All about jewellery making

Materials

Size 11/0 seed beads (I have a wide range of colours in my bead shop, Bead Tree)
1 ring base with 8 metal loops (see diagram below - these are available from Jilly Beads)
Fine wire, approx. 28 gauge
Wire cutters
Chain nose pliers (if you don’t have chain nose pliers you could use flat nose instead)

This ring is much easier than it looks and it is an excellent way to use up small amounts of seed beads.  The base of the ring is a base metal adjustable band with 2 rows of loops:

Attaching the beads is quite simple using finely of approx. 28 gauge.  I would start with roughly 1.5m of wire so that you have plenty to work with.  If you find this length difficult try using a shorter piece and join another length on when you need it.

Begin by winding the wire around the ring base close to one of the outermost loops prior to taking the wire through the loop itself (see diagram below).  Thread on 7 beads of colour A and take the wire through  the loop again like this:

Now thread on 7 beads of colour B and repeat the procedure one more time with colour C.  At this point you should have 3 small loops of different coloured seed beads stacked neatly against one another. 

Take the wire around the ring base to carry it across to the next loop and repeat the process.  Keep repeating this step until you have completed one side of the ring.  The first side should look like this:

 
(Please note that each metal ring should have 3 loops of seed beads attached.  I didn’t draw them all in here as it would have looked very confusing.)

Now do the same for the second side of the ring.  Once you have completed the final group of seed bead loops take the wire through the centre of them so that it comes out in the middle of the 2 rose.  Thread on 3 seed beads then take the wire through the centre of the loops that are directly opposite pulling it under the ring tightly before bringing it to the next loop on the opposite side to repeat the process again.  Continue in this way until all the centre gaps between the two rows of loops have been filled. 

Finally wind the wire tightly around the ring base close to an end loop before trimming.  To give a neat finish and ensure that the wearer does not get poked by the wire ends I usually trim the wire on the top so it will not come into contact with the wearer’s finger.  The last part of the process is to squeeze the end with chain nose pliers so that it is as flush as possible to the ring band.

This pattern can be easily varied to create many possibilities and can be easily completed in an evening.

Copyright 2007 http://www.allaboutjewellerymaking.info   Not to be reproduced on any other website, in printed format or on a portable media device. May be printed for personal use but must not be used for commercial purposes.

Here is my latest creation.  It was not very easy to photograph but I have picked out the best picture.  A while ago I bought one of those ring bases with the little loops for attaching charms and it had sat in my beading drawer because I had not felt inspired to create anything with it.  I was wanting some simple beadwork to do in front of the television and so took the ring downstairs with my pots of seed beads and fine wire.  I just began threading and twisting and this is what I came up with.  I am quite pleased with the finished result and how it looks on my hand.  I am planning to write a tutorial for this ring in the next few days which I will add to this post when it is done.

Edited to add tutorial link:  Seed bead embellished ring tutorial