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Bobbi Maw ~ MyWiredImagination

Tutorial: Knot a Ring

My-Wired-Imagination.com MyWiredImagination-Etsy
Do not distribute, lend or copy. Do not mass produce.
Always give credit to the designer.

© 2019Bobbi Maw.

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Knot a Ring tutorial teaches you step by step, how to

form a great looking knot ring from one piece of wire
and minimal tools. The initial project in this tutorial is
rated as intermediate, but also includes more advanced
variations; 2-wire knots and ½ round wire knots.

This tutorial not only teaches you a great looking ring,

but valuable techniques on affecting ring sizes, and
working on a mandrel.

Altering the number of wraps on the mandrel, metal

used, how tightly the knot is pulled, and choosing to
oxidize or not, creates a very satisfying variety of looks
in this ring. Also try using 18g for a ladies ring and a
heavier gauge for a man’s ring, and create a beautiful his
and hers set of bands.

It is suggested that you tie at least one ring in copper or

similar inexpensive wire before moving on to Sterling or
GF, and defnitely before moving on to ½ round wire.

Materials suggested:
• 15 inches (38.1cm) 18 gauge dead soft
round wire.
• Optional: 16 gauge or heavier 1⁄2 round wire,
dead soft.
Tools needed:
• Ring Mandrel • Nylon Hammer • Nylon jaw
pliers; Round-nose Pliers • Flush Cutters •
Ruler, Permanent Marker (Sharpie) •
Optional: Stepped Ring Mandrel
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A teensy bit of math before we start… The suggested length of wire for this project (15” or 38.1cm)
creates a ring with a “3-wire” band up to about size 12. For every wrap around the mandrel, you need to
add 2 inches (5.1cm). So say for a ring with 4 wraps around the mandrel, you would begin with a 17 inch
(43.2cm) piece of wire. The same goes for ring sizes over 12, and every time you increase the gauge of
wire. Be careful how heavy in terms of gauge wire you use; the heaviest wire I’ve successfully used in all
the years I’ve made these is 14g round, and 10g half-round, and even though the rings came out great, my
hands wanted to declare mutiny. Half-hard wire is NOT recommended at all.

Basic Knot Ring

Step 1: Start by marking the center of your wire, and placing it on the mandrel one size larger than the
desired fnished ring size. I prefer to form the initial steps of the knot on a stepped mandrel, but it’s not
mandatory.
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Step 2: Wrap the wire around the mandrel 3 times, keeping the ends even. Do NOT let the wires cross at
all. Think of it as starting a large coil.

This is what your ring should look like at this point, with each of the free ends facing in opposite
directions.

Step 3: Pull the wires snug, and hold the wires tightly against the mandrel as shown. Angle the top wire
down along one side of your thumb over the wires.
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Step 4: Still holding the wires tight against the mandrel with your thumb bring the bottom wire up along
the side of your thumb, again crossing over all the wires. See the diagrams for detail, pretending the pink
spots are thumbs. 

Step 5: Move your thumb – this is how your ring should look.
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Step 6: Hold the wires tight against the mandrel, and with your fngers of your free hand, form each of
the wires in an arc/loop with the ends facing back towards the ring. It should look like a large fgure 8.

If you have been working on a stepped mandrel like I have up to this point, gently slide your work off the
stepped mandrel, and onto a graduated one. This is what we will be working on from now on. Slide your
work onto the mandrel again, one size larger than the desired fnished size.

Step 7: Working on the top half of the knot – see how pushing the top loop opens a gap? That’s what we
want.
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Step 8: Feed the free end of the top loop under the frst 3 wires and over itself. If you had more wraps
around the mandrel, then you would go under ALL the wires, then over itself.

You may need to slide the whole ring up to get the wires where they need to go. Try not to disturb the
wires too much as you feed the wire through the gap.

Step 9: As you push on the bottom loop, you’ll notice it opens a similar gap as in Step 8. Feed the free end
of the bottom loop under 3 wires and over itself.
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Step 10: You’ll see as I begin to slowly tighten the knot, how the free ends go over itself and then the
opposing loop. I hate to say “under 3, over 2”, since if you wrapped more than 3 times around the
mandrel that would mess you up. So just remember – under all the wires, up through the gap, and over
itself and the opposing loop.

