Howl's Moving Castle Ring - Studio Ghibli

In the Studio Ghibli movie, "Howl's Moving Castle" the wizard Howl gifts a magical ring to Sophie, telling her that it will provide her safety. When Howl first gives the ring to her, it has a red stone, but later while Sophie is wearing it the stone turns to blue.

Today I will be making such a ring, but I will make two: one in red and one in blue, for Howl and Sophie.

1. Ring Mandrel (optional, you can use another cylindrical piece that will make a ring big enough for your finger)
2. Clay in grey (polymer clay or air dry)
3. Two rhinestones, one red and one blue
4. Clay roller
5. Stylus tool (or a pencil or toothpick)
6. Knife tool
7. Gorilla glue or Loctite glue
8. Silver paint
9. Paint brush
10. *For air dry clay: varnish

First off, fetch a ring you already have. Since I am using air dry clay that will shrink slightly, I am using a ring that is just a tad too big for me. Slide it on the ring mandrel or cylindrical piece to determine where you need to wrap the clay to make the ring base.

Roll our your clay decently thin, but not too thin. With the knife tool, cut a long strip out of the clay.Wrap this piece of clay around the ring mandrel in the spot that you marked.

Smooth the ends together, trimming any excess off. Blend the ends together with a tool or your finger until they are smooth and there is no visible seam.

The rings have little crosses all around them, so that is what we will add next.

Roll out the clay thinly, thinner than the ring base. We want the crosses to be slightly raised, but not huge. With the stylus tool or toothpick, draw out the shape of a cross that kind of looks like a fat clover. Cut it out with the knife tool and smooth the cut edges.

Now pick up the clover cross and place it on the ring to check the size. It should fit perfectly on the band. If the size is correct, make three more clover crosses for the ring.

Decide where the center rhinestone will go and poke a little hole there. Then space the four clover crosses equal distance apart from one another, leaving a gap where you put the center hole. The center hole is the stone setting later. Attach the clover crosses by poking a hole in the center of each cross that is deep enough to make the two clay pieces bond. (If you are using air dry clay you can use glue if you are worried about it, or if you are using polymer clay you can use liquid clay).

Once your clay has been baked or dried, paint the clay silver with the silver paint. I painted the entire thing, inside and out.

*TIP: If you are using polymer clay, it would be better to put silver mica powder on the unbaked clay and then bake it.

Now we will add the stone.

Put a tiny dab of glue on the hole you made earlier. Then place the rhinestone in the hole and wait until the glue sets.

Once the glue has set, roll out a thin snake of clay to wrap around the rhinestone base. Carefully wrap around the base, cutting off the excess and smoothing the ends so there is no seam. Now take the knife tool and cut diagonal lines all around the ring setting. It should be the appearance of a twisted rope.

*TIP: If you are using polymer clay, your rhinestones have to be glass to be able to be baked in the oven. DO NOT bake plastic rhinestones!

Once the setting around the stone has dried, apply the silver paint very carefully to the unpainted clay. Be very careful to not get paint on the rhinestone because cleaning that off is just an outrageous headache.

*If you are using air dry clay, you will need to varnish the piece. I recommend Duraclear Gloss varnish.

Ta-Daa! Now you have a magical ring.

I made two because I couldn't decide which color I liked more. I really love blue, but I also really wanted what Howl was wearing, which was the red. So I made both. I think that Sophie's (the blue) turned out the best.

This is a little piece of Studio Ghibli magic for me because Howl's Moving Castle is one of my absolute favorites. If you want tutorials on other pieces of jewelry from the movie, they are right here at these links: Howl's Earrings and Magic Studio Ghibli earrings.

Have a great day and Go Clay Today!