Using Jump Rings With Seed Beads

Using Jump Rings With Seed Beads


Last week I was working on a lot of earrings, and for one pair, I realized I didn't have bullion wire to finish them, and I also didn't have seed beads in the right color for making the drops on the earrings. I did have 24 gauge wire, and some fine chain though.
I liked the look of the finished earrings enough I decided to design a pair for all of you, and explain how to finish beadwork this way.

You will need:
3 colors of size 11 Delicas, one color for leaves, one for the rose, and one for the outline. I used s/l red and green with opaque black.
Beading needles
thread, I used One G
wire snips or a jeweler's saw to cut the rings
round nose pliers
needle nose pliers
1.5 inches of fine chain that has links big enough pass 24 gauge wire through
24 gauge half hard round sterling silver wire
2 earring hooks
This pattern

Bead the earring pieces in either brick stitch or odd count peyote.
Now make the jump rings. What I did was mark a point on my round nose pliers that made a ring approximately 3mm in diameter, and wound a coil around the tips of the pliers at that point, but a small steel knitting needle that's about 3 mm will work well as a mandrel too. Slide the coil off whatever you wound it on, and snip down the length of the coil to make at least 6 jump rings. Cut the chain in 4 pieces, 2 that are three links for the tops of the earrings, and then cut the rest of the chain in half for drops.
Open the rings by twisting them so the ends are offset but not separated.

You can find great photo examples of what I mean here
Slide the ring into the top bead of the rose, and put a small length of chain into the open jump ring, then using both pairs of pliers, twist to close. Turn the ring with the pliers so the open side is inside the bead.

Repeat at the bottom of the rose, and then attach the leaf to the end of the chain using the same method. Attach to earring hooks.
I made this image of the earrings a little darker so you could see the chain and rings a bit more clearly.

The necklace at the top of this article is the same method. Here's the pattern for that.

It provides a nice finished look.
Here's an example of the difference between a beaded loop and a jump ring in finishing seed bead work.

The skull pattern is available here.







You Should Also Read:
Odd Count Peyote Earrings
Review of Findings and Finishings by Sharon Bateman
Basic Brick Stitch

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