Creating Jewelry Techniques

4 Basic Jewelry creation Techniques

How to Use a Crimp Tube

When attaching wire to a clasp for the newly made necklace, the most common strategy is crimping, which is a small metal tube and a crimping tool. Below are 5 steps to walk you through this process.

1) Thread your wire through the crimp tube, then in the clasp you've chosen, and then back through the crimp tube again.

2) Making use of your crimp tool, position the crimp tube in the large hole at the front of the tool, then press slightly to create an oval shape in the crimp tube. This will help keep the wire separated.

3) Put the oval crimp tube in the back area of the crimp tool, use your finger and keep the wire separated so you don't compromise the strength of your connection, then compress firmly, flattening the tube,
creating separate chambers for every single wire.

4) Now put the crimp tube back into the front portion of the tool and compress folding the crimp tube in half.

5) Make use of your flush cutters to trim away the excess wire.

Open and Close Jump Rings

Jump rings are widely-used in most jewelry production projects. So using good quality jump rings and knowing the correct way to open and close them is an essential part in keeping your jewelry from failing.

1) Use two bent nose pliers or chain nose pliers. Hold the jump ring on each side of the opening with the tip of your pliers.

2) Open the jump ring by moving the jaws sideways in opposite directions. Don't pull ends outward, that may stress the ring and you will lose the favorable round form of your jump ring.

3) To close jump rings, grasp the ring using the tip of the pliers and move sideways like before, but this time move the ends past each other while compressing them together and continue moving past each other while compressing until you feel them click into place. This will keep them secure.

Turning a Loop
When producing jewelry with beaded chains or dangles, you have to know how to make a loop at the end of your head pin/eye pin.

1) First thread your bead on your head pin, after which you can bend the wire at a 90 degree angle.

2) Trim off all but 1/8" tail of wire from your bead.

3) Grasp the tail with the tip of your round nose pliers and turn to generate a loop. Don't get discouraged if your loop isn't perfect, with practice your loops will improve.

Wrapped Loop

For a less risky loop, create a wire wrapped loop.

1) Thread your bead onto the head pin; grasp the top of your head pin above the bead while using round nose pliers.

2) Bend the wire around to make a loop.

3) Coil the wire firmly round the base of the loop with your fingers or chain nose pliers until you make it to the the top of the bead.

4) Trim off excess wire.

5) Tuck the remaining wire in to the bottom of the coil firmly using the chain nose pliers.