Wrapping, Soldering, and Setting a Stone 绕铜、焊接、镶石头

Today we made our very own rings, and it turned out to be a whole-day project! A ring is basically a metal setting that wraps around a shiny stone you get to pick yourself. You shape the metal, solder it, and heat it with a torch until everything holds together. We also made some world LED lights — I’m honestly not totally sure how they work, but we got them working anyway!

Here’s the step-by-step of how we made the jewelry. First, you pick a stone you like, then you wrap copper around it to get the right shape, marking your line with a Sharpie. After that, you cut it out along the line. Next comes the soldering: you join the copper together with solder, and you also have to apply flux first. Flux is really important because it cleans the metal and helps the solder flow and stick properly — without it, the solder won’t bond the way it should.

After that, you grab a big strip of copper and cut it using special scissors that slice through copper with almost no effort at all. Then you melt the big piece and the small piece together to create a bottom for the ring. From there, you can either use glue to hold the stone in place, or you can set the stone in and carefully shape the copper tightly around it so it won’t fall out. And that’s it — your ring is done!

It honestly took us the entire day from start to finish, but I was so happy at the end. There’s something really satisfying about making a piece of jewelry with your own two hands, and I can’t wait to show it off.