How to Make Jump Rings. How to Repair Your Necklace or Chain

Has the clasp come away from your necklace or perhaps you  want  to  convert a charm into a  pendant and need a  simple  ring/bail  for  hanging it?  Whether you  are doing a bit of  DIY repair  on your  own jewellery or are a beginner in beading and wire work, learning to make jump rings is a handy skill to have. You can buy jump rings, but  if you  know how to make them yourself, you need never run short.

All you need is

*craft wire
*a round nose pliers
*a side cutter

All are available in jewellery craft stores and widely sold online.

If you are serious about wire work, a hammer and block is a recommended investment alongside a full set of pliers for jewellery making. I use a rubber tip hammer to harden jump rings, earring hooks, metal charms etc. You can also get a soldering kit to seal the rings, but a well-made, properly handled jump ring in a hard wire should stay shut with normal wear.

The wire needs to be hard enough to hold its shape. Look for the ga number or mm to find the gauge. A good, semi-hard wire for beginners is gauge 20ga (.80mm) but 18ga (1mm) is preferable and with practice, go for harder again (16ga/1.25mm). If unsure, just ask for help from your chosen supplier. If you are a novice, it's best to practice with plated wires before moving on to more expensive metals such as sterling silver. I used solid copper for these photos:

Wrap  some  wire  a few times round the base of one prong of the pliers.  The  higher  up you go,  the smaller the top jump rings will get. If you want them the same size, only make a couple at a time and wrap them on the same spot on the prong. Make a small coiled spring as shown, slide it off the pliers and cut along it at an appropriate point. 

handmade copper jump rings

I would always harden the rings using a rubber hammer and block. Click for instructions on  How to Harden Jump rings etc. Now they are ready to use for repairing your own jewellery or incorporating into your designs.  

There is a secret to opening and closing jump rings correctly so as to preserve their integrity and keep them strong and tight. Please read How to Open and Close Jump Rings...

Jump rings are the simplest way to re-attach a clasp. If you  have a soldering kit to seal them, then all the better. However, if the ring is well-made in a hard wire and opened and closed correctly, it should hold without soldering. There are other, slightly more complex ways to attach and link and I intend to post about these in future.

A jump ring serves as a bail to hang a charm or pendant

You can make a jump ring to attach to a small charm and wear it as a pendant, attach to a bracelet or perhaps to a zipper.

blue flash labradoirite pendant with ring bail

Creepy Tale Treasury

Making an Etsy treasury is becoming a luxury for me as my time is spread very thinly these days. I was working yesterday and didn't feel up to going out last night so I decided to indulge in a little fun and creativity while getting in the mood for Halloween. 

The result was this creepy treasury to showcase listings from fellow members of the Top Treasury team. Click on the image to see it better. The story is linear, but a little open to your own interpretation. Who pushed whom in the water and left them to drown and why? Tell it your own way.....mwahahaha

Creepy Tale, curated by Handmade by Amo'r

And if you look, you may find something a little Gothic in my Etsy store...

Irish, Cork red marble heart pendant

black Kilkenny marble heart pendant

G is for Gemstones and Garnets. ABC of Jewellery.

Oh Goody, we've landed on the letter G in my ABC of jewellery! This is a not-too-comprehensive guide to materials and techniques I use as well as inspirations and design. G is for Gemstones, Glass, Garnets, and let's not forget Green, a colour usually prevalent in my Etsy shop! Again, I am splitting this article into two. The second part will be published on Thursday coming.

rose quartz, own photo

Gemstones are precious and semi precious stones used for decorative jewellery and accessories. Traditionally, the more valuable 'precious' stones have always been diamond, sapphire, emerald and ruby. However, the boundaries between precious and semi precious stones are becoming a little fudged now with very exclusive garnets, for example, crossing the divide while manufactured diamonds slide down the scale in the opposite direction.

selection of semi precious gemstones, own photo

The family of gems generally accepted as semi precious stones encompasses an extensive list of rocks and minerals (here's a list from Wikipedia.) You are most likely familiar with a lot of them. Most have a long tradition as healing stones and have been attributed special properties and/or are tied to certain beliefs. Many are designated birthstones. Born in February, amethyst is my birthday gem, for example.

