How to Shrink Rings

Source: wikiHow

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff |20 References

In this Article:Resizing the Ring with SiliconeCutting into the RingSending Your Ring to a JewelerCommunity Q&A20 References

When a ring is too big to stay snug on your finger or the size of your finger has changed, it’s time to resize the ring.

A professional jeweler can shrink the ring without affecting its value by cutting away some of the material or adding sizers to improve the fit. If you are less concerned about the value of the ring, you could try sizing it down at home, either by cutting into the band yourself with some basic tools or by adding a silicone liner to the inside of the ring as a temporary fix.

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   1 Clean your ring with soap and water. Scrub the ring thoroughly using dish soap and warm water to wash off any oils or particles. Make sure the soap you use does not have moisturizing chemicals in it that might leave a film on the ring.^[1]
   • Let the ring air dry or dab it with a cotton towel instead of paper towels, which can damage the metal.
   • If you use an ultrasonic jewelry cleaning machine, beware that the oscillations might knock stones loose from their settings.
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   2 Apply a layer of silicone inside the ring. Use a coffee stir stick or a narrow popsicle stick to spread the silicone around the inside of your ring. The silicone should be thickest towards the bottom of the band, directly opposite from where the stone sits on top of your finger.^[2]
   • For safety purposes, make sure you are using only clear food-grade or aquarium-grade silicone on your ring.
3. 3 Smooth out the silicone with the stir stick. Taper the coating as you work up the sides of the ring so that it’s thinnest near the top. This secures your finger against the top of the ring while the silicone at the bottom fills the gap between the ring and your skin.
   • Gently wipe away extra silicone with a wet cloth as you go.
4. 4 Let the silicone dry. This process is called curing and will take at least 24 hours. Avoid wearing the ring during this time or until the silicone appears and feels firm.
   • The cured silicone should hold for a few weeks, even when you wash your hands, but might degrade if it comes into contact with certain lotions, fragrances, or chemicals.
5. 5 Try on the ring once the silicone is dry. Check to see if the fit is snug or if you need to add another layer of silicone to the ring, as the curing process can shrink the silicone somewhat.
   • If you need to remove the silicone from the ring at any point, you should be able to easily loosen it and pull it off completely with your fingernails ^[3]

1. 1 Measure and mark how much of the ring you need to cut. Make a mark in ink at the bottom of the ring showing how much needs to cut to make it fit.
   • To get a better feel for how much you need to cut, measure the ring’s current size using a ring stick, which is a graduated cylinder with size measurements on the side.^[4]
   • Compare that measurement with the correct size for your finger and you will see exactly how…

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