Can You Make A Wedding Ring Bigger

Ring Sizing And Resizing

There are many reasons why you may want to have a ring resized. Engagement rings and rings received as gifts or passed down as heirlooms usually need to be resized to fit correctly. Maybe you’ve gained or lost weight or would just like to wear your ring on a different finger. Ring resizing is a standard service offered by most jewelers, who have several different ways that they can help make your ring fit perfectly. It’s important to have your rings resized by a professional jeweler who has the time and skills necessary to do excellent work on your precious ring.

The Ring Resizing Process

To understand how this works, youll need to know how jewelers size rings. The traditional method is to cut into the ring at the back, where it wont affect the design, and add or remove metal until the ring is the correct size. Then the jeweler solders the cut shut, and polishes it to remove any signs of work.

A jeweler cutting into the back of a ring.

There are two other methods used for sizing in addition to cutting. One is stretching, which can only be used with plain bands to go up or down a half or full size. The jeweler puts the ring in a specially-designed machine and cranks it to pull out or compress the ring.

The second method is an alternative process that is only used for sizing down. It involves soldering beads or a strip of metal to the interior of the ring in order to fill in the space between the ring and the wearers finger. This method is typically used for rings that cannot be sized down via the traditional method.

These stainless steel eternity bands have sizing balls on the interior.

Finger Size And Ring Thickness And Width

The size of your fingers and hands is another point to consider when picking out your ring.

If you have shorter fingers, a large, thick ring will only make them appear shorter. To give them the illusion of length, pick a thinner band.

If youve got long, thin fingers, you can get away with any ring width, but a very thin ring might look lost and unimpressive on your finger. Pick a medium to wider ring for the best look.

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Stretching The Ring With A Rathburn Ring Stretcher

Rathburn ring stretcher is a small and lightweight device that traveling personal jewelers carry around effortlessly. You can use it for adjusting plain bands from 7 to 10 size. It is a device that features three parts:

• Nylon base
• Slotted, hollow mandrel
• Top pin

Start the procedure by putting the nylon base to the firm and hard surface. Then, slide the mandrel into it, place the band around it, and insert the pin into the hollow parts interior.

It is crucial to fit the ring around the metal part surface precisely. Then, hammer the top pin until pushing open the slotted part. That way, it will stretch your band.

Always use a rawhide hammer to prevent any damage to your ring. Be gentle and tap lightly to avoid overstretching the band. If you do everything right, you will notice the ring stretcher bottom opens a bit with each tap.

Check the ring width from time to time on a ring mandrel or your finger until getting the desired size. In most cases, ten strikes will be enough to change the ring sizes for 1/4.

How A Ring Should Fit

Your engagement ringand your wedding band, tooshould fit snugly but comfortably. It should slide on easily, but you should have to pull a little to get it off. If your ring is uncomfortably tight, you should look into getting the ring made larger. “It should also be sized if it slips off with no resistance at all, which means it is too big,” Gandia says.

If your ring is just slightly too big, or you notice the stone moves from one side of your finger to another, jewelers can typically place a sizing assistant in the ring to keep it in place. A sizing assistant is a bar or two small beads that are added to the interior of the ring. “Sizing assistants will decrease the ring by approximately a quarter of a size, but they’re more often used to address issues like the swinging of a top-heavy and large diamond ring. The beads will anchor the ring against your finger so the diamond will stay put,” explains Gandia.

Typically, rings can be increased or decreased up to two sizes. Beyond that, it can put too much stress on the ring. If you can’t have your ring resized until a future date, your jeweler may add a ring guard to make it a little more snug. It’s a bar that clips across the bottom of your ring, but it should be used for only a short amount of time. “Over time, a ring guard can damage the band,” explains Gandia.

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Discover How You Can Make Your Ring Smaller Or Bigger Without Resizing

Just because your ring doesnt seem to fit properly doesnt always mean resizing is the best option. In some cases, the ring fits perfectly when putting it on or taking it off, but doesnt seem to sit properly on a finger. Some common examples our customers experience are:

• the ring twisting or spinning around on the finger

• having a hard time putting on or taking the ring off due to large knuckles

At first glance, it looks like resizing might be the only option, but we have many ways to help you learn how to make a ring fit better, aside from traditional ring resizing. If you need to know how to make a big ring fit, there are other effective alternatives that still tackle these problems without needing to permanently resize your ring.

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Resizing When The Ring Is Too Big

If the ring is too big, the jewellery will use a laser machine to adjust the shank . It is then given a clean a polish to ensure that any signs of the resizing process have been removed.

The process means you have a smaller, tighter shank that fits better around your finger, with no signs that the ring has been modified.

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What Is Ring Resizing

To put it simply, ring resizing is the process of widening or narrowing a rings band. When jewelers talk about sizing your ring, they usually refer to this procedure and nothing else.

A ring can be resized by as little as a millimeter or as much as several sizes. All types of rings can be resized including gold, platinum, titanium, and even stainless steel.

Ring resizing can be done by hand or through a machine. Hand resizing is more expensive, but it results in a more precise fit. Machine resize is cheaper, but the sizing will be less accurate.

If done properly and with an honest and upfront jeweler, ring resizing can be a safe and non-invasive procedure.

