Ring Making

Ring making materials and techniques right at your fingertips

Learn how to make silver rings in no time. Making rings is a great introduction to metalsmithing and silversmithing techniques in the jewelry studio. This resource page will connect you with tutorial articles to get started along with all the materials and supplies required.

We sell everything you need to make beautiful, eye-catching rings, whether you're soldering sterling silver rings from silver wire or using ready-made sterling silver ring findings to save time. Try our ring making kit if you are a beginner.

Making bands has a variety of uses, from creating rings for the stacking trend to making custom bands for your stone settings. Our pattern and fancy wires give you a number of options.

To make a ring from scratch, you join shaped wire material into a loop using soldering. Then, you round out the loop to a perfect ring shape that is ready to wear. You will need to know a number of techniques to measure, cut, prepare, solder and form your metal material to become a ring. Keep reading below for tips on buying ring making material for the first time.

To make a ring band, use half round, low dome or flat jewelry wire. You can choose from plain wire material or fancy pattern wires for your band design. The ring band can be worn alone or used as the foundational building block in a more complex ring design featuring ornamental motifs, gemstones or other embellishments. Try our ring making kit!

If you are new to soldering, we recommend that you visit our jewelry soldering resource page after you browse this information on ring making and check out our soldering tools kit to get started.

People love spinner rings, which are made of an inner band that stays stationary and an outer band that spins loosely around it. This type of fidget jewelry is popular with customers and fun for makers to explore.

Our pattern sheet and wire make beautiful spinner rings. This is a good project to tackle once you have mastered making simple bands. Spinner ring fabrication brings in more complex soldering and forming techniques.

Adding Stone Settings To Your Rings

Prong stone settings make it easy to create sterling silver rings with calibrated stones using ring shanks and settings. You can solder prong setting heads onto jewelry making rings to create custom designs or purchase sterling silver ring blanks with empty settings attached to them for quick cabochon or faceted stone setting.

Our ring collection also includes sterling silver ring making supplies for easily setting stones in smooth bezel settings. The only tools you need for this style of stone setting are a ring mandrel and bezel roller. The bezel ring settings are suitable for calibrated stones in a variety of sizes.

Use our bezel strip wire and gallery wire for custom stone setting. To find how much wire to purchase, wrap a string tightly around your stone. Overlap the ends by 2-3mm (to account for filing) and mark it with a permanent marker. Measure the string to determine the necessary length.

Understanding Ring Sizes:

The most popular women's ring size is 7. However, sizes 6-9 typically sell well too. Smaller sizes are sometimes used as midi rings that sit in front of the knuckle. Other sizes are often offered as special order items or custom sizes.

The tricky thing about making a ring is ensuring that it will be the correct size. We've created handy ring material sizing charts to take the guess work out of the job. With some basic measuring and math, you will be ready to move on to soldering and shaping. If you've never bought ring material before, read our overview guide included in the list of recommended articles on this page.

The easiest way to measure for the size pre-made ring you need is to use a ring sizing gauge. If you don't have a gauge handy, then wrap a piece of string around your finger and place it around a ring mandrel. Don't have a ring mandrel? Measure the piece of string against a millimeter ruler. Approximate: Size 5= 49mm; Size 6=51.5mm; Size 7=54mm; Size 8=56.5mm; Size 9=59mm; Size 10=61.5mm.

Ready-to-Wear Stacking Rings

Stacking rings are typically small and simple so you can wear several at a time on the same finger. These easy upsells make great accompaniments to your custom designs. Try gold filled rings and sterling silver rings. Customers love them!

Consider a variety of price points and designs to complement popular items in your line. At Halstead, we offer a good selection of stacking rings that you can sell "as is;" or, alter and embellish them as you see fit. It is fun to use cute soldering ornaments to embellish simple wire rings or bands. Then stack them on and enjoy!

Wire Wrapped Rings and Beading Rings

You may prefer an alternative technique that does not require any soldering.

Charm rings and split top rings are ideal for beading and wire wrapping enthusiasts. These styles allow you to create trendy silver rings with your favorite jewelry making techniques.

Custom Stamping or Engraving

Rings are often personalized for the wearer. Add custom stamping or engraving options for your customers as an added service. Ring bands with a flat surface instead of domed take the best stamping impressions. These findings are sometimes called ring blanks for metal stamping. It takes a little more practice to successfully stamp a curved ring on a steel mandrel, but with repetition you will quickly master this new stamping skill. Check out our separate resource page dedicated to metal stamping.

