Free Rustic Multi-Row Wire Wrap Ring Tutorial

I have been having so much fun making these copper wire rings.  They give the look of a stack of rings, but it is a single wire wrapped around the mandrel multiple times.  They are really simple to make using this free tutorial for the Bold Copper Weave Stack ring from York Avenue Studio.  You need to know how to solder a single joint to make these rings.  It's a good ring to practice on if you are a beginner with the torch.

The tutorial tells you how to make the ring pictured on the left- with 5 wraps.  The instructions for the ring call for about 12 inches of wire, but I recommend you cut closer to 14 inches.  The first ring I made, I cut 12 inches and could only wrap around four times instead of five.  I think it is my favorite ring though.  It fits very comfortably.  It is pictured on the right.

I used liver of sulfur (LOS) to make it black and then used wax to seal the color.  I think it is close to a gun metal finish - but you can still see hints of copper underneath.  It looks much nicer in person :)

I also use LOS on the 5 wrap thick band and then used steel wool to remove it from the high spots and leave the crevices darker.  It has a rustic but elegant look.  The copper is naturally shiny on the other two rings.

The ring in the middle uses 16g wire instead of 14g.  The thinner wire is better for making a smaller sized ring.  I had a lot of trouble making these rings smaller than a size 8.  The smaller gauge, thicker wire is very difficult to wrap tightly on the mandrel.  One other thing that I found was that the ring with 3 wraps stretched much more during hammering than the ring with 5 rows of wire.

Let me know if you try to make these rings and how yours come out!