Page 8A      Making Open Loops in Jewelry Wire -- Jewelry Making Technique

In the prior page we discussed making an open loop using round nose pliers.  The only problem with making an open loop with this tool is that it is more difficult to make these loops in a consistent size.  Round nose pliers are conical in shape and where you grasp the wire on the conical jaws determines what size the loop will be.  We have an alternate tool, step jaw pliers, that can be used to make open loops more consistently, but because of the shape of these step jaw pliers, you will have to modify the approach used for making this open loop.  You can view the jaws of the step jaw pliers in the picture at left.  The instructions for this new technique begin below. 

Step 1:  Using your bent chain nose pliers, grasp the wire at the point where you want to make the loop and make a 90 degree bend as shown near right.  With smaller gauges of wire, you can bend the wire more than 90 degrees as shown far-right. 

Step 2:  Grasp the wire at the bend using your step jaw pliers as shown below-left. 

Step 3:  Bend the wire back toward the bend about 30 degrees.  In this case a small bend is better because you can go back later and correct it if you haven't bent enough, but it is more difficult to correct when you bend too far.  See the picture center-left. 

Step 4:  Continue gripping the wire with your pliers and push the end of the wire around the round jaw of the pliers as shown center-right.  The jaws of the pliers will prevent you from pushing the wire all the way around.

Step 5:  In order to complete this open loop, you need to relax your grip on the wire and re-position the wire on the pliers as shown below-right. 

Step 2	Step 3	Step 4	Step 5

These instructions continue on page 8B.