A purist at heart

There were several products at the metal clay conference (besides the bronze clay) that created quite a stir.  Both, were ring making products.  

One is marketed by www.metalclayfindings.com and is a ready made silver band just waiting to be decorated with your own metal clay designs.  This method eliminates the need to make the ring bigger to allow for shrinkage.  

The other product is the Japanese ringmakers.  These allow you to make your own ring bands in a pre-made mold.  The molds come in varying widths and styles; again allowing you to add your own metal clay designs.  Some of the rings made from this method were on display and were simply beautiful.  The Japanese ringmakers do not allow for shrinkage, so it is necessary to buy a mold bigger than what you need.  It is also confusing to try to figure out what size is needed as the sizes are not compatible with American ring sizing.  www.pmcconnection.com is the carrier for the Japanese ringmakers, although I hear they are not listed on the site. 

 But for me, I guess I'm a purist. I love making rings and I love making them on my own from scratch.   (Not to mention the extra added cost of such gadgets.)  The closest I get to using an aid is a ring pellet that fits inside the ring when fired, to keep it from shrinking more than is wanted.   Sometimes it is frustrating for sure, but somehow it seems like cheating to use those readymades.