Step 11A: Work the wires slowly to keep the knot even. Work each half of the knot by pulling the wires
out to the side. I’m right-handed, so I pulled the free end of the knot to my right.
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Step 11b: I slipped the ring off the mandrel and turned around, and again pulled the wire to my right.
Pulling down towards yourself is more comfortable than trying to reach across and pull the wire up and
away from yourself, plus you have more control, and form a more uniform, even knot.

Don’t be in a hurry and yank the wires too hard – trust me your knot will come out all wonky – yuck…..

Step 12: Tighten the knot by pulling the free ends a little at a time; alternating from one side to the other
until the knot is snug.
You’ll want to also keep working the knot at one size larger. It will shrink down as we go – honest. 
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Step 13: This is a detail shot using another ring in heavier wire, so you could see more easily how the loops start to
lift as you pull. Use your nylon hammer (mallet) to GENTLY tap the loops down. Tap lighter rather than harder;
you will be surprised how little force it actually takes.

Yes, pounding with the mallet on wire soothes frustration, but try not to get too carried away – it will over-work
the wire, and give you grief and an ugly ring later.

Step 14: After the loops have been tapped down, curve the free end of the right wire back towards the
left. You want it to curve nicely, and follow along the outside curve of the loop it is exiting.
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Step 15: Do the same with the left wire. Make sure the wires curve on the outside of the loops, and don’t
let them slip to the inside of the loops. Your ring should look like this. ⇧

Step 16: Gently slide the ring off the mandrel, and hold it between your fngers as shown.

Start with the wire on the right side – You’re going to feed the free end under the whole knot through the
ring exiting to the left.
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Step 17: You want the wire to cross under the knot diagonally from the “V” of the 2 loops to the top of the
top loop.

Step 18: Slide the ring back on the mandrel, and gently tap the whole knot.
As you tap you may notice that the wire wants to move out of position. I put a gentle tension on the wire
to keep it place while I tap the knot. Just be careful not to pull to hard – you want the wire to remain in
place on a diagonal, not straight out to the side.

Again, you don’t have to beat the knot to death, it’s soft wire, it will easily do as it’s told. 
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Step 19: Slide the ring back off the mandrel, turn it around and feed the other free end of the wire
through as in Steps 17 and 18.

It may help you to place your index fnger in the ring as you feed this wire through. This helps support
the wire so it goes where you want it to go and everything stays in place.

Step 20: Yep you guessed it – put the ring back on the ring mandrel. You can tighten up the last bends
you made by gently pulling on the wire and tapping it with your mallet at the same time. You’ll notice
your ring is now only ½ size larger than what you want to end up with. See I told you it would shrink. 
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Hammer Sizing Hammer Shaping

Step 21: If you shrunk too much, you can gently tap it down on the mandrel towards the larger sizes, but
try not to get too carried away. The more you hammer it, the larger it will get, and the next thing you
know it‘s too big.

Step 22: Bend each of the free ends over the band as shown.
Here’s where your ring is really going to start to shrink. It’s also how you can adjust the size, if you got carried
away at an earlier point and it’s way too big.

Each time you wrap around the band it adds mass – takes up space under the knot, making the ring smaller. The
more wraps, the smaller the ring gets. If you then hammer it more, it compresses the space under the knot, making
the ring bigger. For this reason this is one of the easiest rings to size up or down. Cool huh? 
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Step 23: Wrap around the band on both sides at least one full wrap, though you can wrap more if you
like. I alternate sides, and check the size on the mandrel after each wrap. I also tap each wrap with the
mallet to tighten them up a bit – just a little though, you don’t want to stretch the ring too big. Remember
to check your size often.
Hold the band wires together with your fngers to keep them from splaying as you wrap. If you are more
comfortable with taping the band while you work this, then do that. I don’t – it really doesn’t help enough
to compensate for the sticky mess you’ll have to deal with later.

Step 24: If you are having trouble wrapping without the wires rolling on you, use your nylon pliers to
hold the band wires as you wrap. Taping here is pointless; it won’t stop the wires from rolling.
Don’t forget to keep checking your ring size between wraps.
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Step 25: Measure 10mm from the outside band wire towards the free end of the wire on both sides. Cut
both wires to this length.

Step 26: Use your round nose pliers to curl the wire back towards the band. You want to apply slight
pressure down against the band and towards the knot to get the curl to lay fat against the band. You may
put it back on the ring mandrel one more time to give the curl a gentle tap if it’s still poking up a bit.
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Here’s your fnished ring.  I oxidized it using Silver Black, and then polished it to a high shine. You
could also use LOS or the boiled egg method to oxidize your ring, though I don’t use the latter 2 methods.

