How To Make Jump Rings
Jump rings are the connectors or links to chain and clasps. They are used in attaching charms, and also in suspending pendants. They can also be used by themselves to form a complete chain. This kind of jewelry findings can be made of different materials such as gold, silver, base metal, brass, coated colored, and silver plated. They can be of various sizes – from the smallest 2mm to 1 cm and bigger. They can also be in different shapes like round, oval or triangle. These rings are probably the most commonly used jewelry finding by the makers of jewelry. It is important to make sure that you get a jump ring that will work with the design of your jewelry.
If you are a jewelry maker who uses a lot of jump rings, and you would like to lower your costs, you can try making your own rings. Besides the savings, you can also make sure that the correct size and material is always available whenever you need it. Making this kind of thing is not difficult. You will need only a few pieces of jewelry tools such as the following:
-Round nosed pliers / a jump ring maker,
-Flush cut wire nippers / fine tooth hacksaw
-Flat jeweler’s file.
-Electric drill or winding tool. These are not very essential in making jump rings, because you can manually wind the wire around. But if you need to mass produce jump rings, said tools can help in considerably speeding up the process.
-Safety glasses. Always wear glasses to protect your eyes when cutting the wire. There will be flying bits of wire that may damage your eyes, so be careful.
These are the instructions of making your own jump rings.
1. Take hold of the tag end of the wire and put it in the center of the ring maker or round nosed pliers.
2. Firmly grasp the wire with the pliers. Wrap the wire against the pliers’ nose.
3. Continue wrapping around the nose prong to complete a wire circle.
4. Take the wire circle from the prong.
5. Nip carefully the circle off from the length of the wire. Use the flush cut pliers or wire nippers.
6. Use the flat jeweler’s file, if there are jagged edges on the cut wire.
7. Make the ends of the wire circle secured; make them meet end to end.
Now you have a completed jump ring. You can open it to connect an element to your jewelry, then close it again. Put it on the piece of your jewelry. Use pliers to pick up the ring on one side of the opening. With your free hand, pick up the other pliers and close it on the ring’s other side. To open it, you push your right hand away from you and your left hand towards you. You do the opposite if you want to close it. But you may need to do it twice to make sure that the jump ring is closed completely. tungsten rings wholesale supplier