Friday, April 16, 2010

Cocktail Rings

Here's something you can make that is easy and yet, extra-awesome.  The Frugal Hostess has been meaning to make these for quite some time, but only recently have the correct craft supplies and available time converged to make it happen.  Ladies and Gentlemen, please behold:

That's right.  What do you mean what the hell is a cocktail ring?  Well, seriously, who knows.  It's an over-sized ring worn on the right hand; that much is clear.  These giant, dramatic rings first became popular in the 1940s and are also known as dinner rings.  While Wikipedia says that that they are typically made of precious or semi-precious stones, we are all very aware of the likelihood that an emerald turned up in The Frugal Hostess's craft supplies: 0%.


 Instead, FruHo made her cocktail rings out of buttons.  On her one and only visit to the World's Longest Yardsale (overpriced and therefore not the place for deals, but still very cool and worth seeing once), TFH picked up an old-school Mason jar filled with buttons.  She's sorted through them a number of times, pouring them out onto a tray and picking out the best for various projects.  If you don't have a jar filled with buttons, you should get one.  Fo' rizzle.



Ingredients
Rings blanks (available at craft stores)
Buttons
Some kind of wire cutters and/or pliers
Hot glue gun
Jewelry wire (optional)

Directions
1.  Choose large or glamorous, sparkly buttons from your stash.
2.  Cut or pull off the hook from the back so the button will lie flat.
3.  Put some glue on the ring blank, press down the button, and then put more glue where the ring and the button meet up.  Please note: TFH used hot glue sticks from the 1990s, and they didn't work all that well.  There used to be six rings, but the sixth cam unglued after an hour or so of wear.  (Not sure if this is the result of old glue or hot glue itself, so please weigh in if you have a better adhesive solution.)
4.  Let it dry.  When you wear the ring, do your very best not to pick at the glue, or it will fall apart.
5.  [Optional step]  Depending on the style of button you are using, you may want to use some wire to pull them together and/or secure them to the ring blank.  The ring pictured above with three gold spheres is wired together and then glued.

Wear your ring as often as possible, particularly while sipping a cocktail.
The Frugal Hostess is well-accessorized and watching a special about The Satanic Verses.  Please comment. You can also join the Frugalistas on Facebook for exclusive content, follow on Twitter @frugalhostess, or subscribe so that you always know when a new post appears.



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1 comment:

  1. Are you wearing a special cocktail ring to the concert? Are you drinking a special cocktail?

    ReplyDelete

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