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Ceramic Rings


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Hello hello,

 

I was wondering, has anyone here ever made some ceramic rings. How do you do? Because I am worried about the reduction. Let's say I want to make a ring for myself, how bigger than my finger should it be? I use B-Mix (stoneware) fired at Cone 10. If you ever make rings, do you use some kind of templates or do you do some random sizes, hoping that it will fit someone eventually?

 

Thanks you! :)

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I used to dabble in wire jewelry. There is a tool that is a rod called a mandrel that has each ring size on it, and increments in size as it goes down the rod. I would find the shrinkage rate on bmix, then find the size of your ring, then multiple that times the shrink rate on the bmix and add it to your original size then measure the mandrel to find your new ring size in clay.

 

Just an idea. Also if your going to glaze the ring, add that thickness into the ring as well. Sounds neat, but I would imagine it would be dangerous if say for example someone stepped on your finger with the ring and it broke and sliced into your finger. But for casual events or something then I could see it being of neat use for like costume jewelry.

 

Link to example mandrel: http://www.firemountaingems.com/itemdetails/h201698tl

 

No idea if this one is any good just showing you what it is.

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Grype beat me to it.  Get a ring mandrel, find out rate of shrinkage, and convert the sizes. At worst, you'll have a little math to do.

 

Some people make a kind of potter's ruler, with units of measure adjusted to their clays' rates of shrink.  If you're going to make a pile of rings, it might be worthwhile to make a shrink-adjusted ring mandrel or have one made.  

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Hi Judith

 

First find out the shrink rate of your clay, your supplier will have marked it on the bag, or phone them and ask (my usual clay shrinks 12-15% as written on the bag)........

 

........OR do a shrink test.......roll out a strip of clay, mark out a 10cm (4") line with 1cm (3/8") markings on it, fire it to C10. Remeasure the whole line to find out how much it shrank, this will give you a percentage result.

 

Cut out a thin strip of paper, wrap it around your finger and put a mark at the point where the 2 parts come together, this gives you the circumference measurement of your finger. Lay the strip flat and measure the circumference as a straight line measurement.

 

Compare the paper line measurement to the fired clay line measurement and ADD THE EXTRA PERCENTAGE AMOUNT you found out from your clay bag, clay supplier or your shrink test firing. This is how I have done mine.

 

Good luck

Irene

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