Make your own silver ring – How to carve your ring out of wax

Can you really make a silver ring yourself – is it even possible without formal training as a goldsmith? That’s exactly what I’ve been wondering for ages. I thought you’d have to attend a course at an adult education centre for weeks on end, or that you’d stand no chance without professional help.

To be honest, carving a piece of jewellery out of wax isn’t exactly child’s play, but if you remain flexible in your expectations, trust the process and are prepared to discover the beauty in it as you work away, you’ll be rewarded in the end.

Six months ago, I was sitting next to my school friend Anna in the Café am Wiener Platz in Munich and noticed an unusual gold ring with a carved face on her finger. I asked her where she’d got the ring from, and she said she’d carved it out of wax whilst on holiday in Mallorca; it was then cast in silver there, gold-plated and sent to her in Munich.

After a lot of research – and a chance encounter during a jewellery class with Niko, a founder in the industry – it became clear: with the right materials, a good partner for the casting and a bit of patience, you can make your own silver ring. And you don’t need to be a professional to do it, nor do you necessarily need to know how to forge your own rings.

Materials for making your own silver ring

To Silberring herstellen sounds simple at first – but without the right tools, it quickly becomes frustrating. I speak from experience: when I first started carving rings, I had to gather everything together step by step.

I now have around 80 per cent of the materials – so it’s time to share my knowledge with you. Here you’ll find a clear list of everything you really need to make your own silver jewelry, plus a few tools that make the work even easier.

Making your own silver ring – essential materials:

• Wax tube in ring shape
• Saw, to cut off a section of the tube
• ‘Reamer’ or scraper with a sharp edge and marked ring sizes, to scrape the inside of the wax tube until it matches your ring size.
• Double-sided wax file
• Small ruler

Making your own silver ring – Nice-to-have materials:

• Porcelain marker pen for sketching on the wax
• Compass to mark the distances on the wax so that the ring is symmetrical
• Scalpel with a round handle to use the blade to carve or scrape faces or patterns into the wax
• Soldering iron to melt scraped-off wax and apply it to the ring, e.g. as a drop or a bead
• Electric grinding tool such as a Dremel or a manicure tool

Make your own silver ring – step-by-step guide

Step 1: Measure and cut the wax tube

Before you pick up the saw, first think about what shape you want your ring to be. Depending on how you want your finished ring to look, you’ll need to choose the right wax tube and cut it to size. There are various options: tubes of uniform thickness for classic shapes, asymmetrical tubes with one thicker side – ideal for creative designs – or the characteristic D-shaped blanks, which are perfect for carving signet rings when you decide to make your own rings / DIY ring.

Our tip for cutting the ring:

We first tried using a classic jewellery saw and a fine wax saw blade – but the blade kept tearing. It worked much better with a small fine-toothed saw, similar to a mini handsaw. When sawing, slowly rotate the ring blank around its own axis so that you work evenly from all sides. This keeps the width consistent – and gives you more control over the shape.

Step 2: Adjusting the ring size

Now measure your ring size and file the inside of the ring until it fits. The ring should fit very snugly, as some material will be removed during finishing.

Step 3: Create the ring design

Now it’s time to use the file. Using the double-sided file, work evenly on the outer sides of the ring – only the top remains untouched for now. That’s where your design will go later: perhaps a coat of arms, a face or a special pattern? Make sure the ring isn’t wider than 3 millimetres at the bottom and sides – but also not thinner than 1 millimetre, otherwise it can easily break. If you want to remove scratches, always file in the direction of the scratches. Filing across them will only make it worse and deepen the grooves unnecessarily.

My silver ring design in wax

I’ve opted for a faceted ring – inspired by some great ideas on Pinterest. The beauty of it is that it looks impressive but is surprisingly easy to make. That’s exactly why this will be the first design we’ll create together in my wax carving jewellery course.

Faceted silver ring – Here’s how:

• Place the flat side of the file on the ring’s surface at any angle and file back and forth about ten times until a clear edge forms.
• Then place the file directly on this edge again, choose a new angle – and repeat the process.
• Work your way all the way round the ring in this way, creating around 20 small facets with distinct edges.

You can create this pattern just on the top of the ring – where it will be visible later – or, like me, all the way round, including the underside.

Once you’ve had some practice (or simply pluck up the courage), you can also carve reliefs or small faces. There are no limits to your creativity. But: don’t be disappointed if the more difficult design doesn’t turn out perfectly the first time – that’s exactly what the ‘Make Your Own Silver Ring’ course is for.

Making your own silver ring – what you should bear in mind

One of the most common mistakes is making the ring too wide, so that after casting it is incredibly heavy and you don’t really want to wear it, or you can barely close your fingers because the ring is too wide.

Make a silver ring on the Link&Bikini class

On our Ring-Herstellungs-Workshop in Munich, we go through all the steps mentioned above together until the wax model for your custom-designed Silberring DIY is fully carved and polished. Once you are happy with your ring, I will send your blank to our partners, who will take care of the casting and finishing of the ring. There, the rings are cast using the lost-wax casting process in 940 Argentium silver, which has an even higher silver content (94%) than sterling silver, is hypoallergenic, tarnishes less and is less prone to scratches.

The simpler the ring, the easier it is to make the wax mould. This technique is therefore also suitable for making wedding rings without traditional ring forging / smithing. If you are not satisfied, you will be refunded €60.00 of the course fee, but you will not receive a silver ring; instead, you will only have the wax model of your ring.

You can find all current dates here: Silver Ring Workshop in Munich.

I’d be delighted if you joined this or another jewellery class at Link&Bikini.

You can collect the ring from the Link&Bikini studio around three weeks after the course, or we can post it to your home if you’re not from Munich.