This ring started with the wire wrapped 4 times around the mandrel and the band wrapped twice. It has
been oxidized and polished to show the detail better.
I throw all my knot rings in a vibrating tumbler for a couple hours to further polish and harden them. If
you don’t have a tumbler, you can wrap the band a few more times to get extra stability if you wish. Even
without a tumbler, these rings are pretty work-hardened by the time you’re done.

Feel like trying a couple of more advanced variations?

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Advanced Variation – Two Wire Knots

Step 1: After you have a few single wire knots to your credit, and you feel like a bit more of a challenge why ‘knot’
try 2 wires. (I just couldn’t resist – you knew I had to say that sometime – it was killing me).
I chose 1 GF, 1 Fine Silver, both 18 gauge dead soft, but you could mix the metals of your choice, just remember to
use dead soft. For this ring I just wrapped the wires around the mandrel twice instead of 3 times.

Step 2: Part of the challenge in this version is working the 2 wires as if they were one. Problem is, that
even with both being listed at dead soft, the 2 metals act and bend slightly different. It isn’t until you try
to work them together that you really notice and appreciate that.
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Step 3: Aside from working 2 wires together, and some other minor differences we’ll get to in a bit, this
knot is formed exactly as the basic version. (Basic Knot Step 6)

Step 4: You need to work slowly and patiently to keep the wires in line. You’ll notice here I’ve already
started to cross wires in the bottom loop. If this starts to happen to you, STOP! Back the wires out a bit,
and pull them separately until they line up alongside each other instead of crossing. If you don't correct
this as soon as it begins to happen, and you pull the knot tight, you will have permanently distorted the
wire with ugly dents and tool marks. (Basic Knot Steps 9 through 11b)
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Step 5: There – the wires are back in line, and playing nice again.

One of the reasons I only wrapped around the mandrel twice, is the 2 wires are already going to form a
larger knot than the basic knot – I didn’t want a HUGE one, though this is one way to get a meatier knot
for a man’s ring, without going to a larger gauge wire. (Basic Knot Step 12)

Step 6: Continue forming the knot. You will need your nylon mallet a little more in this version, but don’t
get too carried away. (Basic Knot Steps 14 & 15)
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Step 7: Work your wires slowly to keep control of them. You will also notice that the gold flled wire is
work-hardening faster than the fne silver.
Some metals, though they are inexpensive and look great together have even stronger differences; copper
and bronze for example. They look great together, but they will offer an even higher challenge as the
bronze wire with work-harden 3 times faster than the copper. Just something to consider when reaching
for that mallet.  (Basic Knot Steps 16 through 20)

Step 8: This part can be a little tricky. Wrap both wires around the band on both sides once. As you wrap
the wires around the band a second time, you’ll leave one behind and continue wrapping around the
band with only one of the wires. Looking at the knot, you’ll see on this side of the ring silver is the frst
wire, gold is the second – you’ll cut the gold wire on the underside of the ring, and continue wrapping
with the silver.
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Step 9: Look on the underside of the knot/band, and carefully trim just the gold wire, which from this
view is the one in the middle. Trim it neatly and fle it if necessary so you don’t have any pokies, which
could scratch the wearer.

Step 10: That tricky business over with, you continue to fnish your ring, the same as the Basic Knot ring.
(Basic Knot Steps 25 & 26)
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Step 11: A fun little element – The loop on one side of the ring will be gold, and the loop on the other side
will be silver.

Congratulations! Another great looking ring! I did try to oxidize the silver on this ring, for more detail,
but… One downside to Silver Black is it oxidizes GF as well as the Silver. I will have to switch to LOS for
this one, to get the dramatic effect I was after, since LOS won’t turn GF, only the Silver.
Tired yet? No? How about one more? 
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Advanced Variation – Half-Round Wire Knots

This variation is challenging, but the results are quite satisfying. This knot is tied the same as the Basic
Knot. The challenge is in how you handle the wire, to keep the orientation of the wire correct. You’ll use
your nylon pliers heavily in this variation. Also, work the knot only ½ size larger than the desired
fnished size.
Step 1: When wrapping the wire around the mandrel, pay close attention to keeping the fat side of the
wire against the mandrel, and the domed side “up”.

