
I thought I'd add a tutorial on how to make your own jump rings too. It's not a difficult thing to do but sometimes it's helpful to have pictures. The advantage of making your own is being able to choose the gauge of the wire as well as the diameter of the rings and of course, you can choose a colour to match your project!

Begin by inserting the end of the wire into the small hole

and then bend the tail over so that it's secure.


Once you've formed a coil, cut away the roll of wire.



OK, so now you've got a length of tightly coiled wire, how do you turn that into jump rings?
This is where the flush cutters come into their own. They will leave a nice flush cut on one side of every cut you make.
To begin with, trim away the tail from the coil.



Notice that one side is flush but the other isn't.




Trimming both ends flush like this will give you very neat jump rings that butt together really well making the joins much less conspicuous.
I often make a coil much larger than what I need especially when I'm working with gold or silver and I cut off only what I need for the project. The rest I place in ziplock bags for the next time I need jump rings of that size and colour.

You can also use a jeweller's hack saw, but you will actually slice away a portion of the jump ring when you cut it and when it's formed into a ring its internal diameter will be slightly smaller than the mandrel you formed it on. So take this into consideration if you need your jump rings to be the exact size of the mandrel.
You might also enjoy this related post:
How to make triangle jump rings
Pin it for Later!
'Til next time...
Thank you for the pics! I use different size knitting needles to make my jumprings, I'd love an oval jump ring maker, I think they are the best. I usually use two knitting needles to make those, side by side. Slippery but it works!! I like the "tidying up of the other side" of the jump ring bit! Makes perfect sense, now!
ReplyDelete