There are a lot of tiny little pieces that we use each and every day to make our handmade jewelry. Some of them are the actual components – such as jumprings, which are used to make all of our chainmaille stuff. And some bits are just used to hold other bits together, like eyepins and earwires. Today, I’m going to give you a lesson on the bits and pieces that are so integral in our handmade jewelry-making family biz!
We’ll start with the main deal, our fabulous, precision, handmade-by-Ralph, jumprings. The majority of our rings are enameled copper, but we also have raw copper, brass, bronze, stainless steel, sterling silver and argentium. Just lately we have been introducing 14 carat gold-filled into the mix.
Ralph makes our jumprings in a wide variety of colors. We buy (Made in USA, of course!) the enameled copper wire (meaning it has been coated with a clear or colored enamel and baked – keeping the metal from touching skin on the finished product) and Ralph winds it precisely into coils, slits the coils with a jeweller’s slitting saw, then washes and dries the resulting rings. He makes them from 22, 20, 18, 16 and 14 gauge wire. (Gauge refers to the thickness or diameter of the wire and the higher the number, the skinnier the wire). Jumprings are measured and sold by referring to their ID or “inside diameter”, and Ralph makes rings from as small as 1.5 mm ID to 12 mm ID (with larger sizes available for special custom orders). The resulting rainbow of Ralph-made rings is RAD!
Colorful rings a-plenty!
Next, we have eyepins. These are handy little bits made from exactly the same wire that the jumprings are formed from. They are simply a 2-inch (also available in custom lengths) length of wire with a loop at the end. They are used to connect pieces together in jewelry making, be it beads or other pretty things. In Leah’s own words, “an eyepin turns a bead into a link component.” Another loop can be formed at the other end of the eyepin to continue the chain from bead to bead. Eyepins are also used to hang dangles from a piece of jewelry, such as a bracelet or earring, when another dangly thing will hang below it. Very useful little bits indeed!
Pretty little eyepins!
Finally, we have earwires. They may be pretty self-explanatory, but they are an important part of our jewelry making and couldn’t be left out. (And we have such a pretty picture of them to show!) Earwires are made also from the same wire as jumprings and eyepins – so the color selection is the same, a veritable rainbow. The wire is smoothed and shaped just so and a tiny loop goes on the end. It’s this loop that the decorative part of the earring attaches to and hangs from. There are a ton of things you can dangle from an earwire and we love experimenting and finding new looks for our jewelry. The best part is, we can match your earrings to the part that actually goes through your ear!
Ok, now I know I’ve taken up quite a BIT of your time, but don’t you feel so educated on our jewelry making bits now?
Earwires galore!
