September 30, 2023

Spif Panel

Think Shopping & Women

2 Ways to Make Wire Jump Rings for Jewelry Making

7 min read
2 Ways to Make Wire Jump Rings for Jewelry Making

Leap rings are a necessity for jewelry earning. Leap rings are applied to dangle pendants, be a part of factors and connect findings this sort of as clasps and earring wires. Acquiring a wide variety of leap rings on hand can necessarily mean the variance among ending a jewelry venture or waiting for provides to be shipped.

Jewelry making tools used to make jump rings

No make a difference how several types, kinds and measurements of soar rings I have on hand, there are always times I can’t obtain the soar rings that I require.

So, the problem is, do you get more jump rings or need to you learn how to make your personal bounce rings?

The forms of bounce rings you will need may differ for each individual jewelry maker and regardless of whether they make beadwork or wire jewellery. In typical, you possibly will need soar rings created with various gauges of wire, diverse diameter rings and, of program, distinct metals (or colors). Bounce rings also occur in distinct styles, despite the fact that circular and oval are the most typical. 

Assortment of packages of jump rings

Ahead of I jump into the facts of how to make leap rings, I must allow you know that I have always been firmly in favor of getting top quality soar rings. Even even though soar rings do not commonly stand out in your jewelry structure, if they are improperly produced, you possibility losing the jewelry when the leap ring isn’t going to remain closed. In normal, I have thought the pocket modify that you spend for every leap ring is worth the expenditure.

Nothing has specifically improved my mind about the benefits of buying jump rings, but as I talked about, there are far too a lot of times I just cannot uncover the types that I will need. In these occasions, if I can make excellent high-quality bounce rings relatively very easily, I believe it is time properly used. Specifically if it suggests the difference amongst completing a task or acquiring to wait around. For my skill degree, I experimented with two methods to make jump rings.

The two choices on how to make leap rings are:

  • building a wire coil and reducing the jump rings with wire cutters
  • generating a wire coil, keeping it with BeadSmith coil reducing pliers and cutting soar rings with a jewellery making observed

Starting off from the commencing, the techniques to building bounce rings are:

  • choose on the wire gauge and type of wire to use
  • make a coil of wire on a mandrel with the diameter of the leap ring you want (interior diameter)
  • cut aside the leap rings
  • deburr, operate harden and polish the jump rings as necessary
You may well presently have tons of issues about the first two bullet details. What gauge wire really should your use? What size coil really should you make? I beforehand wrote a very thorough report about How to Pick and Use Jump Rings for The Spruce Crafts. I think it may help remedy some inquiries.

For me, the most practical leap rings for generating jewelry are produced from 

  • 18 gauge wire = hefty soar rings
  • 20 gauge wire = regular or average body weight leap rings
  • 22 gauge wire = mild excess weight soar rings

I usually use bounce rings with an interior diameter among 3-5 mm. Larger gauge wire is employed for more compact dimension leap rings, normally they aren’t solid plenty of.

I think the standard newbie approach to slice soar rings is to use wire cutters, so I am going to cover that 1st. 

tools to make jump rings with wire cutters

The supplies and resources you want are:

(The hyperlinks in the supplies/applications section are affiliate backlinks to Amazon. I may well get a modest commission at no price to you if you order employing a person of these links)

For this leap ring undertaking, I have pretty much built it a odd level of competition. I get started with the identical size and form wire coils, make soar rings utilizing every single approach and then examine the benefits. I guess it will help me evaluate which 1 is simpler, more quickly, far better, additional successful, and so on.

making a wire coil on 6 step mandrel pliers

The 1st phase, make a coil of wire in the dimensions and style of wire for your jump rings. I used the 6 phase mandrel pliers and coil in the direction of the handles so I really don’t operate out of room.

4 wire coils for jewelry making

I commenced with about 6 inches of wire for every single coil, one particular is 18 gauge copper, the other is 20 gauge jeweler’s brass. The copper coil is wound on a 5mm mandrel and the brass wire is coiled on a 4mm mandrel.

cutting a wire coil to make jump rings

Minimize the first edge of the wire leaving the flush minimize on the coil facet.

cutting a wire coil to make jump rings

Convert your wire cutters and line them up behind the to start with slash so you can minimize a complete bounce ring. Check out to hold anything so the soar rings or minimize ends don’t fly.

