Crafts Unleashed

Jump Rings

Jump rings are one of the most useful findings in jewelry making. Almost every piece of jewelry you wear has them incorporated in one size or another. The advantage of making your own is being able to choose the gauge of the wire as well as the diameter of the rings and you can choose a type of metal to match your project.  Plus, if you know how to make your own jump rings you will never have to run to the store when you run out of them.

For this project, you will need:

• Mandrel Jump Ring Maker
• Precision Side Cut Pliers
• 18 Guage Aluminium Wire

To use a mandrel you will need to gently smooth out the wire. Place the tip of the wire on the mandrel and begin wrapping wire around the desired size, forming a coil.

Wrap wire around mandrel

Use your cutters to snip the end of the wire from the spool of wire.  Remove the coil.

 Remove Coil

 This is where the flush cutters work best.   They will leave a nice flush cut on one side of every cut you make.

Place cutters in coil

Place your cutters inside the coil as shown. Snip the coil one row at a time.

Finished jump rings

You now have individual jump rings.  If you have any ragged edges you can use the Precision Side Cut Pliers to trim.   This 2 piece set of mandrels makes 1mm, 1.5mm , 2mm , 3mm , 4mm , 5mm , 6mm , 7mm , 8mm and 10mm jump rings.  I have found these to be the most commonly used sizes.  Check back tomorrow to see the fun Fall Bracelet created with the mandrel, wire and pliers.

Disclosure: Materials provided by ConsumerCrafts.com