Pumpkin Ring : Fall Jewelry
Introduction: Pumpkin Ring : Fall Jewelry
I love pumpkins.
I actually don't like to eat them. I just like to grow them and have them for their cuteness. So for me, one of the biggest things in fall is pumpkins in their original or jack o' lantern form. Sometimes I feel like all I make is earrings, so I decided to make a pumpkin ring instead. I wanted this ring to be more adult and not the clunky plastic pumpkin rings you see in the store at this time of year. So let's make a ring to celebrate pumpkins!
Supplies
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.
Step 1: Design & Sculpting the Pumpkin
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. 95
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.
Step 2: A Way to Attach the Pumpkin
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.
Step 3: If You Don't Have a Ring Mandrel
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. 286