Step 2: Use the nylon pliers to turn the wire, so the dome of the half-round stays facing up. If you try to
bend the wire with just your fngers, it will curve in a loop, but the edge will be vertical instead of
horizontal.
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Make sure the wire is in the correct orientation before you pull the knot tight. Once it is tight, there is
really no way to correct the mistake without an enormous amount of tool marks that are very diffcult to
remove.

Step 3: Because of the fat side of half round wire, and therefore less volume under the knot, you can
work closer to your desired fnished ring size. Hold the wires tightly against the mandrel as you work, as
the half round wire slides more when you work than round wire does. (Basic Knot Step 9)
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Step 4: This knot is harder to pull tight than its round wire cousin. Don’t break your fngers, utilize your
nylon pliers! (Basic Knot Steps 10 through 12)

Step 5: These bends in the knot (see Basic Knot Steps 14 & 15) are particularly tricky to do in half round
wire, even with nylon pliers. Lay the mandrel down, and while holding the wire you are curving,
GENTLY tap the curve with your nylon mallet.
I can’t emphasize enough to work slowly through these steps. Half round wire is particularly
unforgiving if you try to rush it.
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Step 6: Follow the Basic Knot Steps 16 through 21 using your nylon pliers as much as you need to, to get
the wires crossed neatly under the knot. Don’t just ‘fold’ them under, the dome of the half round still
needs to be facing up. Your patience will net you a ring that looks like this at this point.

Step 7: Slide the ring tightly onto the mandrel. Don’t hammer it just yet; we just need it tight to
accomplish the next bend. Grasp the wire with your nylon pliers close to the base of the knot, and forcibly
turn the wire, keeping the dome side facing up. Bend both curves before sliding the ring off the mandrel.
(Basic Knot Step 22)
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Step 8: If your wire is in the right orientation, this is the easiest part of this variation. Simply wrap the
wire around the band, checking the size between wraps. Don’t forget your nylon pliers to keep the band
wires from rolling or slanting out of shape.

Step 9: When you are satisfed with the wraps, trim the wire neatly on the underside of the band. You will
need to fle the end, so that it does not scratch the wearer.
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Congratulations‼ Another beautiful ring! While the half round wire knot is one of the more challenging
versions of this design, it is the most satisfying, and one of my designs that is most requested by men.

For a man’s ring, simply increase the gauge of the half round wire to 12g or 14g. I have done 2 in 10g
wire; one a size 13 and one a size 17 (yes I had to get a special mandrel for that), but they were quite
diffcult, and not something I would recommend unless you become very accomplished in this design.

I’m sure by now you’ve seen this version of my Knot ring. For this, I wrapped a 15mm section of 16g half
round Sterling Silver wire with 20g GF half round wire before forming the knot. Start the wrapping 1 inch
(2.5cm) off the center mark. Make your wraps fairly tight and snug against each other, so that when you
hammer on the knot the wraps don’t splay out and create ugly gaps. Other than that it is formed the same
as a plain half round wire knot.
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This ring was and is the most diffcult to accomplish neatly, but currently one of my favorites. It was
formed in 16g dead soft SQUARE GF wire, not something I recommend for the faint-hearted. The
challenge? Keeping the wire “perfectly squared”. It argued constantly while I worked, but I won.  The
best advice I can tell you if you want to try this one on your own, is PATIENCE.
I hope you’ve enjoyed this tutorial.
For any comments or questions, or you need any help at all, don’t hesitate to contact me at
bobbiwired@gmail.com
The yucky, but necessary legal stuff:
Copyright 2010 Bobbi Maw/MyWiredImagination. All
rights reserved, including but not limited to designs,
design tutorials, derivatives, text, and/or photos. These
instructions are for personal use only. (Personal use
defined as; for YOUR education). You MAY make
pieces for sale, but please do not MASS produce them;
that includes sharing the tutorial so others can help you
make them for sale; you may not present these pieces as
your own original design – this includes derivatives
(derivatives - plural of de·riv·a·tive (Noun) Something
that is based on another source.) which ARE covered by
original design. Please give credit where you learned
Certifed Copyright Registration Number : these techniques and designs. Reproduction and or
TX 7-264-562 distribution of these instructions in whole or in part, in
any form, without the author's written consent, is strictly
prohibited. You MAY NOT teach this tutorial without
the author's written consent.
Wrap happy,
Bobbi
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