Wire-Wrapped Rings

Here is my "how to" make wire-wrapped rings.  They are very easy to make and look pretty awesome if you do it right.

Materials Needed:
-Highlighter or ring mandrel (the mandrels can be somewhat expensive, so I use a highlighter...because I have small fingers, this works for me, but the width of the highlighter should be tested before making rings so it fits your finger.  Just wrap a small piece of wire to around the highlighter to make sure that it fits around your finger before starting the project, making it slightly larger than needed to allow room for the wire).
-Wire (I used silver-plated), about 30 inches
-Button/bead to use in center of ring.  Make sure the hole in the bead is wide enough to put the wire through
-Wire clippers, crimper tool, and chain nose pliers

Here are all of the materials needed.

Assembly:
1.  Wrap wire in half around highlighter

2.  Then, wrap left side around the highlighter about 2-3 times, then the right side, returning the wire to the top.

3.  Add bead onto the left side of the wire.

I used a Citrine stone

4. Remove the ring from the highlighter.  Be sure to hold the ring firmly to keep it from unraveling.  Anchor bead onto the ring by wrapping it around the wire once.

5.  Repeat on the right side.  Then, continue to wrap the wire around the ring tightly.

6. Do this as many times as you like, but note the more wraps around the ring makes the ring size smaller. You can even wrap until the two ends meet each other, but start with more wire and adjust for size (as noted above, the more wire wrapped, the smaller the ring will be).

You can use the pliers to wrap the wire more tightly around the ring.

7.  Use crimper tool to press the end of the wire into a rounded shape that contorts into the ring instead of sticking out.

8.  Finished!

Here is the completed Citrine ring, and below are some of the other rings I have made using the same method.

From the top down: button ring, ladybug glass bead ring, freshwater pearl, and Swarovski crystal ring

I used a gold-toned wire for these rings and a black bead.  You can also make rings solely using wire.

Costume Jewelry Repair

Materials:
-Jewelry Cleaner
-Q-tips
-Old Toothbrush
-Xacto Knife
-Old damaged piece of costume jewelry
-Replacement foil-backed rhinestones (be sure to check on size, people at local bead stores are an awesome resource)
-Bead Enhance Glue (silly name, but this stuff is designed for jewelry, and dries clear)
-Toothpick/scrap piece of wire for applying glue

Growing up, I had a plethora of old costume jewelry to dress up with and play with to my heart's delight.  Of course, as a child, I had no idea what damage I could do to these pieces, not knowing that many of them once belonged to my mother's grandmother.  I have always remembered this jewelry fondly and wished I could incorporate them into my daily wardrobe.  After months of asking my mother to find this antique brooch, I finally had it in my hands, only to discover severe wear and a black residue under the glass stones, as well as more than half of the stones missing.  I was pretty depressed to hear this, and set out to try to fix the damage I had done as a small child.
Venturing out into my small town, I went to several jewelry stores to find out if I could get replacement stones and/or get it fixed.  Sadly, no one in my area does these types of repairs or carries the foil-backed stones I needed.  One store, however, had a very nice sales clerk who offered to measure the stones that i needed to replace what was missing and damaged.  Armed with a list of very oddly-shaped stones, I went to the one bead store (Daydreamers) in town that I thought would be able to help.  They suggested cannibalizing old costume jewelry (which I did) and looking for foiled back stones on the internet (which I did, leading me to Etsy.com and one website that had a minimum $25 purchase that I decided to pass on).  I was able to find more than half of the stones I needed at Daydreamers, including red 1.5 mm rounds that will add a dash of color to my old brooch and make it into something new that has sentimental value.

The replacement foil-backed glass stones I bought at daydreams.  They are quite small, so working on a light surface made them easy to find if they rolled away.

I ended up ordering my 6x4 mm oval stones on etsy.com, finding a pretty garnet color stone).  Overall, I spent less than five dollars on gem supplies.

Here are the 6x4mm oval foil backs.  The garnet colored one on the left is the replacement stone, and the stone on the right is one of the few undamaged stones that survived.

The first thing that I did was clean and removed the damaged stones.  I first soaked the brooch in some jewelry cleaner for five minutes, then scrubbed all of the residue off of the stones.  I should note that several costume jewelry websites warn that this is a dangerous thing to do, but since I essentially removed most of the stones, I went forward with using the jewelry cleaner hoping that it would aid in the removal of the stones.
Next, I pried off any remaining 6x4 mm ovals around the large center stone.  I decided to take these off because the clear stones would look odd mixed and matched as a daisy.  To pry these stones off, obtain a Xacto knife.

This is the brooch after I removed the damaged 6x4mm ovals.  It is important to clean out the setting of old glue and residue before repairing.

Because my stones were glued in rather than held down by the prongs, I simply popped the stones by putting the pointed tip of the Xacto knife between the stone and the metal, dislodging the glue from its hold on the stone and freeing the stone.
Once I was done removing all of the damaged stones, I notices much of the foil and glue remaining on the metal.  This would be troublesome if I put in the new stones and the old glue/foil would cause the stones to fit awkwardly.  I decided to dunk my brooch in the jewelry solution (I used a local jeweler's all-purpose jewelry cleaner) for about twenty minutes, and most of the glue and foil scrubbed off when I brushed it with a small toothbrush.
Once my brooch was clean and stripped of all of the damaged stones, I got ready to glue in the new stones.

This glue is pretty awesome. As mentioned above, I cleaned as much of the residue out of the old settings as I could.

Next, I applied the glue using a piece of wire with a rounded end to apply glue.  This allows me more control and doesn't smear the glue.  Also, this is useful for applying glue to small settings (which I did after I finished the ovals).

I added enough glue to it will not push out of the setting once I add the stones.  The wire is a cheap and easy way to apply glue with a lot of control.  I did not apply directly out of the tube as too much glue would come out.

Next, I carefully added the stone into the setting with the glue

This is before I adjusted the stone to fit better in the setting.  Notice that there is not too much glue flowing over the sides.

Next, I cleaned any remaining glue that flowed over the setting after better adjusting the stone into the setting.  Very lightly brush off the glue with a clean Q-tip.

Clean off stone after each stone is added to ensure that no glue gets on to any following stones that are added

Next, keep adding the stones and glue as mentioned above.  Use another Q-tip to clean between the stones by pulling on the cotton slightly to clean off any glue between tightly-grouped settings.

Clean between stones after each subsequent setting.  Then, press down on each stone to ensure that they are not loosened when brushing off any excess glue.

Then, continue adding all of the stones of the same size.

All of the oval stones added!

Next I added the clear rounds for one of the stems.  These stones were some of the stones re-purposed from older, much more damages costume jewelry, so some of the foil had scraped off, but this was able to give a nice aged effect to these stones.

Next, I added the smallest rounds, which were the most difficult to put in.  But I felt that the reddish stones that I found matched the oval rounds and tied them into the rest of the piece.

Before the glue dried, with all of the stones replaced.  On the top, I glued in some of the original ovals into the baguette stones I was unable to find, and using a slight excess of glue was able to cement them into the differently-shaped setting.  Here, it is easy to see where the glue is still wet, but once it dries is turns clear.

Here the glue is mostly dried and all of the stones are replaced (even the two small rounds that look like there is nothing there, but it is the shadow).

The repair skills I show here can be applied to any number of projects that use costume jewelry parts such as foil-backed stones.  Here is a hair thing that lost several of its stones, before I replaced them.

Before.

And after

After.