How Do Beginners Use Jump Rings?

Jul 19, 2024

A jump ring is an essential piece of jewelry making, you can find jump rings on pendants, earrings, bracelets and other accessories. And knowing how to make jump rings is essential for you if you want to learn how to make jewelry. So do you want to know how to make jump rings and how to make jump rings? If you want to know the answers to these questions then read this article with me!

What is the purpose of a jump ring?

For jewelry engravers, they must be quite familiar with what jump rings do and how to make them. But for beginners, you might not be too familiar with them. But it doesn't matter, once you have actually touched jump rings, you will know how important they are for jewelry making. Here we are going to start by understanding what jump rings are and why jewelers rely on them so much. Simply put, jump rings are a must-have item when making jewelry, and they can be used to connect a variety of different jewelry components.

What are the types of jump rings?

Before you learn how to use jump rings, it is necessary for you to understand what are the different types of jump rings and what do they do? There aren't a lot of types of jump rings, and they can be divided into two total types. One is the open jump ring and the other is the closed jump ring.

Open Jump Rings

The term open jump ring refers to a metal ring that has a small opening in it, which serves the purpose of allowing the jump ring to be subsequently opened with pliers in order to attach other jewelry components. Alternatively, this opening can be soldered to give the jump ring a closed appearance.

Closed Jump Rings

A closed jump ring is a metal jump ring without an opening. These types of jump rings can be soldered directly to jewelry.

In fact, if you really want to categorize, jump rings come in different materials and sizes. You can match different jump rings for your jewelry according to your needs. In addition, jump rings have other shapes besides round ones, such as oval ones. Different shapes of jump rings can add a different design to your jewelry accessories.

How to use jump rings correctly?

Before you learn how to use jump rings properly, it is best that you choose the best jump ring for your work. You may need to look at a combination of the following dimensions to see what type of jump ring you really need. In addition to the appearance of the jump ring (including the finish of the jump ring as well as the shape of the jump ring), you also need to consider the diameter of the jump ring as well as the weight of the jump ring as factors. The diameter and weight of the jump ring determines the strength of the jump ring, and you'll want to weigh these two factors if you want to make sure that your piece is practical enough and of good enough quality.

How do I open a jump ring correctly?

If you want to open a jump ring, you'd better learn how to open it properly first. The wrong way of opening may make the jump ring deformed badly or even broken. So it is very necessary to learn how to open jump rings correctly, and the next are the detailed steps.

The tools you'll need are two pairs of flat-nosed pliers.
Hold one side of the opening with one of the pliers, then use the other pliers to hold the other side of the jump ring
Gently twist the jump ring to either side until you get the jump ring adjusted properly

How do I properly close a jump ring?

After you put the appropriate chain or other pendant inside the jump ring, you need to close the jump ring in the right way.

Clamp both sides of the jump ring opening in the same manner with two pairs of flat-nosed pliers
Gently twist the sides of the jump ring back together, making sure the opening of the jump ring is flush
The final step is to solder the opening to make sure the jump rings don't open.

How to solder jump rings?

As mentioned above, the final step in closing the jump ring is to solder the jump ring opening. Below are the detailed steps for soldering the jump ring.

You need to make sure that your jump rings are in a securely closed position first!
Soldering paste to the closure
Use the flame to evenly heat the metal at both ends until it flows into the seam
Remove the workpiece from the source of ignition, then place it in the acid cleaning solution and clean it.

How to make jump rings

Now that you know what kind of jump rings are used, you must be wondering how they are made! Next, let's analyze the steps of making jump rings in detail. To make jump rings you will probably need a specialized jump ring tool.

Ring jumpers are usually equipped with different sizes of mandrels, you can choose a suitable size mandrel according to your requirements
Wrap the metal wire around the mandrel. Make sure that each metal ring is tightly connected to each other, as each one will become a jump ring at the back. You just need to wind the metal wire as much as you need.
Carefully slide the finished wound metal ring out of the mandrel.
Use a special jeweler's saw to saw vertically through the middle of the metal rings, leaving them as individual metal jump rings.
Get out another professional jewelry file and tidy up the interface of each metal ring to make sure they fit neatly together.

Learning to make jump rings is a very important skill for jewelry makers. And, when you're making jewelry, it's a good idea for you to have some jump rings ahead of time just in case, plus you can make a lot of jump rings in different sizes and materials so that there are a lot of ways to mix and match them when you're actually using them.