I love wearing rings. I always have at least four on my fingers. It’s my go-to jewelry.
So why wouldn’t I be absolutely down to make my own?
A few weeks ago, I saw that The Macoupin Art Collective in Staunton was hosting a ring-making class for beginners. I didn’t know what this entailed but I knew I was curious. I texted my mom, got her to agree, and signed us both up.
The day of, we rolled into Staunton with high expectations but, simultaneously, no idea what to expect. We just knew we were down for some fun.
The Macoupin Art Collective, it turns out, is awesome. The building is colorful and filled to the brim with art supplies. There was a huge wooden table in the middle of the floor, splattered with paint, where tools were spread out, including hammers and a metal pad and tweezers and pliers and other vague things that I didn’t know how to use.
I exchanged a look with my mom, both of us suddenly intimidated but still very much down for whatever happened.
Our classmates filed in one by one, and we all got to chatting as class began. Everyone was so cool and eager to be there. We joked that we weren’t quite prepared for what our teacher had in store as she showed us how to use a blowtorch to solder the rings in a circle shape. I felt certain I would walk away with burns and at least one hammered digit before this was all said and done.
But I needn’t have worried. It was truly a class for beginners, as advertised, and the teacher was patient and talked us through each step. None of us knew what we were doing, but we knew we were having fun as the sound of hammers filled the air and we hammered out strips of metal into textured, longer wires.
Using the blowtorch, we heated up the rings and then dropped them into “the pickle,” a tiny crockpot of chemicals that did — something. I don’t know. I’m not a chemistry major. I tried to keep up with the teacher’s explanation, but in the end, I simply followed directions and tried my best not to splash chemicals everywhere.
And then it was time for the fun part: the soldering. This may come as a surprise (not) but I’ve never soldered anything before. I didn’t quite know what I was doing as I tried to light the blowtorch and failed. The teacher helped me click the flame into place, then oversaw as I heated up the metal and the solder bubbled.
“That’s perfect,” she said, and I was immediately convinced I could do this as a backup career path.
Back into the pickle the rings went. And, all of a sudden, they really did look like rings. We had curled the metal into a circle and hammered out all the kinks.
Looking at my finished products, I didn’t think they were particularly pretty, but they were mine. I was proud, even if I probably wouldn’t buy them in a store. My rings are a little lopsided, a little imperfect, but they’re the ones I made, and I’m very pleased with them.
Of course, the real win here was hanging out with my mother and trying something different in our community. I had heard of The Macoupin Art Collective but had never gone before. Now, I can recommend it wholeheartedly. I had a blast and enjoyed meeting everyone in the class and really loved spending time with my mom. And now I have the perfect souvenir, which I’ll be wearing all the time.
Plus, of course, my backup career path as a…welder? Solder-er? Jewelry craftswoman? Whatever you want to call it, I’m practically an expert.
