Handcrafted Fidget Bead Ring

Hello fellow makers,

Rings are one of my favourite jewellery items to make as they require very little material and there are endless possibilities with the designs.

When the Gems challenge came along it finally gave me an excuse to try out this design for a fidget ring that has been stuck in my head.

I have tried to keep this Instructable as "entry level" as possible so that if you are just getting into the hobby you don't need to spend a fortune on new equipment.

Let's get started...

To make this Instructable you will need the following:

- 3-4mm Bronze rod (I reused some from an old/failed project as you only need a tiny <10cm piece)

Amazon - Bronze rods

This can be found at your local hardware store in the welding/brazing section. I recommend using bronze when learning and then moving on to precious metals later.

- 1mm Copper wire

I salvaged some copper wire that was wrapped around a toroid from disposed electronic devices.

- Gemstones/Beads of your choice just make sure they are already drilled.

I went with some 6mm Purple Imperial Jasper beads

Amazon - Beads

- Silver solder*

I recommend buying a kit like the one I linked as you will need the different melting temperatures for different parts of the ring, otherwise you can also use tin solder for the low temperature areas.

Amazon - Silver solder

- a Butane/propane blow torch

- a Hammer

- an Anvil** (at $15 I highly recommend getting something like this)

Amazon - Anvil

Any piece of heavy metal with a smooth surface can be used, before I made myself this small jewellers anvil I used an old hammer head mounted in a vice and it worked great.

- Sanding paper 220 to 1500 grit

- Metal polishing compound blocks

Amazon - Compounding blocks

- Leather safety gloves

- Pliers

- Cutters

Optional:

- A Dremel

- Felt polishing pads

Safety first!

Always wear leather gloves and face protection when forging metals, the pieces can cause serious burns even after standing for a while. Always handle your metal as if it is hot.

Now we will need to start shaping our bronze rod.

For this ring you need a rod that is the circumference of your ring finger plus about 1cm more for the "bead holders" (being a D shaped ring the rod needed will be a little less but rather make it too long and trim the excess later), mine was about 7cm long plus you will need about 2cm extra for the bar behind the beads.

In the end I will forge around 9cm of rod to flat bar but I suggest you forge this length first before cutting off the excess as it will make handling it easier.

You can measure your ring size using a piece of string. Take the string and wrap it around the base of your finger, marking where the string first overlaps with a pen. Then, line that up with a ruler and take down its length

Now we need to anneal the bronze rod, with the butane/propane torch you need to heat up your bronze rod until it gets to a cherry red color and then quench it in a bucket of water (or if you are comfortable working with hot metal you can hot forge it without quenching first)

When the rod has reached temperature you can place the rod on the anvil and start hammering it down on one side, try to keep your hammer head as flat as possible whilst moving across the rod.

While hammering you will feel the bronze getting harder, once you feel this happening you will need to reheat the rod as above.

Flipping the rod over from time to time will help keep it straight.

Keep repeating the above until you've reduced the thickness of the rod from 3mm to around 0.8mm.

Now you can reheat the rod and then place it on its side and gently hammer down the side to end up with a uniform bar that's approximately 4mm wide and 0.8mm thick.

Cut the bar you made into two pieces, one the length of of your ring the other the length of the bar behind the beads. (This will be determined by your ring size)

This is definitively optional but now we can add a personal touch by stamping a word, phrase, initials etc. on the inside of the ring.

Here is a link to a similar stamp set:

Amazon - 2mm Metal Stamp

One of my first 3d print designs was for this jig to stamp in a straight line with equal spacing and if you guys are interested in printing one for yourself I can refine the design a bit and publish it.

Now it's time to bend your ring into a "C" shape.

I find the easiest way to do this is to find a cylindrical object about the same diameter as your finger to bend it around, this can be anything from a hairbrush handle, wooden dowel, a pipe etc.

By bending it around something we can create a more equal bend.

Once you have it bent you can fit it to make sure the size is correct and then trim the leftover bar to fit into the void, you want it to be snug but not pushing the ring open.