Visit our blog articles archive and subscribe now for more information about ring making. Check out our full selection of ready-to-sell wholesale jewelry.

Subscribe to our educational articles for project ideas, plus tips and tricks for making your own rings.

Purchasing Ring Material

There are a lot of pre-made sterling silver rings out there, but sometimes making a ring makes more sense. You may want a special shape for a ring shank, a specific thickness for a stone, or a personalized pattern. Below we’ll cover how to buy the right type and amount of material for your rings, including a handy formula. Plus, we’ll cover design tips and tricks so you can start making rings to match your personal aesthetic! We offer a ring making kit with all the material you will need to make about five rings with stone settings.

Ring making material is really just wire. You can purchase round, flat, square, half round, or pattern wire for rings – there really is no limit! Round, flat, and half-round are your most common. You will typically purchase wire for rings in dead-soft hardness. That means you won’t need to anneal it before forming – you can just get started! Typically you’re material will be 18-12 gauge in thickness. Be mindful of going thinner than 18 gauge, as your ring could deform easily because it’s so thin. Shop Ring Making Wire

Measuring Ring  Making Materials

Before you can purchase the right amount of silver wire, you need to know what size the final ring will be.  In the US ring sizes go from 1 to about 14, with one being the smallest. Sometimes your customer will already know their ring size, or you’ll have to size them. For this you’ll use a ring sizing gauge. It’s a tool that has a bunch of different sized rings attached – you just slide the right one onto your customers ringer and voila! you have their size! There’s a few ways to get the length of material needed for the size ring. The two things you need, regardless of method, are the ring size and gauge of material you’ll be using.

You can use the formula below to easily find out how many inches or mm you need:

(Inner diameter of ring + thickness of material) x 3.14

Make sure that your inner diameter and material thickness are in the same unit of measure! For example – a size 7 ring has an inner diameter of 0.682 inches. We’ll be using 18 gauge wire, which converted to inches is 0.0403 inches thick. 0.682 + 0.0403 = 0.7223 inches. Next we’ll multiply that by 3.14, resulting in 2.27 inches. So now we know that we’ll need 2.27 inches of 18 gauge wire to make a size 7 ring. The other way to can determine how much material you need is by using a handy chart like the one below!! It will save you a bunch of time.

Ring Making Tips and Tricks

When making rings, it’s totally up to you – let your creativity run wild! There are a few tips and tricks though to keep in mind that will make your life easier. Number one – use the chart above!!

• If using pattern or twisted wire, try to match the pattern up at the solder joint. It’s an extra attention to detail that will elevate your piece.
• Keep a gauge conversion chart on hand, like the one in Jeweler’s Resources – Conversion Chars and Reference. I use mine all the time.
• Cheap, plastic ring sizers are great to keep on hand to send to customers who are out of town. Every ring sizer is slightly different, so this will help you match their size to your ring mandrel for the perfect fit!
• Wide rings feel tighter on the ringer – always make sure to size them in the middle of the ring on your mandrel, not the bottom.
• Use a miter block or jig to file the ends of your wire flat for the perfect solder seam.

Ring Making Design Ideas

Below are a few design ideas for rings to get you started! 

Granular stacking rings – Save your scrap metal to melt into tiny granules! Silver, bronze, and gold work great for this. You can then use them to create stacking rings, like the ones below, or add as decorative elements on rings with cabochon stones. Remember that gold-fill will not work for this – as you’d be melting the gold and brass together.

Patterned Material Rings – Pattern wire is great for creating unique ring bands on their own. But it doesn’t stop there – you can solder pattern or gallery wire to a wider band for a ring that has a big more of an individual voice.

Stone Set Ring – Cabochon rings never really go out of style. Up your game by using multiple stones on one ring. This is a great opportunity to embellish with granules or soldering ornaments too.

Stacking Rings – Stacking rings are typically made out of thinner material, 18-14 gauge, and meant to be worn in multiples. They can be plain, textured, or have small elements soldered on top. Having a variety of stacking rings available is a great way for customers to play around and build their own, unique stack.

Mixed Metals – Mixing metals is a great way to set your jewelry apart from other and add a little extra spice. Silver and gold, silver and bronze, silver and copper, add three if you’re feeling wild! Sometimes just adding a patina to certain parts of your design can create this affect too.

Check out these articles about ring making techniques and supplies.

How to Size a Ring in the Jewelry Studio