welcome to our informational site designed to nourish your spirit
Easy instructions to make a charm bracelet
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welcome to our informational site designed to nourish your spirit Easy instructions to make a charm bracelet |
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Follow my quick and easy instructions to make a charm bracelet using a purchased sterling silver bracelet,
charms and jump rings.
First, a few quick how tos. Purchase a plain sterling silver
bracelet. I am using a Figaro style sterling silver bracelet. This style bracelet is attractive and has nice,
large links in the chain that are evenly spaced making placement of the charms a breeze. However, any type of bracelet
with open links will do.
Recommended, but not required is a jump ring closer. A jump ring closer
is a type of plier with grooves that simplifies the task of closing your jump rings. However, I used a pair of
pliers to make this bracelet. It just takes a little longer if you do not have the proper tool.
Jump rings are opened by gently twisting the two sides of the jump ring (one side of
the jump ring is twisted slightly to the right; the other slightly to the left to create a small opening in the loop.
Repeat the procedure in reverse to close the jump ring.
The 7mm round jump rings that I used are strong yet easily opened and closed with
your fingers. However, you do need either a jump ring tool or 2 sets of pliers to completely set the jump ring
in place.
Assemble your supplies:
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First open your five jump rings using the method I described above. Lay your bracelet flat and untwisted on a flat surface. Place a charm
on the jump ring and then place the jump ring on the bottom half of the bracelet link. This will allow the charm to
hang freely. Also, as you place the charms make sure each charm faces in the same direction. Now, this is the only hard part of making this bracelet - securely closing the jump ring so
the charm will not fall off the bracelet. To completely secure jump ring closed they are usually soldered. If you have
a soldering iron and know how to use it, then solder your jump ring closed. Otherwise use your pliers to align the two ends of the jump ring so they are fitting tightly
together. Then, carefully use your pliers to reshape the round jump ring into a slight oval with the opening of the
jump ring on the side of the oval - not at the top or bottom (the top of the jump ring will now be laying through the bracelet
link and the charm will be hanging from the bottom of the jump ring). Your jump ring opening is now realigned so that the opening is not at a pressure point
and if it has been tightly closed the jump ring will not reopen with normal wear and tear. Why not just use an oval jump ring to begin with? The process of gently working metal
hardens it - think of hammered silver. Of course, overworking the metal will make it brittle so the key here is
gentle manipulation. If you have never worked with silver before I would recommend buying cheap stainless silver
jump rings for practice. |
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