The soldered ring tends to be the unsung hero of the jewellery component world. There are lots of reasons why they’re easy to overlook; they don’t open, they’re too plain, or you just can’t think of a creative application for them.
Despite these issues, soldered rings remain one of my ‘go to’ elements when I’m stuck on a design idea. I can’t get over how easy it is to throw them into a design, or how quickly they solve many of the issues I have with jump rings.
For example, in the necklace above, I really struggled with this piece. I didn’t want to use a really thick jump ring, as I felt it would throw the design off. However, I couldn’t use a thinner jump ring, as the weight of the stones would have simply pull it apart. Soldered rings came to the rescue!
Even better are earrings:
How easy was that? These earrings look like fantastic, and it was as easy as wire-wrapping a crystal to them. They have no open parts, and you don’t have to worry about anything opening or losing any crystals. Complete peace of mind for the price of a soldered ring .
Soldered rings also open up a world of opportunities for the DIY jewellery designer. As the rings are solid, you can add hammered textures without having to worry about the ring opening or any gaps. It’s really easy to hammer them on a solid surface (I use a small piece of steel), and even easier to manipulate them using different tools to add unique texture. Try hammering your rings on a variety of surfaces, say concrete or sandstone, or using a couple of different hammers, such as a ball peen or cross peen hammer.
Here’s a quick video that will show you how to incorporate soldered rings into a simple earring design. Don’t let your preconceptions of soldered rings stop you from opening up an entire world of opportunities in jewellery design.
