How to Make Jump Rings

Today, I would like to bring you to a basic technique: How to make jump rings! Tought it's easy to buy perfect pre-made jumps rings, sometimes I might like to make my own jump rings using diffferent types of materials such as brass, copper, steel, and colored wires. In this case, I do not need to stock up a lot of ready made jump rings of the different materials. Here are some tips how to make them...

Take a mandrel that is measuring about 0.8cm in diameter. In this case, I am using the pliers’ holder as shown in the picture.

Cut approximately 20cm of 18 gauge wires and attached it onto the mandrel and bend one end upward.

Rotate your wrapping hand towards your body to wrap the wires around the mandrel. Repeat to make the subsequent circles until you reach the end of the wires. You may leave approximately 1.5cm of wires unwrapped.

Remove the coils from the mandrel.

Use your wire cutter to trim the end of the coil. Notice I use the flat side of the pliers to cut the wire to ensure the end is flat.

Loosen out the space between the coils by pulling them outward.

Now place your wire cutter at the 2nd layer of the coils which is slightly towards the right side from the end of the 1st layer. This is to allow some rooms for trimming and to ensure sufficient wires to form the whole ring. Once position is identified, cut it out from the coil.

This is how the jump ring looks like after you cut it out.

You can continue to cut the second ring using the same method. Once you cut out the second ring, you will notice that one of the sides comes with sharp edge.

Use your flat side of the wire cutter to cut off the wires slightly from the edges.

Use flat or round nose pliers to close the gap by moving 2 sides of the ring to centre of the ring.

You are done with the jump ring.. Continue to cut the same way... Happy cutting jump rings!  You can visit DIY Lessons.org to download free jewelry making tutorials