The suggested method direct from Red Cross First Aid training: Get a spool of floss- pass about 12" under the ring from finger tip towards wrist. Begin wrapping the finger with floss- make it tight enough to compress the skin- spiral up the finger under the ring- tight close-together coils of floss. Keep going up until you've wrapped to the center of the 2 joints. DO NOT OVERLAP THE WRAPPINGS. When this is done, grasp the 12" end hanging from the bottom of the ring and slowly begin unwrapping by using the ring as a lever- the bottom edge of the floss should always be touching the ring bottom. The ring will slowly spiral off the finger.
Works every time (yes, I have used this method more than once) except if the ring is crushed.
/vic Then again, if I ever find the SOB that stole my dad's rings, fingers are only the first thing I'll be clipping off.