Value Village spoon cache
So, I’m quasi-retired. I’ll admit it. I miss teaching. I asked the new art teacher (my amazingly positive and sweet replacement, Liz) if I could do a jewelry workshop for some of her kids. Needless to say, she snapped up the offer. So I went to “work” today, and prepped a small demo for 5 kids. And they were awesome! Keen, motivated and skilled. Here is a small step-by-step demo of making a ring from an old silver or silver-plated spoon.
Cut the bowl off
Pick a silver or silver-plated spoon that has an interesting handle design. Use a hacksaw or jeweler’s saw to cut the bowl off of the handle. Cut slowly-use light pressure. Save the bowl for another project.
Bend the handle
Rubber hammer
If one cannot bend the ring with one’s fingers, use a rubber or leather mallet. If the narrow end of the ring is rough, it should be filed very smooth.
It's now a ring
Check to make sure the ring fits the finger.
Expanded ring
If the ring is snug, the ring can be pried open a bit to make a larger size.
Polish
Polish the ring with a buffing cloth, silver polish, or a buffing wheel. It’s that easy.
In2 
April was wearing these at school!! They are ridiculously cool. I want one!! 🙂
It’s a great class project for the 4-5 kids that have finished ahead of time. Value Village always has spoons-some are hard to bend and others are easier. Some are brittle. (I don’t know how to tell ahead of time which ones will work.) Sterling will always work. Easy and cool and fun!
these are cool- used to do them years ago, in Az a lady makes bracelets out of forks and beads, wish I would have taken a picture of one but I know you can figure it out
Hello there! I know this is kinda off topic however , I’d figured I’d ask.
Would you be interested in exchanging links or maybe guest authoring a
blog post or vice-versa? My site goes over a lot of the same subjects as yours and I feel we could greatly benefit from each other.
If you happen to be interested feel free to shoot me an email.
I look forward to hearing from you! Superb blog
by the way!
Hmmm….your email didn’t seem to work.
I run into trouble when it comes to the bending part. I’m not strong enough to simply bend it around the mandrel and it just keeps spinning around it when I try to use the mallet. If I heat it up, how do I hold onto it to work with it? Is there a special type of glove that won’t burn when I hold the red hot spoon? It’s too hard to hold onto the mandrel, spoon handle, and attempt to use pliers or tongs to hold onto it and use the mallet at the same time. Maybe there is a simpler solution and I just don’t have the right tools? Help!
Hi Carrie,
Every time you hit the spoon it hardens, so if it’s bouncing around on the mandrel it needs annealing(heating up).
Next time you need to bend it as much as possible before hitting it. I usually sit on the floor to hold the mandrel or set it in a vice.
If you heat the spoon, it can be held with an old pair of pliers secured in a vice. (I have heat resistant pliers.). It is then soft enough to bend. If it is just silver plated, you need to heat it in a small kiln, or the plating will melt.
There is a tool called a ring bender that takes all those difficulties away, but it is expensive.
HTH,
s
interesting
You should try it. It works with forks, too.
what works better – spoons or forks?
Any silver handled utensil will work.
I don’t want to cut the bowl off. What would be the best way to bend it completely over on itself? Thanks, diana
Hi,
If it isn’t real silver it may get too brittle and peel or break. It will likely be best if you flatten the bowl before you try to double it up. If you want the bowl as it is, then I’d heat and bend it at the thinnest point. Does that help? It will get very tough to bend into a ring after you bend it over on itself, I think.
You may want to look up the perfect bending temperature(you may need to use a kiln) and keep reheating it, bend, reheat….etc. It’s called annealing.
Hello,
My son made the spoon ring for me using my mother’s silver-plated spoon (regular size spoon, not a serving spoon). He cut it off at the spoon end as described. Our trouble is that the spoon, in general, is too thick and feels uncomfortable on my finger. What do you suggest?
Oops….I meant that the ring is too thick and feels uncomfortable on my finger.
That’s super sweet of your son. If it were silver, he can hammer it, roll it or file it thinner, but because it’s silver plate, I’m afraid that you’re out of luck. If he files it down, the metal beneath the plating would likely irritate your skin/ be discoloured.
Sorry to disappoint you. He could try to file it and then wet sandpaper it, but I’m pretty sure the original metal won’t be that nice.