Repeat until finally you’ve got minimize the entire coil.

What you are unable to see in the video over is definitely the funny element of me turning the wire cutters like I’m a gun slinger from the west. They’re flipping like ridiculous in concerning cuts.

brass jump rings made with wire cutter

Below are the 20 gauge brass rings that I reduce in the movie following I shut them. Most are round and shut nicely. They could use a tumble or going over with steel wool or even a polishing pad or  buffer to clean up some burrs. 

brass jump ring close up view

Here’s a shut up of the cut edges. They are very great.

Now for the other selection to make leap rings by working with a jeweler’s saw and the BeadSmith bounce ring device – which was a complete experiment for me. 

Essentially both equally were being an experiment, if I am truthful, but I haven’t employed my jewellery noticed in a looong time, so this was actually a extend for me. 

tools to make jump rings with jump ring tool and saw

Here are the materials for the second spherical of creating leap rings. 

*Very same disclaimer that the one-way links above are from Amazon and could end result in change in my pocket at no charge to you.

This is a swift over view of the soar ring device.

jump ring tool with wire coil in jaws

It is crafted like pliers, so the jaws open and shut, but the jaws are applied to keep the coil of wire for making the bounce rings. 

It has a pin hooked up inside the jaws that preserve the coil aligned with slits which is where the saw blade goes by to slash the coil. 

The pin protrudes out the again of the pliers and is used to prop up or rest the pliers when you are sawing. The slits are on both equally sides of the plier, but you are definitely only sawing down the rings on one particular side.

jump ring tool with wire coil in jaws

This is the copper coil loaded and prepared for the lubricated observed blade.  

using saw to cut jump rings from coil held by jump ring tool

Below, the saw blade is in situation, but you can possibly see if I will not angle the blade, I’m heading to get a bunch of fifty percent circles as an alternative of circles. So, the entrance of the saw blade is touching the coil and the back is angled increased to keep away from cutting it.

coil with partially cut jump rings

A constant problem that I experienced was the coil dragging forward in the jaws for the duration of the reducing system.  This messes up the rings and the coil and was discouraging. I think this is part of the discovering curve and has improved dependent on how I angle my saw and the pliers, but I’ve killed rather a number of coils.

If you check out the movie higher than, it reveals a person of the methods I solved the coil crunching was by angling the soar ring tool away from me, so the sawing motion pulls the coil in opposition to the instrument as a substitute of out of it.

jump rings and debris from jump ring tool/saw

For example, here’s the conclusion results from the copper coil. A handful of fantastic bounce rings and a blob of coil remnant.

jump rings and debris from jump ring tool/saw

I tended to do greater with a smaller diameter coil, so the brass gave me a few additional bounce rings and significantly less waste.

jump ring close up

The good quality of the rings, when they change out, is truly very significant. They sign up for properly and have some burrs, but they are straightforward to brush off.

jump ring comparison using wire cutter vs saw

I did say this was a quasi competitors, so below are the outcomes. The wire cutter rings are on the left, the observed and coil holder are on the ideal.

Earning soar rings with quality wire cutters is so a great deal easier, with significantly less mess and with similar high quality, that I am not sure I will ever use the BeadSmith soar ring device yet again (other than to verify to myself I have an understanding of how to use it). I got 50% a lot less copper rings employing the noticed system (and I know I cheated and cut one of them). 

Apart from receiving my arms dirty with some resources I have not made use of in ages, I did refresh some old expertise and understand that I will make jump rings working with my wire cutters in the foreseeable future. Not usually, but if I require anything and cannot find it in my stash and never want to wait around. 

I might also improve my guidance to newbie wire jewellery makers that they ought to try out to make their own bounce rings, as an alternative of expressing it is really just not worth it.  But I will add the caveat to make certain the high quality of their handmade leap rings is great given that their jewelry depends on it.

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