Pumpkin Ring : Fall Jewelry

1. Clay in orange (or whatever color cuz we will be painting it later)

2. A stylus tool or a large sewing pin

3. Copper wire in 24 gauge (just a small gauge *thickness*; it doesn't have to be 24).

5. Wire Cutters and Round-nosed pliers

6. Paint in light brown, dark brown, orange, and light grey.
7. Varnish (I use Duraclear).
8. Brush to apply paint & varnish
9. Copper in 18 gauge
10. Metal file
11. Ring mandrel
If you don't have a mandrel, don't worry; I'll shoe you what to do.

I tend to just make scribbly designs for my jewelry. Since I make them with the pen I use in my notebooks, there is often a bunch of things that have been scratched out.
I show you all this scrap of design work to help you realize you don't have to be a superb artist to draw out your ideas. This can help you visualize that piece of jewelry that is in your head but you don't know just exactly how go makr it. Here my scribbles helped me figure out how attaching the pumpkin was going to work.
Now let's sculpt a pumpkin!
Pumpkins are pretty easy to sculpt. You can make TONS of them in a matter of an hour (ask me how I know), but we only need one.
Take your clay and make a small ball type shape (doesn't have to be perfect). Size is a preference, but mine is about as big as the end of my thumb.
With the needle tool, begin making lined on the orange clay. Don't make them too deep, but don't make them too shallow. For a pumpkin that is less round and more ridged, use the side of the needle tool and push it into the pumpkin's sides to make ridges.
Make the needle marks go all the way to the top of the pumpkin.
Now go back and make finer details with the needle tool. I like my pumpkin to have lots of lines.
To give my pumpkin a flatter shape, I press it down a little on my work surface. I then go back with my needle tool and re-detail parts that got squished.
I want my pumpkin to sink in a little where the stem meets it, so I take the end of my needle tool and press it into the top to make a dent. You can use any smooth blunt object for this, even a finger tip.
Take a tiny piece of clay in a log shape and press it to the top of the pumpkin. Using the needle tool, draw skinny lines in the new stem, pressing harder near the bottom so you join the pumpkin and the stem. Once your stem is as detailed as you like, you can leave it standing straight up or do what I did. I used my needle tool to bend the stem over on itself to make a little loop.
The pumpkin is finished being sculpted!
* And please ignore my beat up hands. It all comes of taking apart sharp stuff without gloves.

We need a way to attach the pumpkin to the ring. Now we will use our thin copper wire. The wire will go in the base of the pumpkin and then wrap around the ring we will make in the next step.
With the wire cutters, cut off a piece longer than you think you need. Mine is about 5 or 6 inches. You don't want to come up with too little wire when you wrap it on your ring base.
Bend a small kink in the end of the wire. Now poke that end into the bottom of the pumpkin.
Now, bake the pumpkin or let it dry, depending on the type of clay you used.

If you don't have a mandrel, don't fret. Simply look around for a cylindrical object aboug the size of your finger. Take an existing ring of your and put it on the object, testing if it will fit. You want it to fit snugly, but not tight.
I found a marker cap that my ring fits. If I did not have a mandrel, I'd use this to form my ring.

Now we will take out our ring mandrel (or fake ring mandrel) and our 18 gauge copper wire.
* If you are confused about gauges, the bigger the number the thinner the wire. A 24 gauge is thinner than an 18 gauge. 18 gauge is a large, thick wire.
On the ring mandrel, find your ring size. If you don't know your size, take a ring you have and put it on the ring mandrel. The ring will stop at your size. This is where you will form the new ring out of the copper wire.
* It is wise to make your ring a tiny bit bigger on the mandrel than your actual size. That way the ring will not be too tight.
Get out the 18 gauge copper wire. With the wire cutters, cut two pieces. To know how much I want, I put the wire under the mandrel at where I want to make the ring, then I bend up the end above the mandrel. I want about an inch and a half left above the mandrel. This will become swirls later.
Cut the wire with the wire cutters. Straighten the wire piece and then lay it next to the wire on the roll. Cut off a second bit the same length as the first, using the first as a guide.
With the metal gile, file the wire ends until smooth. Run your finger over the edge to see whether you have gotten rid of all sharpness.
Take the first piece of wire and bend it up around the mandrel at your size, leaving the ends sticking up. Do the same with the second wire, then pop the wires off.

