bds-nb0909.pdf

Notebook 7

It’s all in the details

When you think about a beautiful jewelry design, the jump rings or head pins are

generally not the stars of the show, but taking the time to choose the best indings for

a project can really elevate your designs. And if you are selling your jewelry, these are

just the kinds of details a sophisticated customer will notice.

split

standard

soldered

fancy

Jump rings

come in squares, triangles, hearts, and other

shapes. Oval jump rings are particularly

useful because dangles hang safely below

the jump ring’s cut should it accidentally pull

open.

Jump rings are wire circles used to connect

jewelry components, including charms,

chains, clasps, dangles, or other jump rings.

Chain maille jewelry can be made entirely

out of jump rings.

Never open a jump ring by pulling the ends

away from each other – you’ll never get them

back in the correct alignment. Instead use

two pairs of pliers to grip the jump ring on

each side of the opening and move one

plier toward you and the other away from

you (forward/backward). Use the same

movements to close the jump ring.

A standard jump ring is cut along its

circumference, which allows you to open

and close it. Soldered jump rings are

permanently closed so they work well as

half of a clasp.

Jump rings come in many sizes — some of

them as small as 2 mm — in different

gauges and inishes and in a rainbow of

colors.

If you get bored with circles, jump rings

Another option to consider, especially if you

use a lot of jump rings is a jump ring tool. This

is basically a ring that its on your inger and

has one or more slots in it. You insert the

jump ring into the appropriate sized slot and

bend the jump ring to open or close it.

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A split ring has some of the properties of both

the standard and soldered jump ring. It is

neither soldered closed nor left open. The ring

coils around twice, like the ring on a key

chain. Once components are added by

sliding them around the coils, they are very

secure.

Split rings are not as elegant looking as a

standard one-coil ring, but are very secure

and reasonably easy to use. Special split-ring

pliers are available for easier opening of the

coils.

Trim the points with the lush side of your

cutters, and ile the ends if necessary. The

ends of the jump ring should meet squarely

when the jump ring is closed.

There is also a handy gadget made just for

creating jump rings. It comes with several

mandrels in different sizes. The mandrels come

in standard jump ring sizes and in round or

oval shapes. It works on the same principle as

the homemade jump ring maker, but is easier

to rotate for perfect circles.

Another jump ring hybrid is the snapping jump

ring usually found under the brand name

Snapeez®. They open like a regular jump ring,

but close more securely (indicated by a tiny

snapping noise when the two sides brush

against each other as the ring is closed).

Head pins

A head pin is a wire with a little nub (head) at

one end. It looks like a long, skinny nail. You’ll

need head pins to string beads for dangles.

Head pins come in different gauges and

lengths, but 2-in. (5 cm) 22- or 24-gauge head

pins work for most projects. If you’re new to

making loops, you might want to use 3-in. (7.6

cm) pins to give you a little extra wire to hold

onto. You can always trim the excess wire.

While the closure is the next best thing to

soldered,it is not quite soldered, snapping

jump rings are not intended to be used with

beading wire (a soldered ring is best) but

rather for connecting charms or indings.

An eye pin has a loop (instead of a lat head)

at the end. You can make your own with wire,

but if you need to make lots of dangles, eye

pins will save you time.

You can make your own jump rings by

wrapping a piece of 18–20-gauge wire tightly

around a pen, knitting needle, dowel, or other

cylindrical object to form a coil. Remove the

coil and with wire cutters at a right angle to

the coil, trim the straight wire tails from each

end of the coil. Slightly separate the irst ring

from the coil. With your cutters at a right

angle, cut where the wire completes the irst

ring. Continue cutting rings off the coil.

Head pins come in a number of fancy

varieties too, with balls, paddles, crystals,

beads and other embellishments replacing

the nub or loop.

You can make your own fancy head pin by

cutting a small piece of wire and making a

coil or other shape at the end (anything large

enough to stop a bead). You can also pound

the end of the wire into a lat paddle shape.

Tips

If you use diagonal wire cutters, the ends of

your jump rings will be pointed.

plain

paddle

decorative

eye

jeweled

BDS-NB0909

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