subject: Jewelry Makers, Why Not Make Your Own Jumprings? [print this page] Every wire work jewelry maker should know how to make their own jump rings. Jump ring are a critical component to most pieces of jewelry that you will make. While you can purchase pre-made jump rings there are many benefits to making your own homemade jump rings. When you can make your own jump rings, they are always the exact size they need to be. They are also out of the specific wire that you would like them to be from. You can customize your jump rings in any way that you desire when you make them yourself. If you realize that your jump ring is too large, you can easily make it just a bit smaller. It is much harder to work with a pre-made jump ring to make this smaller on its own - though it can be done with some effort.
Making handmade jump rings does take some practice. When you make handmade jump rings, it is suggested that you practice this skill so you get used to creating the rings neatly. As your skill improves you'll see that the jump rings become better and better. When you only make jump rings, as you need them, you most likely aren't giving yourself enough practice. A top suggestion is to sit and relax with a cup of tea and your favorite television show and just make homemade jump rings to your heart's delight! In an hour's time, you'll have lots of homemade jump rings, but more importantly you'll notice that your skill has improved and your rings are noticeably better.
There are some challenges when you make homemade jump rings. Many who make homemade jump rings find the challenge that their jump rings simply don't fit together as perfectly as the store bought jump rings do. This can be solved with a bit of wriggling and effort. Sometimes you need to file the ends flat and smooth to help make the homemade jump rings lie flat. Look at your jump ring closely to see exactly what the problem could be. With a little patience, you'll realize that you can indeed get the homemade jump ring to lie flat.
Sometimes those that make homemade jump rings find that their rings seem too soft. This happens when you are using "dead soft" wire for your homemade jump rings. This is the softest temper available. If you truly don't want to harden your homemade jump rings, then you might want to start out with half-hard wire to create them from. This is an ideal solution to create homemade jump rings that will be a bit harder.
Those who are new to wire work jewelry making should take homemade jump rings as a challenge to achieve. Working with wire overall simply needs to be tamed and learning how to make homemade jump rings is another way to tame the wire. As your skill improves and you tame the wire, you'll realize that you can indeed make these homemade jump rings. Making these homemade jump rings will also give you great confidence as a wire work jeweler. Just think of what other wire work achievements you'll feel ready to tackle next!