I wanted something in this design to be reminiscent of the curly vine tendrils that pumpkins put out all along the vine branches, so I designed it to have four curly pieces at the top. Swirls is a nice way to finish loose pieces of wire anyway!
Take one of the formed wire loops and put it back on the mandrel at your size.
*My photos show me making the second swirl on the first wire loop, but the steps are all the same.
With the round nose pliers, grip the end of the wire gently and turn the pliers and the wire in a circle, creating a swirl. Make this swirl go AWAY from the mandrel, not in toward the mandrel.
Once the swirl gets close to the mandrel, stop twisting and let go of the pliers. The more you swirl, you will cause the ring to tighten on the mandrel. Don't make it too tight.
Do the other wire ends in the same manner. Take that loop off the mandrel and put the second one on. Make swirls in the same way you made the first ones.
Place BOTH wire loops on the mandrel. Overlap them so they make an "x" shape in the back. With your fingers, or the pliers, twist the swirls so they point outwards from each other at diagonals (hopefully the photos make more sense; I'm not sure how to explain that!).
Now the ring is ready for the pumpkin.

Now we will paint our pumpkin.
I start with an orange base. I cover all the pumpkin except the stem (but if you get paint on the stem it doesn't really matter ). Let that dry (you may need a second or third coat depending on the base color of your clay).
Next I get my light brown. This color is sort of a grey brown color. I get a little on the brush and then I wipe most of the color off. You can use a paper towel for this; I often end up being lazy and using my hand or thumbnail. Once most of the paint is off the brush, brush what is left over the surface of the pumpkin, leaving just a dull, light coat. This technique is called drybrushing.
After drybrushing, I take my thumb and rub a bit of the brown off, leaving just the bare minimum.
Next I use the dark brown to paint the entire stem.
After this has dried, I dry brush the stem with my gray paint. This is great for bringing out the details and ribbing in the stem. Less can actually be more here, don't end up making the whole stem grey!
Once dry, varnish the pumpkin. I prefer two to three coats to make sure the piece is protected.

So this is the hardest part.
Place your two wire loops on the ring mandrel, overlapping them so they make an "x" on the bottom of the ring.
Now put the pumpkin in the middle of the four swirls. Bring the wire from the pumpkin out and begin winding it around the bases of the swirls.
* A tip: While struggling with holding the two wire loops in place and tying the pumpkin on to the rings, a friend of mine suggested taping the two ring loops in place with masking tape. Genius! Just tape the back and sides of the loops, keeping them in the "x" form and holding them still while wrapping the pumpkin.
Continue winding the small string around thr bases. Make sure the pumpkin is snuggly nestled between the four swirls instead of on top of them (I mean, you could do that, too, if you wanted). Keep the small wire tight as you wrap so it doesn't look scraggly. When you come to the end, tuck in the excess wire around the base of one of the swirls, with the last bit on the inside. Don't worry about it poking you, the wrap shouldn't be right up against your finger.
Once that is done, pop the ring off and try it on your finger. It should fit pretty well; you may need a few minor adjustments.
Get out the 24 gauge wire and clip a small amount, 2 - 3 inches worth. Turn the ring back over on its face and wind the small wire around the "x" in the center. Use a combination of your fingers and your pliers. Wind as tight as you can without distorting the "x" shape. Tuck the ends out of the way and smash them a bit with the pliers. You should be able to run your finger along the wrap without being poked.
And look at that! The ring is finished!

Funnily enough, when I finished the ring, I thought, "Oh, that looks like Cindrella's magic pumpkin carriage!" Didn't occur to me before, but that is definitely what it reminded me of.
I hope you liked the tutorial and found it easy to follow. With any luck, you can make your own ring for the fall season!
I hope the Great Pumpkin visits you, and go clay today!