In order to best determine how much your ring needs resizing, your jeweler will take a number of measurements as well as ask you about its fit and comfort. Then they will decide whether you want your ring to be sized up or down.

Can My Ring Be Resized

First and foremost, determine if your engagement ring or wedding band can be resized. Softer metals like gold and sterling silver can be easily manipulated, making it almost always possible to adjust them. Platinum rings have higher melting point, making damage a greater possibility. It’s best not to resize hard metals like titanium, stainless steel, and tungsten due to the difficulty of cutting the material. What’s more, jewelers may be hesitant to work with bands containing gemstones or engravings these may become warped and damaged during the process.

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Checking The Quality Of Your Resized Ring

To resize your ring up, your jeweler will cut the ring, add a bridge and then solder its ends. To resize the ring down, the jeweler will cut a strip off from your rings shank and solder the ends together. Many complications may arise during these procedures.

• When you get your ring back, make sure you test all the stones. Use a sharp needle or a toothpick to poke at the stone. If the stones move, the job was not done right and you need to send the ring back to have your stones set more securely.
• Resizing can leave a week spot in the rings shank. Try to press the ring in the shank. If it bends or gets distorted, your jeweler has not done a good job.
• Improper resizing can lead to thin or narrow sections on the ring which do not conform to the rest of the shank.
• The ring shank should not have any visible depressions in the place where the shank was soldered. The shank should be uniform in thickness, flat and well polished. A dented line along the shank indicates a weaker ring due to the use of a cheaper or a different colored alloy than the original. Note that resizing a platinum ring is usually a complicated process and WILL leave a marked difference in its color at the place of soldering no matter what. This is due to the inherent properties of platinum.

Go Slim With Your Setting

Another way to use your setting to make your center diamond look larger is to go with a very slim, delicate setting. If you select a setting with a slim band and slim prongs, your center diamond will look larger in comparison. On the other hand, if you choose a wide band with bulky prongs, your diamond will look smaller. So if you want your center stone to look as large as possible, always select a slim, delicate setting.

As with our last tip, you can use this trick on a new engagement ring or your current one. If your current engagement ring has a wide, bulky setting that is overpowering your diamond, you can easily switch it out for a slim setting to make your center diamond look much larger.

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Sizing A Ring Down Vs Up

Making a ring smaller will almost always cost less than making it larger because there are no costs for added materials. To make a ring smaller, jewelers typically:

To make a ring size larger, jewelers can either:

The amount of extra material needed directly affects the overall price.

Ring Sizing Alternative : Fingermate

Sometimes, the ring size is perfect but is extremely difficult to put on or remove the ring due to large knuckles. If that is the case, then a Finger Mate ring might be the best solutionthat said, it is a permanent option. The jeweler replaces the band of the ring to a Finger Mate shank, which gives the ring the ability to open and close at the bottom of the band for easy insert and removal on the finger. This is a difficult process that requires a reputable and experienced jeweler , and is also a more expensive alternative because of the amount of work and labor required.

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Consider Going Lower In Color And Clarity

Unlike diamond cut, diamond color and diamond clarity dont have much of an impact on how large a diamond looks. So if size is your main priority, know that you can maximize your center stone budget by going a bit lower in diamond color and clarity. Being flexible with your color and clarity grades frees up room in your budget for a diamond that is higher in carat weight, yet still has a Very Good or Excellent cut.

Enlarging A Ring Overview

If you want to enlarge your ring, you can simply bring it to a trusted jeweler. The first thing that the jeweler will do is determine your target ring size by having you try on various ring sizes to find the one that fits you best. Once they agree to a size, enlarging a ring involves stretching the metal and cutting a band to create a bridge for additional metal to re-join the piece. Another method, which involves stretching the ring, will be done by pulling apart the ring and elongating it however, most jewelers may avoid this method as it often weakens the metal and/or could change the look of the ring. If done properly, the cut shouldnt present any significant color differences, and most of the time, it can be weaker in the area where the ring was cut.

Every jeweler will have his own policy when it comes to enlarging a ring. Some may have to ship it to a headquarters, while others can do it in-house.

Depending on the jeweler and how busy they are, the newly enlarged ring will be ready for pickup within a few days, but some, if its a simple enlarging job, it could be done the same day. Your results will vary.

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Do It Once Do It Well

Men, especially those who have never worn a ring before, will probably have a tougher time than others when they are buying jewelry.

One of the most common mistakes made by male shoppers is to buy an oversized ring. This not only increases the risk of a ring getting lost but also requires the trouble of undertaking a resizing job.

When it comes to jewelry shopping, I always advocate for doing it right the first time round. To save yourself from potential hassle, make sure you know the size of the ring to buy. If you have problems in determining the ring finger size of your recipient, you need to check out this article.

Also, I recommend buying your engagement ring from a reliable vendor like White Flash where they offer a 1 year free resizing period. In the event that you get the ring size wrong at the point of purchase, you can still get it corrected without additional costs.

Look For A Halo Or Cluster Settings

Our advice: Choose your setting strategically. Halo settings, for example, feature a center stone surrounded by a halo of smaller pavé stones. Using a halo setting, you can increase your ring’s carat size without increasing the price tag as much as you would to get a single diamond of the same total carat weight.

Cluster settings, which feature a mixture of stones grouped together, can also give you a larger overall carat weight at a less expensive price.

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