Hi, I'm Jilly.  I make jewellery which I exhibit in the Midlands mainly, and I sell through those exhibitions and galleries.  I have now begun to make bespoke jewellery only.  Whether you want a plain wedding ring, or something completely off the wall, I can design and make it for you.  Let me know what you want and I can provide a design and cost within 14 days.  Contact me now at jillybishop@amberwebs.com.

What width do you want your ring to be? This one is 2mm, so the first step is tu cut a strip of metal 2 mm wide. If, like me, cutting a straight line is not your forte, then cut a slightly wider strip so that you can file the edges straight later.

 Smooth the edges by rubbing each side of the strip across medium buff paper (sand paper or wet and dry).  What size ring do you want?  A quick way to measure how long your strip of metal should be is to use a small length of thin wire.  Wrap the wire around the finger and twist the ends together.  Make sure you can move the wire ring up and down the finger.  Remove and twist the ends so that they are tight.  Then, cut the ring at its centre point and straighten the wire out.  You now have two pieces of straight wire twisted together in the middle.  The lenth of that wire is the length of metal you need for the ring.

 To shape the strip of metal into a ring, first anneal it (heat it with a torch until it is a cherry red colour).  Allow the metal to cool for a few minutes, then quench it in cold water or a pickle solution. (If you do not have any pickle solution, use vinegar and salt.  It takes longer but does work). The metal is annealed to make it more malleable and easier to shape.  Using a ring triblet place the strip of metal over the top and begin to hammer it into a circle using a hide or rubber hammer.  An ordinary metal hammer will mark the metal.  In this photo, I used a long strip of metal, rather than cutting it to size first.  If you do this, you will need to overlap the edges slightly and then cut through both ends of the strip to give well fitting edges for soldering. 

Cutting the excess metal from the ring.

Annealing the metal during the formation of the ring.  Constant hammering hardens the metal and makes it difficult to bend to shape. 

I used a ring stand to put the ring on for soldering, but you can lay the ring flat onto a solder block.  Make sure both ends are actually touching - solder will not fill a gap.  Flux the joint - I use borax, but there are other types available - and then place a small piece of solder onto the join.  Solder comes in different guages, Hard, Medium, Easy or Extra Easy.  I used Easy for this ring as I did not intend to do any more soldering on it.  If I had intended to do further soldering, I would have used Hard solder and reduced the guage with each subsequent solder to ensure that the original solders did not melt.  Heat the solder with a torch - the tip of the blue part of the flame is hottest and should be in contact with the metal.  Heat around the ring first, all of the metal has to be at the same temperature before the solder will flow.  Once the bulk of the metal is hot, gently play the flame across the solder, moving it around and across the area until you see a flash of silver and the solder melts and joins the two ends together.  Remove the heat immediately and allow the ring to cool for a few minutes, then place in pickle to quench it. 

After quenching and rinsing the ring, any excess solder needs to be filed away, any rough edges smoothed and then the ring has to be buffed until it is completely smooth and has a dull shine.  I use wet and dry emery paper after filing, starting with guage 1 and then guage 0 which is finer.  To get a really smooth finish, I use a rubber abrasive block, a really fine one.  Buffing takes time.  The longer you take, the better the finish on the ring.  Both inside and outside should be buffed.

When you have finished buffing, it is time to polish.  I used an electric barrel polisher containing an abrasive soap and steel pellets for an hour or two to bring the ring to a full shine. 

To finish the ring, I gave it a final polish using a wool mop in a Dremel hand drill with a flexi-shaft, and rouge polish.