Finishing the Final Links and Adding Clasps
Lesson 5 from: Wireworking with Beads for Jewelry MakingRaissa Bump
Finishing the Final Links and Adding Clasps
Lesson 5 from: Wireworking with Beads for Jewelry MakingRaissa Bump
Lesson Info
5. Finishing the Final Links and Adding Clasps
Lessons
Lesson Info
Finishing the Final Links and Adding Clasps
Is a little bit less obvious for this kind of necklace but when you are putting the very last link together you do want to consider uh that there's no twist you could this kind of lots of twists and then you link it together and it still has those twists and in this case you probably wouldn't notice but it's a good habit to get in when you're working with chain that you lay it out and get the links toe toe lay flat so I've got one link here that's not done the rest of them are and I'm going to just come up with a system like I like this goes on top and goes on top this and I do every other one so this on top on top see of this this way let me find one that's I just like tio haven't always be the same top on top the whole length in this way with chains you know that it's not um that one's not so that way that makes sense they're creating the lynx which ever way you're systematically looking at it that it's the same thing the whole way and not twisting because otherwise it will twist and...
with some designs it will be really obvious or it might not lay flat so um just spending the time two find the consistency like you can see it yes consistency so that the last link when I put it together here I know that there is no twist in the link so it's good to pay attention when it's it continuous chain to that very last link when you put it together so that you're not creating a big twist and then you just go and do the same thing close this went up and shape it, and then you've got your necklace is to your eyes are long enough to go over your head, but you do smaller ones, they use a class. Yeah, I'm going to show that next actually, we're gonna make a class and show that so here's another example of us of a shorter necklace, right? And I mixed up the shape of the links like these are of the ones with the that are parallel, more like paper clips, and then these I just left them as hand done. I didn't put him on a ring man's or anything to make them perfectly round. I kind of like the character of them and put them together and use my fingers and this one tio, I'm using some of the bugle beads with your darker and longer to give a different kind of texture to I've got those little discs that we showed how to do dripping off of them, and so you can create a shorter necklace if you want something like that, and then you do need toe create a class, and so what I have here is sixteen gauge wire, and I'm making a simple little clasp like this it's um, it's a link that looks similar in shape to the links that air there and a little less hook clasp says pretty direct and that will just hook in the back. So what I like to dio is I don't measure these so much, I, uh, just use the pliers around in the flats to start bending, start bending until I have more less this size of these things are in perfect links there they have, like, a character to them that's not perfect, so I don't mind doing it this way till I've got something that pretty much lines up and fits in in this esthetic with the thing that I'm doing a ready and then I will saw this s'all right where they meet you want to be careful again, where fingers are when you're about to saw through, to be close to the wood for fingers taken also your medals steak, because if your medal was here and you jump through, you would actually groove the other side if it just snapped and jumped through. We've got this, can I use your fingers and see if it lines up, you can use pliers as well. A little bit just making sure you get that tow line up and then you would go and sauder it right and for the for this you want to take the end a little loop is justice. You don't need a big big loop here twisted it around, getting it to come together and I would saute over it at this point with this long piece I mean, if you know and you've done it before you've done a sample, you can measure it out at this point, but I consider it like this and then bend it and see how much how long this is. A little one has only got a little bit of length extra here, but it could be longer if you wanted it to be, it could be a little bit shorter to create the shape and this is just like an ear wire essentially like a french hook just ah, thicker medal and you're using it as a clasp. So go and sato this joint and then used the round in half round pliers to shape it. Do you want to do any of you want to see that you get it? Tio does that make sense to put the clasp onto the necklace? Ok, so you start of those pieces, you pickle bomb, you have them come out and they look like this, okay? So you have your pieces and you have your whole necklace is done. Except for the last two links. The last two links are open still. So I will take a link, place it through the last one here and place it through here and then go and exactly what I've been doing. Fuse that together and shape it. I find it easier, especially with this thin wire in the links to make the class separately to go, sada it, clean it, do that and then use the link toe link it together instead of having this last link finished and the and putting the clasp on and saw during the clasp on with the whole necklace attach. This is easier in this case. That's one side. I could have had them both ready to go. The other side, here's a link. The ordering process slightly discovers the metal terms that slightly black is the pickle going to remove that? Yes. So we're not slaughtering here right now, but it does oxidize the middle. So actually, in this one, I decided I liked that that variation, it looked, it looked like it was something as a design that I wanted to keep where has the darker, where it was fuse together, and then got lighter clothes an option to keep that uh this one I oxidized and liver of sulfur so you can do that as well most of the time the liver of sulfur does not affect the glass and you can just rinse it off with a little you know waters open water and you're set to go on to know that the pickle is an acid it's a mild one the citrus pickle that I'm using but if you left the glass and if you left your whole necklace in there for a long time for hours and hours it might make you are my etch the surface of the glass and make the mat compared toe a shiny if they're shiny it you know it does it is an acid if you put it in there for five ten minutes t clean off the oxidation you're not it's not gonna work its magic on matt making that the with a glass but you do want to make sure you neutralize it in water and baking soda you can you know get some soapy water and washed it a little bit too afterwards if you want to but and then you'll shape the last links you know what I was using yes you and you it's moving the beads to the side is asking when you finish the hooks and you got your class together does it the product need to be hardened do you need to do any light hammering or tumbling she's she's just wondering how strong the pieces well you're talking about different things it's not about strength is a strong piece that's separate from the fact that this is a thin wire and it will bend that's what is talking about it can miss shape in you know with yousef you're not delicate with it I find that I don't put it in a tumbler because these glass beads they probably could hold up but you could lose some of them probably with the temblor it's something you can experiment with and see and which will work hard in your piece a little bit but I avoid the tumbler with these for the most part if you hammer it toe work hard in it finds it out and is a different look it certainly is something that you could do you could I can just show you real fast and it's a different to different look you don't want to have our too much because these air on the thinner side but it's certainly with the thinnest this thin wire it will it can kink and misshapen a little bit like you can if this was worn it can bend right okay so I just meant that so you know it happens pretty easily but you can also just take your fingers and place it back I find that there it is what it is and so it's understanding it's strong it's just it's on the more delicate side and so they can bend and along with their not being bent back and forth back and forth you're probably in pretty good shape man questions and what about the class that you made should that be hardened a little bit? No it's pretty thick. Ok, uh let's see, you can hammer it a little bit and that is that definitely work hard, is it? I would take a plan ish in hammer and you can stick it on the stoop and just tap a little bit it's still looks good and that will certainly work hard in it and make it spring year but I find that just bending it work hardens it, so I sought her it and it's straight satur at this stage I don't bend it before I saw her daughter this stage and then you're using the pliers to bend in shape it and that actually is work harding it as you go as well, the one thing that you want to consider is not having it be to open like that you don't want that to be to open otherwise it will be easily to come come off too easy so have it so that the it's pretty close it's pretty close together it can even be touching kind of were that jumping the loop part is and then the class he could be touching and then when you push it in, it takes a little effort. But it's a clasp, after all, and it's easy enough to do in that. That works, and you can brass brush this if you don't. If you wanted to be a little bit more shiny, you can. You can brass brush and get that matt that find silver that came to the surface from heating it up off if he'd like. But then there you go. You've got your necklace and can just put it on.
Class Materials
bonus material with purchase