nice sharp angle into your wire is to crease the wire. Basically. By that I mean bending the wire past the point at which you want it and then bringing it back helps create a tighter bind in the wire. Holding the wire firmly on the ring mandrel. We are going to bring the long end of the wire around again and using that first chevron as our guide, we're going to repeat the steps, creating three bins in the wire to create our second chevron. Using our fingers to create the initial pin, we will increase the wire and then bring it back so that our angle is a little bit sharper and it holds its shape better. After creating the third bend in the wire, we will then wrap the long end of the wire completely around the ring mandrle once more and repeat all of these steps one more time to create a third chevron, wrapping the wire as tightly as possible around the ring mandrel. Holding it firmly in our fingers so that the chevrons line up with each other. As we begin bending the wire, using the chevron below as our guide, we will take the wire, creasing it to create our sharp angles and creating our third and final chevron. Once we finish creating the chevron shape, we will then bring the long end of the wire around to the back of the ring. Here we are going to take our wire cutters and cut off the extra wire, leaving enough wire so that we can create a small loop to match the first one that we made at the beginning. Using our needle on those pliers, we will bend the wire up and around to create a loop that goes in the opposite direction of the first loop that we wrapped, placing the wire into the very tip of the pliers. We'll bend around to create a small circle. A neat little trick for a flattening down wire is to use the handle of your pliers. Now, once we release the tension where we were holding the wire onto the ring mandule, all the wire is going to want to spring back and loosen up a little bit. Using our fingers, we're going to spread the ring apart, separating the chevrons, and then twisting them together to tighten up the ring back into its original size. At this point, we can also tighten or loosen the angles of the chevrons so that they are more even and matching to each other. Once you are done adjusting the shape and size, you have completed the stacked chevron ring. I'd love to see pictures of your finished project. Please upload those in comment and let me know how this class went for you Now, I'll catch you in the next video. 3. Heart Ring - two ways: Next step, we will be making this heart ring two different ways. We're going to start off by using a 20 gauge wire, and I chose a silver plated copper wire. We're going to need a ring mandrel. I chose size seven. We also have a file as well as a ruler. We will be using the wire cutters as well as nylon jaw players, or wire straightener. In a needle nose player and a flat nose player. We are going to use the wire straighteners, smooth out the wire before we even start creating our design. Next we're going to be placing the wire on the ruler at 2.5 " for the size seven ring that we're making. If you're making a larger size ring, obviously you'll need more wire or less wire. If you're making a smaller ring, keeping our fingers at that 2.5 inch mark, we're going to grab the flattenose pliers and place them at that point. And then create a sharp V shape in the wire. Placing the base of that V at the 2.5 inch mark. We're going to hold that measurement with our fingers and cut off the wire with the needle nose pliers. We will now create the top of the heart, placing the wire into the very tip of the pliers. We're going to bring that long end of the wire down and around to create a loop. We want the wire to end up being straight out horizontally from what will be our completed heart. As this will create the band of the ring. Moving to the other side of the heart, we are going to take that wire and repeat the same steps, wrapping it down and around, bringing it straight out the side to create the loop and finish the heart shape. Once we have created the loops, we'll go back with our fingers and the pliers to make sure that the heart shape is symmetrical before we begin creating the band. Before moving onto the band of the ring, we're going to take the nylon op players and flatten out the design with the ring mandril. We will now create the band of the ring by wrapping both ends of the wire and criss crossing them around the ring mandrel. Pressing the wire tightly against the mandril to give it its shape as well as the size. We want to keep the bottom of the ring centered with the heart on top of the ring. And placing our thumb at that point, we're going to bend the wire straight down. Then we're going to move to the other end of the wire and do the same thing, making sure that it is centered with the heart. We're going to take that other end of the wire and bend it straight up next. With the needle on those players, we are going to place them into that bend and take the end of the wire, wrapping it around to create a loop. Placing the wire into the players at the same depth as the first loop ensures that our second loop is the same size. Then we are going to use the wire cutters to cut off the excess wire. I want to do this from the side of the loop. Having snipped off the excess wire, we're going to use the needle nose pliers to tighten down the loops, making sure the ends are tight against the band. This ring is now completed unless you want to do a few finishing touches like here, using the nylon jaw pliers to make sure everything is flat and placing it on the ring mandrle one time to resize it and make sure that it is in the correct shape. Now we are going to be making the same ring again, but with a non adjustable band. All the steps for creating this ring are the same, except for once we get to the closure for this size seven ring, we are going to measure 3 " out on our wire. Create a sharp bend in the wire, Measure three more inches, and cut off the extra wire, giving us a total of 6 " for a size seven ring. Now grabbing our needle nose pliers, we will create the heart shape itself. Remember when creating the heart to place the wire into the pliers at the same depth on both sides of the heart. So that that loop or the circle shape there is the same size on both sides to give the heart a symmetrical look. Once you have the initial heart shape, you can go back with the pliers or your fingers and bend the wire to adjust the heart a little more just to make sure it looks even. Once we have finished creating the heart shape, we can go on to making the band. This is where the design changes because we are not making adjustable band, but a secure closed one placing the wire onto our ring mandule. We're going to wrap it around to create the initial circle of the band, watching to see where the center of our heart is, we're going to