This is the most difficult project I teach. As your teacher, I'd hope I'd have everything figured out--but I don't. While making this class I ran into my own problems--I had rings tear on me multiple times!

It boiled down to doing it at a different time of year--different weather--and I sorted it out. I'll share more on that in a later lesson.

But that being said, don't be discouraged. These beautiful rings are do-able, and this class will provide as much information, tips, and tricks that I can pack in.

So, let's begin.

Class supplies:

• Basic resin jewelry supplies (the usual: ArtResin epoxy kit*, packing tape, wooden sticks, toothpicks, something to protect your surface, paper towels or napkins, utility lighter, scraping tool, pliers--preferably 2 pairs--, etc).
• Small bit drill (necessary for this project) and somewhere to drill on (wooden block works)
• A teardrop (29x21mm) or marquise (36x16mm and 44x22mm) shaped link from LimaBeads. Sterling silver or 14k gold. Scroll to the bottom of the Open Bezel Directory for links to where the open bezels for these rings can be found.
• Chain to match. Size is up to preference, but something fairly small. NOT too small where the link cannot fit onto jump rings, however. Sometimes larger chain works, but it's more difficult to control ring sizing. Whatever you use, I highly recommend closed link. They must be cut to be shortened, but they are stronger and durable--a better option for rings. I use 2.5x2mm link chain or smaller. For gold, I use a similar size from leftover necklace chain.
• Small oval jump rings, to match. ArtBeads.com oval jump-rings are a great strong, non-obtrusive option. They come in matching silver and 14k gold. You can use this 4.5x3 gold-fill one, or this 3x4.6 silver one. You can use larger ones, but this size is best.
• Stuff to embed: very thin things! Remember, these rings are 1-2 mm in thickness. So the flatter the better. Also, over-filling with too much colorant, flowers, and so on will cause problems. These designs should lean toward more sparse and minimal.
• (optional, but VERY helpful) A rubber jewelry hammer and metal or rubber hammering block--for re-flattening bezels if the resin tears. If you don't have this, you might end up buying extra bezels and having unusable rings. So it's optional, but I really recommend it.
• (optional) Ring sizer tool. Pretty cheap and helpful, especially if you want to know your true ring sizes or if you want to make rings for someone else. If you're making rings for yourself and will use your own fingers as reference--then a ring sizer isn't necessary.

Alright, in the next lesson we'll get started at the crafting table.

*For this project, it matters what epoxy you use. ArtResin definitely works for this method. I don't know whether other brands can achieve the same results.