Video: Up Close – How to Change a Captive Bead Ring

Check out our amazing new Body Candy video called “How to Change a Captive Bead Ring,” narrated by our own Body Candy team member, Janna. It’s everything you’ve ever wanted to know about opening, closing, and changing out your captive jewelry at home, plus the tools that are available to help you get started. Here we go!

The video begins:

Hi guys. This Janna with Body Candy, and today I’m gonna show you a little bit about ball closure rings. They’re used in a lot of different piercings, (she holds up the ring at this point) and a lot of people find it very tricky to take the ball in and out when they’re at home after they order them and are changing their jewelry. So, we’re gonna give you some tips about how you can do this at home.

You wanna make sure you have a room with lots of bright light, preferably the bathroom ((works great)), cause you’ve got a mirror or two. Make sure your hands and the jewelry are very clean, use anti-bacterial soap, and then you wanna cover the drain with a paper towel or a tissue to make sure that if you drop the ball it doesn’t go rolling down the drain.

Ball closure rings are made of two parts: there’s the ring, (she’s turns the ring to show it off) and the ball that pops into it (now pointing out the closure ball). So, this is how you take ’em apart: hold the ring in your stronger hand, grab the ball, squeeze the ring a little bit, (she grips the ring and carefully removes the ball) and the ball will pop out. The ball has little divots on either side, (she’s turns the ball to reveal its indentations) and when you’re ready to put the ball back in, line up the divot that’s on the bottom, (she lines up the divot on the ball and forces it back into the ring) and pop the ball back into place.

We also have these rings that are just called closure rings, (she moves on, holding up a closure ring with pink and clear gemstones) and they’re even easier to put back together, because the piece that closes it (she points out the closure) doesn’t roll away like a ball. You hold the ring the same way, pull on the closure piece, (she demonstrates) it comes out, it also has little divots on the top and the bottom. And when you’re ready to put it back in, line that up, squeeze it, (she puts the closure back in) and it goes back into place.

Sometimes when you have bigger gauge rings ((heavier weight piercings)), you need to use tools in order to open and close the rings. So what we’re gonna do, (she picks up a new ball captive) is show you a little bit about how to use each of these tools. This tool here is a ring spreader, (she lifts the tool) and you put the ring in, squeeze it just enough so you can get the ball out, (she uses the tool and removes the ball) cause if you open it too far, the ball won’t stay in, and you keep using this tool and this tool back and forth, (she gestures between the ring spreaders and the ring closing tool) and you don’t wanna do that. So, this tool is a ring closer. (She lifts the tool and demonstrates the process.) So what you’d wanna do is once you’ve got the ball back in place, you put the ring in here and just squeeze it a tiny, tiny bit; just to close it enough to keep the ball tight. (The ball is now back in and held firm.)

This tool here is an alternate ring spreader or ring closer; (she chooses the tool and opens it, pointing out the shape) it has little divots that hold smaller rings in place. ((That won’t fit this one.)) And this is a little pair of tweasers that holds the ball for you, (she briefly holds the tweasers) so if you’ve got big fingers and you’re having a hard time holding onto the ball, this is what you’d wanna use, so let’s see if we can get it to work. You’d wanna line it up so you can see the divots, (she places the ball in the tweasers and lines it up) cause you need to be able to see ’em in order to do it. So, the same way you would if it was in your hand, line up the divot on the bottom, then the top, and pop it into place. (She demonstrates and the ball is returned into place.)

So hopefully we gave you some tips that can help you get the best out of your jewelry at home.