  

Blue flash  labradorite earrings      Seafoam amazonite earrings

The most widely found category of stone found on the planet is feldspar, covering about 60% of the planet's surface. Feldspar is defined as a rock forming mineral, characteristically made up of pale or clear crystals consisting of aluminoscilicates of sodium, calcium and potassium. That's all the science you will get from me. I promise. The word 'feldspar' means 'field stone' in German. Labradorite is a fine example in this family as is amazonite (pictured above.)  

some varieties of the quartz (own photo)

The second largest family is quartz and this breaks down into another long list of minerals including rose quartz, amethyst, citrine, clear quartz crystal  (aka rock crystal) and more. Quartz is a very hard mineral and it is found all over the globe.

Newgrange (photo sources on Wikimedia Commons)

In Ireland, it is most famously seen glistening in the Neolithic tombs of Newgrange. Click here to read my previous post about this mystical place and the pendant it inspired me to make.

      

Connemara marble  pendant        Cork red marble pendant

Marble is not technically classed as a gemstone. However, the definition fits, so our rare, indigenous Irish stones such as Connemara marble, Cork Red, Kilkenny and Ulster white marbles may be considered as such. All are found only on this island and are in scarce supply. I proudly include these indigenous stones whenever I can get my hands on some decent pieces.

Though we do not have an important gemstone industry and many of the old mines are now closed, Ireland boasts a fair share of minerals. Most famously, a seam of amethyst can be clearly seen in the cliffs at Keem beach, Achill island. Not many Irish people are aware of what other gems lie beneath our feet.  Examples of what can be found include rock crystal in the South West, malachite and smithsonite in the West, beryl and calcite in the North West and pyrite in the midlands.

garnet earrings

Garnets are one of my favourite gemstones. There is something very luxurious about this richly coloured silicate mineral, especially when contrasted with cool silver. It does come in other colours besides claret, green grossular garnet being the most famous after red. 

Garnet is the birthstone for January and like many other gems, has a long tradition as a healing stone and has always been surrounded by myth. Once believed to protect soldiers in battle, the gem is often called 'the warrior stone.' You can read more in my previous post 'Garnets, Birthstone for January.'

Watch this space for part 2 featuring glass and some of it's forms.

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More in this series:

A  B  C  (plus C for Crimping ) D E F  (plus F for Findings)

Jewellery Inspired by Irish Bog Landscapes

Lough Tae (aka 'The Guinness Lake') Wicklow Own photo

Much of my jewellery is inspired by Irish landscapes.  Though we are famed for the lush green of our countryside, for such a small country, we do have a wide range of scenery to lift the soul. Much of the midlands and East of the island are covered in bog made of peaty soil. Peat is mostly rain water mixed with solid material: ancient bark and plants that decomposed over thousands of years. The result is a reddish, cocoa brown earth, often dotted with colourful plants including white bog cotton, purple ling heather and moor grass, green and brown mosses and a variety of hardy yellow flowers.

Here are a few typical examples of my jewellery together with the places that fueled the passion to make them.

Ticknock, Dublin. Own photo

Ticknock on the outskirts of Dublin was the inspiration for this scenic jasper and copper necklace:

'Dublin Hills' scenic jasper and copper necklace

The smooth jasper evokes the rich hues of the countryside. The stones display a stunning array of shades in cocoa bean, russet, coppery reds and chocolate. There is even a touch of sand and grass in the mix. 

bog water river, Bohernabreena, Dublin, own photo

'Nature' jasper gemstone necklace

'Nature' necklace was also inspired by the peaty soil of the Dublin and Wicklow hills where I go hiking, and especially by the chestnut brown water of the bog streams and lakes.

The sterling silver wire work represents the flow of a river. This was done freehand with a simple round-nosed pliers, not with a jig. Then I hammered the silver to make it rigid.

Lough Dan in Co Wicklow, own photo

peat-stained water of Lough Dan

The water in many of our lakes is as brown as a pint of good ale, or even as dark as a Guinness. The water is clean, just stained by the peat in the soil.

'Chocolate drop' earrings were also made with the bog in mind. The rich cocoa of the mahogany obsidian stone is very peaty. When I was making them I remembered the big bags of peat moss my dad used to buy as a soil conditioner for his vegetable patch. 

Let's not forget though, that Ireland is the Emerald Isle and you will usually find a lot of green, Connemara marble in my collection too.

