Check Out What I Did This Weekend…This DIY Ring Keeper From Clay!

Once again welcome to my latest art project adventure – this diy clay ring keeper that you can make yourself, that only needs a few materials! Are your cute fashion rings all over the place and you need some way to get ’em together -and in a most creative way?

A few years ago I made a diy ring display piece in the shape of a human hand (after seeing one too many of those plastic jewelry store versions) from Sculpey and gave it to my brother in law’s girlfriend for Christmas, she liked it and probably wasn’t expecting something like this.

I was visiting not too long ago and it’s sitting on their mantelpiece, no rings on it but I’m glad it’s getting displayed nicely 😉

Pin for Later?

So I was wanting to make another one, this time for myself, because, well, I’ve been keeping my fashion ring collection stored in an ice cube tray (that’s a neat hack btw) in a drawer but I just wanted something more, to show them off, and make them easier to get to when I need to find just the right ring(s) for the right occasion.

DIY Ring Keeper Materials

Here she is, she took about 3 days tops, and here are the materials I used below.

1 lb white Original Sculpey polymer clay compound

Plaid Folk Art Metallic acrylic paint

Small square and round paintbrushes

Assorted modeling tools

Krylon Clear Polyurethane Sealant

To do this DIY ring keeper all you need is some oven bake polymer craft clay (Sculpey is my favorite brand), acrylic paint, and a good idea of what kind of figure you’d like to sculpt. You can use any brand you like, but depending on how small or large you want your holder to be I’d get it in a larger size than the 2 oz blocks.

Also nice, but not necessary would be some sculpting tools to help with finer detail and smoothing the clay down as you work.

What Shape Do You Want to Make?

Yes you too can make your own ring holder following my guidelines above and using the same ingredients. The next thing to do is to decide on a design..one that will be appealing to you, and will have some appendage that will easily accommodate a ring collection.

I think the hand is a great design and my favorite; as it lets me spread my collection out more .

Don’t like the hand idea? No worries – here’s some suggestions for cute ring-accommodating objects (these are what I’ve seen on Pinterest, anyway, and seem to be popular):

• Saguerro cactus – Multiple “branches” (is that the right word?) could easily hold multiple ring sets.
• Two bunny rabbits – Give them longish pointy ears to loop your rings on-that would be adorable!
• Elephant – You could fashion his trunk and two tusks to hold all your rings together
• Eiffel Tower – Anything with the Eiffel Tower in anything is sure to be a great conversation piece.
• Kitty cat – You could loop your rings on his tail. Or make 2 kitty cats and have 2 tails for your ring stacks, better yet.

So let’s get going! If you need a picture to go by to help you work out your design, you may be able to locate a free download from one of those royalty-free image sites (places like Pixabay have lots of simple vector illustrations you can use as well as photos.)

Work your clay into your desired object. Remember the shape doesn’t have to be perfect. I never ever use a mold for any of my creations –  sometimes it’s the minor imperfections that make something one of a kind:)

I used the original Sculpey as the first two I used the Ultra Light and even though I love that one too I felt like it was a little too soft and I wanted this diy ring holder display to be strong enough that it couldn’t get tipped over easily.

It looks like it was mission accomplished as it weighs 13.6 oz and is sturdier than my first two versions  I used the most obvious thing to help me get the proportions correct, glancing at my own hand as I was working 🙂

You could also create a round base for the object of choice to rest on and this can give some extra space to drop additional rings too!

Bake your soft sculpture as per directions which should be 275 degrees F for about 20 minutes. Let it cool; it will be hot to the touch for awhile and you may want to put off painting or glazing your finished piece for a few hours (I ALWAYS leave my clay projects in the oven overnight after I turn off the oven).

Painting Your Ring Holder

Paint it as desired in whatever colors you desire most…After baking it in the oven per usual my routine I started the painting – I gave it 2 coats of Folk Art paint, Normally I like to use a more high-grade type of paint for my Sculpey work, but I couldn’t resist the lure of these pretty metallics….*big grin* …in the color named “Peridot” which I chose because I love any shade of green that’s in the springy tone family. (Isn’t that August’s birthstone too btw??)

Varnish when thoroughly dry; you want to preserve it well so it can stand up to prolonged use. You can also apply sealant instead.The first time I made this thing I felt like Mod Podge left it with a sticky feeling so I just use the spray on sealant.

5. Let it “cure up” for a few days before you use your cute new diy ring display piece!

Summary

I’ve been binge-crafting lately and sometimes I want to go back and do repros of things I have made before that I either gave away as gifts or otherwise, enjoyed.

It probably took me about half an hour to make the hand out of the soft clay product. Well I did have some practice beforehand! It is doing what it was designed to do, keep my rings in one place.

I have all kinds of rings and I liked the hand design best because I don’t want them all bunched up together which might be the case with the kitty cat tail or Eiffel Tower (Nothing wrong with those two ideas if you prefer them, but if you’ve got lots of fashion rings, you can’t beat five fingers for keeping them evenly distributed!)

Happy crafting!!!