I’m always looking for ways to corral my collection of rings, which seems to scatter throughout my apartment as I take each one off to do dishes, slather on some of my favorite hand creme or stagger to bed at the end of a long day.
My dresser is strewn with a fair number of ring holders, but as I remain a weak-willed human when it comes to jewelry of all shapes and sizes, my collection is fast outgrowing its housing. Rather than picking up a few more ceramic egg crates to solve my problem, I decided to save time and money by whipping up a few of these charming marbled ring cones.
I love how little space they take up atop my dresser, and I appreciate that I can easily see each ring stacked up, rather than having them all thrown together like a golden grab bag. Not including baking time, these little beauties only took about 30 minutes to make, and I used less than $5 worth of clay. All the more money to put towards one of these fantastic creations.
For this project, you’ll need the following:
• Sculpey clay (I used white and silver)
• Acrylic paint
1. To marble enough clay for one ring cone, pinch off about a third of a block of white clay and about an eighth of a block of silver clay. Roll the white clay into a thick snake about five inches long. Roll the silver clay into a thin snake the same length.
2. Twist the white and silver snakes of clay around each other like a candy cane, then roll the twist between your hands until the clay once again forms a snake.
3. Repeat the process of twisting and rolling your snake of clay about three times, or until you achieve the marbled pattern you’re looking for. Then, roll the clay into a ball.
4. Lightly roll the ball of clay between your hand and the table, pressing down slightly until you have a short cylinder. Starting at the right end of the cylinder, apply light pressure and roll the clay back and forth as you move your hand to the left. Keep repeating this process as you slowly form a cone shape.
5. Once you’ve achieved the thickness and heigh you want (I used a ring to test the size as I was rolling the clay), stand the cone up and gently press the bottom into the table so you create a firm, flat base.
6. Bake cone according to the instructions on the package (my cones had a base diameter of about one inch, and I cooked them for about 40 minutes) and let cool.
7. Once your cone has cooled, add paint! I opted for a simple band of gold along the bottom of one, and I enhanced the marble detailing with gold paint on the other.
This is such a satisfying project because the finished product is achievable in such a short amount of time. I love creative instant gratification. And rings.
Let me know if you make some ring cones of your own!
