How It's Made: Braided Band Ring

This ring starts with braiding three wires together. It looks a little funky at first, but things will get tightened and aligned throughout the process. The first time I attempted this I wasn't totally sure what I was doing! After some refining, I am pleased with the results.

By pulling the braid through a drawplate, all the wires are tightened together into a uniform braid. A drawplate is a steel plate with a series of holes that vary in size by 1/10 of a millimeter. Starting with the smallest hole the loose braid would fit through, I pulled it through smaller and smaller holes until everything was cinched together and the braid looked nice and even. After this, I wanted to make it more flat than round, so I passed it through the rolling mill to squish it down a bit. This flattened shape is more comfortable to wear than something with a bulkier height.

Now it's basically like making any other band ring. I cut the wire to length for the desired size and solder the ends together. I do my best to make sure the three wires of the braid line up at the seam so it isn't super obvious where they join. After the ring is soldered closed, I hammer it on a mandrel to make it round again. 

The texture of the braid makes this design look great with a patina. I dip it in a solution called liver of sulfur that oxidizes the silver to a nice black color. I then remove the patina from the high points so it only remains in the recesses and really makes the braid pattern pop. 

After a quick polish, the ring is finished and ready to wear!

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