Using some sanding paper or a file just flatten the two ends of the bar that you trimmed so that it sits flush inside the ring, this will give you a nice clean seam when soldered.

Time to solder the first joints.

Position the bar into place according to your ring size, now place on a suitable surface to solder on (I do all my soldering on an old press drill table)

Add silver solder flux and a small piece of silver solder (medium/hard) in the joint and start heating the joint with your butane torch.

When the piece reaches the melting point of the solder it will flow into joint.

Wait for the piece to cool, flip it over and repeat on the other joint.

Now we need to make the hanger for the beads.

First we have to measure and cut the two posts to size, you want the bead to hang about .5mm-1mm from the bar and then you want about the same distance above the copper wire.

For my 6mm beads this translated into a 4-5mm post on each side.

After trimming both posts to size we need to make a hole on each side to push the copper wire through.

Amazon - PCB Drill set

I always use these PCB drill sets when making jewellery, they are super sharp, fits in a Dremel and cheap when you buy in bulk (which is a must because they break easily)

Drill a 1mm (depending on your copper wire thickness) hole in the middle on each side about 0.5-1mm from the top.

Next I placed a piece of 320 grit sanding paper on a piece of glass and sanded flat the two sides of the ring and the sharp corners from trimming the posts, I did not sand any other areas as I wanted to retain the hammer marks from forging it.

Now place the ring in a pickling solution and leave until it is free from oxidation and flux.

Homemade Pickle:

• Bring ½ cup vinegar and ½ cup water to a boil. You can use more vinegar than water. Some people even use just vinegar, no water.
• Pour in a glass or ceramic coffee container. Hint: Make sure that the container you use for your pickle does not get used for anything else after this.
• Add 1 tsp salt.
• Add your metal jewelry piece, making sure that it is covered with solution. You may need to turn the piece over while it is soaking if the back of the piece sits directly on the bottom of the container. Note: Do not use pickling solution on jewelry pieces with gemstones.
• While the piece is soaking, mix 1 teaspoon of baking soda with 1 cup of warm water in another glass or ceramic container.
• When you see that the fire scale is gone, remove the piece from the pickling solution using a wooden pick or copper tongs. Hint: If you have heavy fire scale, you may need to reheat the solution-without the jewelry piece in it-and soak the piece again. You may even need to make new pickle solution and re-pickle.
• Place the piece in the baking soda/water solution. This solution helps neutralize the acid in the vinegar that ate away the fire scale.
• Rinse and dry the piece.

Now is where you can start to see all of your hard work come together.

Using a brass brush and/or a felt pad and compounding block we need to polish the inside of the posts where the beads will be, it is important to do it now otherwise it will be very difficult with the beads in place.

Next it's time to select your beads, as you can see in the picture I tried the 2 6mm beads, 3 4mm Lapis beads and a 6mm turquoise cylinder which also worked really well.

Just make sure your beads slide and spin freely.

We are now going to solder the copper wire into place.

Feed the copper wire through both holes with the beads in place between the posts, make sure the wire piece is perfectly straight and then hold it in place at the bottom using pliers.

TIP: Grab yourself some surgical pliers like these Amazon - Surgical pliers they are high quality stainless steel self locking pliers that can take the heat when soldering.

Snip off the excess wire on top, add a tiny amount of flux and a small piece of solder on top of the wire you just cut as pictured.

Because this is such a tiny piece without much mechanical stresses and I didn't want to apply a lot of heat to the beads I decided to use a tin solder to do this step.

With your butane torch and a low flame gently heat up the joint until the solder flows in around the wire.

Flip it over and repeat on the other side.

Leave the piece to cool completely.

With your ring now all in one piece we just need to file/sand the dimples left from soldering the copper wire flush with the ring.

Now add some compounding polish to your felt pads and make it shine.

Like I said previously I left this ring with the hammer marks as I felt it added more character but if you prefer a cleaner look you can wet sand it first before polishing with 400 to 1500+ grit sanding paper.

I hope you guys enjoyed this Instructable and if you have any questions please feel free to leave me a comment bellow.

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Happy making!