Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Clever way to make jump rings

Carol Dekle-Foss
I recently came across this tutorial on how to make jump rings by the extremely talented Joy Kruse. I call her technique the jump ring making hack! Very clever. Joy has mad jewelry skills!  If you haven't ran into her designs yet, here is some of her recent work. 




Her work is AMazing. Joy also teaches, so if you live near Wisconsin I would definitely check out one of her classes. I wish I could! Here is her teaching schedule.

I was very interested in trying Joy's technique, so I did a bit of research on the coil holder and ended up buying Kevin's 12 inch Koil Cutter base over at Potter's USA. He also sells a Koil Cutter Kit. I'm kicking myself for not getting that instead. He offers the arbor and blade separately, so I may purchase those later to have on hand

Okay, to try Joy's technique, I first made a copper coil using my drill. 

I then annealed and pickled the coil like she suggested, which really helped the cutting process go faster.

Joy recommends using cut off wheels, like these at Home Depot. I didn't have any, so to cut my jump rings, I used the above diamond cut off wheel that I had on hand.  


All in all, I would call it a success! It took getting used to but I was able to cut quite a few jump rings using Joy's technique.

I love being able to make tons of jump rings, and have started a little jump ring container with various metals and sizes. 

DISCLAIMER: If you are just learning the flex shaft or if you feel more comfortable with the blade guide, I would get the whole kit. Also, it might be a good idea to first try out the arbor and blade to get the hang of the process. Please use all safety precautions when using flex shaft, put hair up, no hanging jewelry, and don't forget to wear safety goggles! 

Thank you so much Joy for letting me share your clever technique! 

I wanted to add that we have officially opened our ceramic shop! To celebrate we are offering 20% off through the June 19th. 

Thank you for reading!

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