So I started clasping my rings to my handflower finger chains, which worked to keep them on my fingers. I also decided to start wearing another ring on my right ring finger, which is a gold birthstone ring (aquamarine) that I got for my 13th birthday and hadn't worn in awhile. So I attached a second clasp to my handflower for that ring.
The rings are slightly up on my fingers because they're so loose at the base of my fingers they slip around to the back. That's one of the issues I still wanted to solve although I was quite happy just to not let them slip off. Another issue is that if I get a job that's basically like any of the jobs I've had before, I won't be able or allowed to wear my handflowers to work. I'm pretty used to that although I'll appreciate it if I find a job where I can wear them, because it's good advertizement for my shop as well as my personal style. But even if I can't wear my handflowers to work I most likely can wear my rings, and would definitely want to wear at least my Claddagh. So I needed to solve that problem.
My brother's a jeweler so he could resize my rings for me, or put sizing beads on them, but I would actually like to gain a little bit of weight and if I do I'll need to size them back up or take the beads off. So I'd rather have something slightly more temporary.
So recently I found an Etsy shop that sells jewelry supplies, like displays and tools and things, and they have this ring guard stuff:
TDSONLINESTORE
I decided to order it and try it.
What you do is clean your ring band with rubbing alcohol (I also had my brother polish and clean my rings first) and then put a band of this white stuff on the inside of the band, and let it dry for about 24 hours or so. The instructions say to let it dry for 3 hours, but I read reviews of this product (not connected to the Etsy shop) that said it needed 24-48 hours to really dry.
I had a slightly rough start using this; first it came out clear and liquidy when I first opened it, and then it was white after that. I hoped that didn't mean I was supposed to shake it up before I opened it, because the instructions didn't say to. But after that it seemed fine. The second slight problem was that you're supposed to smooth the stuff out with a toothpick, which is a bit difficult because the stuff sticks to the toothpick. It seems that once you get the hang of it it's ok though.
When I put my rings on after the stuff dried I discovered that I hadn't put enough on, because my fingers are so thin the rings were still slipping around. So I put more on and let it dry. Then I found another problem, which is that the second layer was only stuck to the first layer instead of the ring itself, and because of this it started coming off after a few days, when it's supposed to last at least a few months. So I peeled/pulled/scraped the stuff off of my amethyst and birthstone rings and started over, putting more stuff on than I did the first time. I haven't redone the Claddagh yet 'cause it seems ok so far. After this second attempt my rings fit much better. Well, I may have put a little too much stuff on the birthstone ring, 'cause my knuckle tries to pull it off when I slide it on and off of my finger. So maybe that one needs a slight adjustment next time I redo it. All in all I'm pretty happy with this product and with my rings.
(sorry for the dark pics, I just took them at my brother's jewelry bench)
I've been offering an attachment of clasps to handflowers in my Etsy shop for attaching rings, and my last handflower buyer was actually interested, but her ring is larger and thicker than mine, so I needed to figure out another attachment. I used my boyfriend's class ring (which he gave me because I lost mine ♥) and figured out a chain-clasp combination:
This also worked out; the buyer is very happy.
