How to Bend, Curl and Shape a Flat Ring Blank

hey it's Lisa Niven Kelly here for

Beaducation.com and today I'm going to

show you how to bend a flat ring blank

into a ring shape so these are the tools

that I use for this I like to start with

a wrap and tap plier this is the large

rapid tap plier and it's got three

different size barrels on the plier

which is awesome so you can make three

different really big loops and then

we're going to shape it further on the

ring mandrel using our plastic mallet

these ring blanks that I'm working with

today are actually aluminum we carry

them in a variety of metals including

aluminum and pewter which is awesome

because they're really soft so really

you could just put it probably on the

ring mandrel and bend it around with

your hand it's soft enough to do that

and then we're going to hammer it with

the plastic mallet but I want to show

you one trick that I like to do I'd like

to begin the shape but start it out by

using the plier I just find it's a

little bit rounder and I can get those

edge edges to curl a little bit better

so this is going to be an open-back ring

so these rings that we're making are

going to stay open in the back and it's

fine they held up they hold up really

really great and I actually don't mind

the way they look I kind of like it this

one's gonna be a regular ring with an

open sight opening in the back depending

on what size I want it can touch in the

back or be open a teeny bit and this

one's going to be called what we call a

wrap ring so it's going to come around

and the ends are gonna kind of pass each

other I'll show you that in a second so

let's start with this one

I'm going to start by using the middle

step on these large wrap and tap pliers

I just think that is a nice size it's

not too big not too small and then I can

size it and shape it from there on my

ring mandrel but I like to do is get and

get that little tip right in there so

just like making a basic loop you want

to have the tip of the wire within the

Pires not sticking out at all and that's

going to give you a really nice curled

tip so let's just shift that so I can

hold it better and I'm going to turn my

plier this way while pushing the wire

against it here and just start that curl

I'm going to do that on both sides okay

now you can continue to curl that if you

want or you can put it on your ring

mandrel at this point but

- I go up to the larger one and bring it

around maybe come to the smaller one and

shape it a little bit there it's not

gonna be perfect or pretty by any means

but you can see where we're on our way

see how nice that is just to start out

I'm gonna bring in the ring mandrel now

and slide it on the ring mandrel so let

me see if you can see this angle me see

if it'll focus for you what you want to

do is look right down here and see if

there's any gaps or sort of looking down

the mandrel this way it's sort of the

bird's eye view the camera may have a

hard time focusing on that angle but

you're looking for gaps and those gaps

are what you're going to tap out with

your plastic mallet but keep in mind the

size that you're hoping to have this

ring so if I want it to be the smallest

size possible where those two ends are

touching I'm going to try to keep it

here on my ring mandrel but I'm going to

come around to some of these spots and

round them out so I'm holding it in kind

of an awkward way so that you can see it

on camera but usually I would sort of be

holding this coming out from my chest

away from me and hammer it that way

maybe brace it on a table maybe put it

in a vise holding it device is really

nice it it gives it a nice grip so you

can manipulate them now I definitely

want to get these to nice and flat so

that they're right flat against the

mandrel let's see how it's looking

pretty straightforward that was pretty

quick I was actually thinking I was

gonna have to do a lot more work I see a

little bit of a bumpy part over here so

I'm gonna put that on and make sure that

I get that so when I hit it with this

hammer I'm also hardening it so where

this started is a super soft metal it's

gonna harden a whole bunch by hammering

it and it's gonna keep it's nice ring

shape the size that you said it

so as I'm hitting it I'm turning the

ring a parent might want to just pinch

that in let's see that looks pretty good

let me get a close-up for you so the

only other manipulation that I need to

do here is it's kind of off this way so

I'm either going to put it on and hammer

this down a little bit that worked

really nicely it also stretched the ring

out a little but you see how brought the

two ends together or you can grab it

with your nylon jaw pliers and sort of

treat it like a jump ring and sort of

manipulate manipulate it this way but

that worked really really well and now

this ring is about a size seven and a

half seven and three-quarter almost

eight I think you can see it there but

the eights right there and the sevens

right up there but I'm happy with this I

wouldn't mess with it anymore so let me

show you now how to do the wraparound

ring for the wraparound ring we're gonna

do the same thing we're gonna start with

the large wrap and top plier and roll it

around roll it around all that good

stuff but we're gonna come instead of

where the other one we went straight and

we had the flat ring blank sort of

perpendicular to the pliers now we are

going to come at a really really sharp

angle so that it will come around and

pass itself so first things first I want

to get the beginning bits started like

that okay I mean I can continue on the

side and core go back to the other but

we're going still look at that angle

that I've got going there as much as I

can so that it can pass itself as it

comes around and I'm just going to keep

the whole thing on this middle barrel of

the plier that's kind of a little out of

shot there here we go bring it around

bring it around and

now last bit got it okay so if there's

any sort of fixing that you need to do

here and yes it's kind of an odd shape

but once we get it on the ring mandrel

we're gonna be able to straighten it out

there's any sort of like finagling you

can grab it with your your nylon jaw

pliers and and move it out a little bit

but I'm gonna go ahead and put it right

on the ring mandrel so I can start doing

that so I need to get that little tip

down a little this is gonna flatten out

it's a little bit at a weird angle see

if you can see that see that gap there

so just like before I'm gonna hold it

with my ring mandrel I mean hold it on

my ring mandrel with my hand and tap

away now you see just by tapping this

one it flattened it and had it sort of

line up next to the other one which is I

just hit that part so hard that I sort

of slid it down the ring mandrel it made

it a little bit bigger and you can see

it's spread weird so I could try to come

in with my nylon jaw pliers a little

sorry here and grab both ends and

squeeze and there we go it brought it

back up so this is actually looking

pretty good this is a really long one so

it makes like a eight and a half to ten

sized ring it's pretty big if this was

the size I wanted to keep it then great

if I wanted it bigger and now that I

have it this great shape the shape is

great I can go ahead and really grab it

and pull it down my ring mandrel and it

will make it bigger so now it's quite a

bit bigger I can also tap it down with

my nylon mallet and that's what you'll

do with the other ring as well I'll show

you that a sec

so that's quite a bit bigger yeah that's

lights on a lot there so just keep

tapping down until it gets to the size

you want I'm just going to move that

open a little because I wanted those to

overlap a little bit less there we go

once it's on the sides that I really

like I'm going to tap for a little bit

just to harden it to set it into place

again this would be if I was at my bench

I would have this in a clamp actually I

have a hole in my bench where I shove

this so I can have my table supporting

it here and then me holding it here it's

kind of nice so that guy is done now

let's show if you wanted to make this

one I didn't show you but now that we're

back on this brave one the first one we

made if you wanted to make that bigger

again

don't pry it open with your hands

because that's like pulling up in a jump

ring it will distort just tap down with

your plastic mallet see how it's

stretching out there so it's actually

making it bigger there's a point where I

think this opening can be too large

it just gets uncomfortable it can almost

kind of pinch you but this size wouldn't

bother me and that by tapping it down is

now it looks to be about an 8 and a half

so now I would just polish up look at

that it's just got all done to you from

me holding it I had some lotion on my

hands shine them up shame this guy up

and see the difference there and that's

how you do it it's really really really

fun you can also make these now my hands

are all dirty you can also make these

from sterling flat wire so consider that

Sterling's a little bit harder to bend

totally doable just cut it to the length

needed for your ring and maybe trim the

edges and file them route like this

before you shape it come on

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