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JEWELRY BASICS

Almost all jewelry making requires the use of findings, which is the jeweler’s term for the basic components that connect the pieces of your jewelry and give it a neat finish. Findings help each piece hang correctly. They should be the right size for your jewelry; if they are in proportion to the materials that you choose for your jewelry, they will help balance the overall design.

JUMP RINGS are circular or oval metal rings that are not completely joined together. They come in a variety of sizes & thicknesses to suit all kinds of jewelry projects. Use them to link two findings together.

CLASPS usually consist of two pieces, attached to each end of the necklace or bracelet. They come in an assortment of designs, sizes & colors (including the screw clasps, spring rings, barrel clasps & S-clasps. You can also buy decorative two-part clasps that have preformed holes for more than one thread. Choose a style / design that suits your jewelry best.

HEAD PINS/T-PINS and EYE-PINS are wire pins that come in various lengths to link beads to each other or to a necklace / bracelet / earring chain. A headpin, which has a flat head at one end like a blunt dressmaker’s pin, is particularly useful for making pendant drops and charms. Eye-pins have a preformed loop at one end and are most often used to link together beads or findings.

Another alternative to head pins & eye-pins is JEWELER’S WIRE. It is available in various colors & gauges & can be coiled into decorative spiral charms. The greater the gauge, the finer the wire is. For example, gauge 26 is finer than gauge 24. Choose a wire thickness to suit the beads & the overall design of the jewelry piece, especially if it is a visible part of the design.

CALOTTE CRIMPS conceal & secure knots at both ends of a necklace / bracelet. They help make a finished jewelry polished. Calotte crimps come in different sizes to suit the thread you are using & in slightly different styles.

Other findings to use when making jewelry are SPACERS & HANGERS, which often have two, three / five preformed holes. End SPACERS BARS can be used to make multi-strand designs & attach clasp to the start and end of a necklace / bracelet. Incorporate more decorative spacer bars as part of the design itself. Large BELL CAPS are a decorative cap added to each end of a necklace to conceal a collection of knots. Join pendant clasps to jump rings to make a pendant or hang charms.

The most important findings are jump rings, calotte crimps, crimp beads, head / eye-pins, jeweler’s wire, clasps, spacers & beadcaps. These may all sound rather strange to you now but by the time you have worked through jewelry projects, they will be much more familiar to you.