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Jump Rings
Instructions in how to make a jump ring finding out of jewelry wire using common jewelry making tools:
A jump ring finding is essentially a circle of jewelry 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 jewelry tool.
Jewelry Making Supplies Required:
• 18 or 20 gauge jewelry wire
Jewelry Making Tools Required:
• Flush cutter jewelry tool
• Fine step jaw pliers jewelry tool (preferred)
• Chain nose or bent chain nose jewelry tool
• Bent closing pliers jewelry tool
Jewelry Making Skills Required:
• Ability to cut jewelry wire with a flush cutter jewelry tool.
• Ability to make a loop in jewelry wire using fine step jaw pliers jewelry tool.
• Ability to close a loop in jewelry wire using chain nose pliers jewelry tool.
• Ability to close a loop in jewelry wire using bent closing pliers jewelry tool.
Step-by-step instructions for making jump rings out of jewelry wire using the step jaw pliers jewelry tool:
Step 1: Using your step jaw pliers, you make a coil of jewelry wire about 1 1/2 times around one of the steps in the jaws of the pliers.
Step 2: After this simple coil is completed, remove the jewelry wire from the pliers.
Step 3: The initial part of this small coil of jewelry wire 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 jewelry wire for the coil.
Step 4: 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 jewelry 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 jewelry wire. This is your open Jump Ring. Jump rings are opened and closed using chain nose or bent chain nose pliers.
For additional assistance in closing a small gap in a jump ring, we recommend using Bent Closing Pliers Jewelry Tool. 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.
Step-by-step instructions for making jump rings out of jewelry wire using the step jaw pliers jewelry tool:
Personally, we don't plan ahead enough to have on hand a lot of jump rings in a variety of jewelry wire types. Sometimes we make a wire component out of unique jewelry wire like Artistic Wire and we don't have jump rings in that color or style of wire. For whatever reason, we almost always make the jump rings that we use in the jewelry making projects shown in our web site. The best way that we have found to make jump rings is using the step jaw pliers in the approach shown above. Making jump rings out of jewelry wire using this approach results in jump rings that are actually less expensive than purchased jump rings. In short, we use this jewelry making skill a lot and suggest that beginners to making jewelry using jewelry wire should practice this technique.