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Make a Halloween Button Ring

Lately I have had a couple of people ask me about wire wrapping jewelry.. Well, with Halloween just around the corner I thought it would be fun to show how to make a simple and easy ring you can wear for this fun and spooky time of year.

Supplies you need:

Halloween buttons
craft wire to match about 28 gauge
wire cutters
needle nose pliers
1/2 long socket  or 14mm  for about a 7.5  ring  ( or if you are really fancy, a ring gauge)

Pick a button with the loop on the back with a fun or scary theme. I chose a friendly little pumpkin face for this one, but there are a lot of choices out there.

 Next you need to measure out your wire. I used a 28 gauge wire because its flexible enough to easily wrap without bending it. It gets pretty sturdy by the time you are done wrapping. Measure out a length about 36" long. And using your wire cutters, snip it off.

Line up your two ends to find the middle. And place the center of your wire around your socket.

This will be your ring base, use a socket that will correspond with your ring size. A ring gauge would be the ideal tool to get a more accurate size. But I don't have one and this looked about the right size. Depending on how tight you can keep the wire will affect the final size. Some I wear on my middle finger and some my ring finger depending on how they come out.

Now take each end of your wire and wrap it tightly around the socket 2 times for each side. One goes one way the other goes the opposite direction. You should end up with 5 loops on your socket.

Now crossing over your wires, thread them through each side of your button loop. Keeping your wire tight to the socket, loop the ends back around to through again in the opposite direction. Sort of like an figure 8. Pull them tight. This should hold your button securely to your ring. Now you can remove it from your socket. I should note, watch out for ridges on your socket, if you wind your wire and it ends up in the little groove it is impossible to get it off.... not that I did that once  :)

Adjust your button to a position your happy with, ( straight, with no crooked heads) Take each wire and working in opposite directions, wrap it a few times around the shank of the button to hold it tightly.

Now its time to wrap the ring base. Take one end of your wire and wrap it tightly around your ring starting as close to the button as you can. Loop it in through the center and out, keeping your wraps straight, don't overlap them and try to keep them close together. I do about 5 on one side and then switch to the wire on the other side and do the same on the that side, making sure it stays even.

Keep on wrapping a few on each side until you reach close to the end of your wire, or you can end it earlier if you like the look. The ring will get progressively smaller them more wraps that you do, so you might want to try it on occasionally to see if you want to stop. It also get sturdier the more wraps you do. It doesn't need to cover the whole ring.

Now snip the wires off close to your ring, and tuck them tightly in to prevent them from poking out. And you are done. Ready to WOW your friends with your new fashionable Halloween ring.

Have fun and let me know if you decide to make one of your own. I would love to see your pictures.

Halloween Rings

Rod Run To The End Of The World

As summer winds itself into fall we were able to combine a last camping trip in with the Classic Car Rod Run To The End Of The World down in Longbeach WA. put on by the Beach Baron Car Club  One of our favorite places to camp, with miles of trails to hike or bike on, beaches on both the Pacific Ocean, the mouth of the Columbia River and a little lake that I have no idea what the name of it is.( Anybody know the name, jump on in :) The campground and State Park use to be called Ft. Canby but for some reason they have changed the name to Cape Disappointment State Park  It was NOT disappointing.. so ??

A few of the pictures of the campground and Ocean. We didn't have as much time as I had hoped for walking the beaches and collecting glass or driftwood for my jewelry.  We didn't even make it over to the Columbia River beach called Waikiki Beach. I was hoping to get over there as its a perfect place to jump logs and check out all the things that have gathered at the end of the mighty Columbia. Next year we are going to have to add a couple of days before or after for me to play too.

Saturday morning we made our way to the Show and Shine in Ocean Park ( 10 miles or so outside of Long beach) Good thing we staked out a spot on Friday afternoon, it was packed!!!  Between tons of spectators and the participants ( Over 700? ) it was a hopping place. Lots of fun,  live music, DJ music, vendors with tasty treats and assorted goodies to shop for.  The gave out door prizes about every hour. I was a loser :(  but the friends we drove down with won a cool set of wrenches on the very last drawing so it felt as good as winning myself.

Here are a few pictures from around the Show and Shine,  You can even see Lee doing his part to shine!
57 Chev is ours and the white Chevelle is our friends that came with us. The more the merrier plus it's a guaranteed rescue squad if something should go wrong on the way. 

After the show, there was a Cruise down to Oysterville, we skipped out on that part, but even just driving back to Long Beach felt like you were in a parade. The streets were lined with lawn chairs and fans hooting and hollering and some voting with their paper plates.  I think we got some 10's,  a few nice paints, and one nice dog for our Mya Dog that was riding shotgun in the backseat. We found a great spot to park back in town and watched as the cars cruised by.

Sunday the Beach Barons had a seafood lunch for the show participants, more prizes, and the trophy handout. Not as many turned out as it was cool and drizzily. But the lunch was good and we got out early for the long drive home.