Powercourt waterfall

'Landscape' Connemara marble and silver pendant

The green wilderness co Wicklow, just south of Dublin, inspired 'Landscape' pendant in a soft sage specimen of Connemara marble. The wire work emulates the flow of  the waterfalls found in this 'Garden of Ireland' county.

Read more about nature-inspired pieces by clicking HERE

Crafty Bottle Chandelier, Caught My Eye No. 30

Caught My Eye  is a series of blog posts showing scenes I found interesting, odd, curious or beautiful. I am artistic and therefore an observer but I am not a photographer by any description. So if you expect top quality photography I'm afraid you will be disappointed.  But please do enjoy a snap shot glimpse of the world through my creative eyes. 

recycled bottle chandelier, Tullamore Dew Centre

I love any crafts that involve recycling. This chandelier in the tasting room of the Tullamore Dew visitors centre really caught my eye for the clever re-purposing of old whiskey bottles. It reminds me of a lamp my very talented Mum once made out of a milk bottle. 

On a not too dissimilar vein, the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin boasts a very unusual, industrial chandelier in one of its private function rooms. It's a little hard to see in the website photos, but above the table is a huge light fixture made from original pipes and fittings of the building. I'm afraid I don't have a photo of my own (though I worked there for several years) but the chandelier is re-purposed, industrial chic at its best.

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 Click to see pendants made by re-purposing sea glass found on the Dublin shore

F is for Findings

Welcome to part 2 of the letter F in my ABC of Jewellery. The series is a not-so-comprehensive guide to jewellery, materials and techniques I use, inspirations and design. The letter F proved to cover quite a lot, so I divided it into two posts. Part 1 covered Fluorite, Feldspar, Fan necklaces and Fairies. Part 2 introduces you to the group of craft supplies called Findings. It so happens, I have a small bank of previous posts to help me here.

examples of jewellery findings

Findings are those little components used in jewellery making to connect, secure, enhance or hang either the other components (beads/stones etc) or the entire piece. Examples include earring hooks, charms and clasps but they encompass a long list of other small supplies from headpins to crimps and are mostly made of metal. All good jewellery craft suppliers will sell a wide range and the larger online suppliers often have clear explanations for usage.

If you have some experience in wire work, you can make many findings yourself quite easily from craft wire. I took a findings master class at Dublin store, Beads & Bling a few years ago, but you can find tutorials online. I include links in this article to any relevant tutorials I have written to date myself.

         

The simplest of findings is the humble jump ring. This is a basic ring of wire that can be open or soldered shut. If you are not a jewellery maker you can use an open jump ring for repairs such as re-attaching a clasp if you know the correct technique to ensure the ring closes tightly. I previously posted this insider tip How to open Jump rings & Loops You don't have to own a pliers to do this if you have a strong tweezers.

If you do have the basic tools, you can even make your own jump rings with a hard craft wire, such as gauge .80mm (20ga) or 1mm (18ga) and, when adept, in super hard 1.25mm (16ga). I don't do this often, as I prefer to wire wrap links instead but I do make the odd ring to use as a hanging bail for a pendant.

For full instructions on making jump rings please refer to my recent post How to Make Jump Rings...

There are several ways to finish a beaded string but my method of choice is to use metal crimps and covers. I previously wrote a tutorial on How to Use Crimps  which may be of use to beginner beaders or of interest to those who have only ever used knotting techniques.

tiger eye pendant with spiral charm detail

Small metal charms can also be classified as findings. These are tiny pendant-like motifs that you can attach   onto  extender   chains,  charm  bracelets,  flat stones  and  to  other  findings  for decorative purposes.

A typically Irish symbol that only requires the same basic pliers set and wire to make is the Celtic spiral. For instructions please refer to my previous post How to Make Spiral Charm. 

It is preferable to hammer most of your handmade findings and charms to make them strong and rigid. Again, here's one I made earlier: How to Harden Charms and Findings with a Rubber Hammer. A chasing hammer (middle photo) can also add texture.

Other basic tools required if making your own findings are a set of metal files for softening sharp ends of wire and an agate burnisher for finishing the job by smoothing. A burnisher is also useful for polishing and for smoothing little nicks and bumps in metal.

F is also for Friday...so have a good one and a fun filled weekend!

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CLICK HERE FOR THE ABC SERIES SO FAR

or by letter:
A  B  C  (plus C for Crimping ) D E F