Turquoise wire wrap ring

.

This piece was built to match the turquoise wire wrap pendant seen in a previous post. The person who bought the pendant wished a ring to match, and issued a challenge to do it in wire wrap. A wire wrap ring is something I have never tried before.... so naturally I leaped at the idea.

The ring is solid silver, including the welds. I began with silver wire wrapped and shaped around a mandrel, shooting for at least a size too small at that point. Once three loops were shaped to match and would line up tightly, I welded them together at the bottom of the ring. Turning it over, I touched up the shape and welded the table under where the stone would mount.

Of course, welding the silver took away some of the wire wrap look, so the weld was carefully hand shaped till it carried the lines of the silver wire.

Two silver wire loops were fashioned to match the turquoise (after it was shaped and polished) and welded to the ring head. The entire piece was then polished till it glowed in the work bench spot lights, and then stretched on a hydraulic mandrel till it exactly matched the woman's ring size.

Mounting the stone was a simple matter of setting it between the custom made silver loops, and bringing them together with a pair of jewelers pliers. A final polish.... and the piece is done.

This simple description tells a story of what took me several hours to design and make. The next was easier, now that I have the method worked out.

Meanwhile.... a phone call to make. A ladies custom made turquoise ring is ready for pickup.