Puzzle rings are made up of several interconnected rings, rather like endless knots. The ring can be disassembled but it is tricky to put it together again.The most common are the 4 or 6 band ones. I dread to think how hard the solutions would be for even more bands.


No one really knows who invented puzzle rings.The rings are sometimes called Turkish wedding rings or harem rings. One fanciful tale claims a Turkish nobleman gave one as a wedding band to his wife without telling her the solution to ensure her faithfulness since she could not remove it. This does not "ring" true because the Turkish people do not use interlocking rings as marriage rings.


They most likely developed from gimmal or gimmel rings which were popular in 16th-17th century Europe but date back earlier than that to medieval times. Gimmal comes from the Latin word, gemellus, meaning twin.  2-3 band rings were used first as betrothal rings with the engaged couple each wearing one part of the ring. A third ring could be held by a witness before the marriage ceremony. At the wedding, the rings were reconnected to form one ring. Elizabethans called them joint rings.

Here is a video by Darren Matthews which shows how a puzzle ring is solved. A pictorial how-to is available on eHow.com.



Hop over to Gary's tutorial over at Ganoksin which uses a wire jig if you want to try and make a 4 band version..  Note that you do need to know how to solder.

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Original Post by THE BEADING GEM
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