Adding texture to a ring band is a fantastic way to make it your own. And if you're going for a set of stacking rings, mixing up the textures can look amazing.
I always recommend it!
Let me talk you through some of the textures I offer here;
Smooth/ polished band.
A smooth polished finish is a traditional, neat look for any ring band. This is basically free of any added texture, and I just polish the silver up to a high shine using a range of sandpaper from rough, to super fine to remove any scratches and marks on the silver. After that I use a polishing compound to add that extra shine.
Hammered band
A hammered finish is my favourite look. I basically gently hammer the silver with a special hammer to give a random, textured look to the silver. I love the slightly less neat look of this finish. I go through the steps as above for the smooth finish, and then do the hammering, and this means that the finished effect is nice and shiny. As light hits the ring it bounces off at different angles which makes it seem more sparkly than a smooth ring. The other advantage of the hammered finish (and the one which appeals to me most) is that the everyday dings and scratches that inevitably occur when you wear your rings day in and day out are disguised by the purposefully added dings!
I often suggest in a ring stack having these two finishes together - so for a stack of three having the middle one as a smooth band, and the two outer ones as the hammered finish. This adds a lovely bit of extra detail to the stacking set, but also means that any dings will tend to hit the outer rings and be absorbed into the finish.
Satin/ frosted finish
Now don't get me wrong I absolutely LOVE the look of a satin finish, but I tend not to recommend it for everyday rings as the finish does fade over time. As the ring is worn the delicate satin effect is gently rubbed away. This can take weeks, months or years depending on how much you wear the item. But it is not a permanent finish.
I'm always happy to re-finish any satin effect bands I have made though if you'd like to send it back to me. There are a few ways to create the satin finish. I have a frosting wheel which I attach to my pendant motor - this honestly is like a torture instrument. I'm always careful to keep my hands away from it as much as possible as the spikey sharp still pins rotate super fast and can tear into metal (and therefore my fingers) with ease. I am also careful to wear safety glasses for this one because if one of those little pins came loose 🙈.
Bark texture
Ahhh this is a lovely one to make and to wear. Reminiscent of the markings of bark this random vertical texture is created using a special hammer. The wider the ring band the more random and bark like the texture is - for slimmer bands it can look more like a stripey texture.
Flora band
I also have what I call the Flora band, which is a swirly flower pattern across the band. It's a really lovely way to add more texture and detail in to a ring stack and I often use it as a spacer band in a stacking set.
Last but not least is the dotty band
The dotty band is made up of little silver (or gold) balls - the thinner the band the more delicate it can be in terms of bending the band leading it to snap, but as long as you don't take the ring off and twist and bend it there shouldn't be any problems with it.