Page 1      Making Wire Jump Ring Findings Jewelry Making Technique

A jump ring finding is essentially a circle of wire used to connect two wire components.  Frequently people purchase jump rings rather than make them for the simple reason that this is something that a machine can do quickly and inexpensively.  Sometimes you find that you need a jump ring to finish a jewelry making project and just don't have any.  For that reason, it is important to know how to make jump rings. 

The easiest way we have found to make jump rings in our opinion is to use Step Jaw Pliers like our Fine Step Jaw Pliers .  Using these pliers, you make a coil of wire about 1 1/2 times around one of the steps in the jaws of the pliers. 

After this simple coil is completed, remove the wire from the pliers.  The initial part of this small coil will be flat and not rounded like the rest of the coil.  We need to cut this initial 1/8" of wire off the coil using our flush cutter, with the flat side of the flush cutter toward the main part of the coil.  This will leave us a flat cut on the end of the wire for the coil.

Once we have completed that cut, we need to flip the coil over so that we can cut the opposite side of the coil, effectively giving us a complete circle of wire -- an open jump ring.  Again cut the wire with the flat side of your flush cutter toward the finished jump ring. 

If you have made your cuts at the right places, you will have a perfect circle of wire.  This is your open Jump Ring. 

Jump rings are opened and closed using chain nose or bent chain nose pliers.  The technique for opening and closing jump rings is described here.  For additional assistance in closing a small gap in a jump ring, we recommend using Bent Closing Pliers.  These pliers have grooves in their jaws to help hole the jump ring while you give it a gentle squeeze to close a small gap in a jump ring.