Closing walls and ticking clocks…

😉

Ok, big movie night tonight. No not that one, but…

…I think I have mentioned before that I like swamps, and I lurve the bridge troll from the second Spiderwick book: The Seeing Stone, it totally reminded me of the crazy swamp witch from Legend (top 10 movie love right there. Haven’t seen the 2002 directors cut? Totally different movie, truly amazing what this movie was supposed to be. Trust me)

So, I got to thinking about trolls and swamps and water – especially with all the amazingly crappy, rainy, wet weather we have been having over the last week and all the swampy floodedness of everything around us right now and I decided it needed to be expressed in jewelry.

Behold the River Troll Ring: I lurve me right now.

I’m going to wear the ring tonight to the premiere and then put it on Etsy tomorrow, but if you’d like to make our own here’s a quick tutorial 🙂 And I do mean quick.

1. Decide on wire and beads you want to use. (I used a very fine wire from an old Klutz kit and a pile of different beads from my collection) Make sure your beads will glide easily along the wire’s  length. You may end up with some very small kinks in the wire and you don’t want your beads getting stuck. Try to stick with E-beads and larger stones, seed beads are just too small. Use a ring sizer to determine the size you want (try to find a solid surface to wrap your wire around, spoon handle, pen, marker – I have an old bead tube that worked for me). Cut a 2 yard piece of wire and beginning in the center wrap the wire 2-5 times with each piece, meeting back at the point where you started (the number of wraps determines how substantial your band will be). Use the tails to wrap the band together at the base, moving in opposite directions, then divide the band into 2 equal halves.

2. Now, starting on either side, you place the beads that run along the side of your ring one at a time. Wrap your wire tail3 times around one side of the ring, thread on your first bead and then wrap the wire 3 times on the opposite side of the ring. Repeat 2 to 3 times more depending on the size and number of beads you have chosen and repeat on the other side.

3. Work you center bead separate from the ring, new piece of wire about a yard . You may choose to use one stone or many, the important thing to have is a sturdy ring of wire all the way around the bead. Add whatever embellishments you want and bury the end of the wire inside a bead or in a wrap.

4. Attach your center piece to the ring using the tails left from wrapping your side beads. Make sure you thread the wire underneath and through the wire around the center bead and along the two sides of the band. When it feels secure bury the wire ends. Voila!

If you make one send me pics!! And feel free to ask questions. I do it a little different every time and you may find a way that works better for you. I have more pics on Flickr.

Toots