How to open & close jump rings the right way
When I first started making jewelry, I fumbled my way through bead wrapping, figuring out what supplies I actually needed, and opening and closing jump rings.
One of the biggest mistakes I made was opening and closing jump rings.
I thought the right way to open them was to pull the slits away from each other in a similar motion to opening a clam shell. What I quickly discovered was this method led to wonky, misshapen jump rings that did not align back up properly when I went to close them.
You can avoid making the same mistake I did!
Video transcription:
In this video I will show you how to properly open & close a jump ring.
In this case, I’m going to use two flat nose pliers. Pick up the jump ring, and you’re going to find where the jump ring is separated, find the little crack. You’re going to take your pliers and hold it on each side of the crack where it’s separated.
To open the jump ring, you might be tempted to pull them open, to pull the sides apart like a clam shell, but that will mess up the shape.
Instead, what you want to do, is to pull one side towards you and push the other side away from you. So in this case, I’m going to pull my right hand toward me and push my left hand away from me, like this.
Now. to close the jump ring back up, you’ll move your hands in the opposite direction. In this case I will move my right hand away from my and my left hand towards me.
And then you hear a nice a click. You’ll know your jump ring is closed up well when there’s a little bit of friction and you hear a click sound, and it’s nice and flush.
Music by https://www.bensound.com/royalty-free-music
An important note about opening & closing jump rings
Video transcription: Another thing to note when you’re holding a jump ring in your pliers is to just be careful about not nicking or scratching the wire.
It’s really easy sometimes for your hands to slip and the pliers to end up squeezing the end of the metal. You scratch the jump ring, depending on what kind of metal you’re using. (I’ve done this so many times over the years.)
With sterling silver, you are likely to scratch it, as well as any kind of softer metal. Stainless steel, I’m not so sure about, but I imagine since it’s a little firmer you’re less likely to.
Just be careful, and I always recommend if you’re just starting out to practice on a lower-quality, less expensive material, such as aluminum because if you scratch a bunch you’re not wasting your money. Sterling silver, while not as expensive as gold, is still on the pricer end.
In the next lesson, you’ll learn the secret to those beautiful jewels learning what I’ve dubbed the Spiral Method. After you’ve made one of these, you’ll have created a Mobius spiral, which you can then use to make a very simple pendant for a necklace.