take one end of the wire and bend it straight down, Making sure that that bend is centered with the heart on the top side of the ring. With the first wire bent down straight along the mandrel, We're going to bring the second wire, bending it up in the opposite direction of the first wire at this point to create a sharper bend in the wire. I guess you could say over extend the wire and bring it past the point at which we really want it. Once the wire has been over bent or over extended, however you want to say it, we're going to bring the wire back so that each end is straight up and down. Next, we're going to take the ring off of the mandrel so that we can take both ends of the wire and begin wrapping them around the band of the ring, holding the ring securely. We are going to wrap the wire around the band of the ring, alternating sides, wrapping the one side, turning it around, wrap the other side until we have wrapped that wire around two or three times. Pulling the wire tightly so that that coil that we are creating is nice and tight. As we bring the wire around, wrapping it onto the band of the ring. We can also place the ring back onto the ring mandule and use our night lon jaw players or flat nose players to help tighten up the coil as we wrap it around so that everything is tight, there's no gaps. And it just helps give the ring a really nice finished look. You want to wrap the wire around the band of the ring a minimum of two times, but you can really wrap it if you have left yourself in a extra wire. You can wrap that band all the way up with your extra wire. Or I like to do about three or four times around before grabbing my wire cutters, my wire snips and cutting off the wire as close as possible. Then I grab the file to smooth down any rough ends. And maybe grab the flatenose piers just to make sure everything is tight and smooth, that none of the ends will catch anything when it's being worn. Like I mentioned, Grabbing the flatness pliers to press down, as you can see here. Pressing down the ends of the wire to make sure that everything is tight, squeezing together the coils if you need to, however finished you want your ring to look, I prefer having a closed, tight coil. Some people like to leave it more open or a looser wrap, guess you could say. But really that's just up to you. Just want to make sure that the ends are down so that they don't catch on anything. And then file everything smooth to finish out the wrap. Now here we have both rings. The silver one with the adjustable and the gold with a secured closure. There you have it, the heart ring. Two different ways. Let me know in the comments which one you prefer. 4. 5 Strand Ring: For our last video, we will be making this five strand ring. We will be using solid brass wire in 20 gauge, a ring mandule in size six. And our wire cutters, nylon Jop players, and the flat nose players using the nylon op players. We are going to begin by smoothing out the wire. Next we are going to take the wire and place it onto the ring mandule, leaving a small tail. It's about 2 ", maybe three. We're going to wrap that wire around until we have wrapped it five times. Wrapping it as tightly as you can and holding it firmly against the ring mandule, because the wire is going to want to spring back from the shape that you are wrapping it into. Once we have five strands of wire wrapped around the ring mandril, we're going to take our wire cutters and cut off the excess wire so that our little tail of wire. Both ends are the same length. You'll notice that as soon as I let go of the wire to cut it, that all the coil loosened up. That's something we're going to have to make sure that we hold tightly against the mandril so that we keep the proper size for our ring. This might be the hardest part only because you have to hold all five of those strands tightly against the mandrile so that they don't spring back out as you begin finishing off the ring. Holding the wire as tightly as you can against that ring mandule. We're going to grab our flat nose wires. Take one end of the wire, bending it straight down to create a sharp 90 degree turn. Now that we have this first end of the wire bent down, we want to bend the other end of the wire in the opposite direction. To do that, we are going to slide the ring up to the opposite end of the ring mandule. Then we are going to tighten it back down, bringing the wire tight against the ring mandril and holding it firmly before we take our flatness pliers and take that long end of the wire, bending it in the opposite direction of the first, bending it straight down along the ring mandril to create a sharp 90 degree turn. Once we have both ends of the wire bent, we want to remove the ring from the ring mandule without releasing any of the tension. Otherwise, our ring is going to want to spring back. We want to take both ends of the wire and wrap them around the band of the ring using our flat nose piers. We are going to take one end of the wire and bend it sharply down so that we can then bend it through the center of the ring using our fingers to press the wire all the way through the ring. We will then take our flat nose piers and press down and tighten that bend in the wire. Paying special attention to holding the ring, making sure that you are gripping it tightly so that the wires don't shift and you don't lose the size of ring that you are making using the flatenose pliers. Pinch that, bind tightly against the ring and then fold the wire up and over, continuing to press the wire tightly against the band. Having turned the ring around, we're going to do the same thing with the opposite end of wire, pushing the wire through the ring with our fingers and then using the flatenose pliers to make sure that everything is tightened down. We squeeze the wire tightly against the band and making sure that the folds are pressed closely together. Pressing the end of wire down through the center of the ring, we're going to make sure everything is secure and squeeze it tightly with our flatenose pliers. And then turn the ring around and do the same thing with the other end of wire. Pushing the ends of the wire up just a little bit allows us to get a closer cut with our wire snips. Then we can take our flatenose pliers and press the ends back down, securing them firmly inside of the ring. Using the file. Smooth down all of the ends to make sure that there's nothing sharp or catching. This last step is totally optional, but if you'd like, you can spread out the wires as I did just to fan it out a little bit instead of leaving it tight as when I wrapped it on the mandril. Thanks for watching guys. I hope you enjoyed this class. Please upload your pictures of the project, comment and let me know what your favorite ring was, how this project went for you. I'd love to hear from you and I'll see you in the next one.