Here are pics of my Bacchus bracelet (so called because in this setting the garnets look like luscious little grapes) using a new clasp. I think it finishes the piece neatly and is comfortable to wear, ties in nicely with the Bali silver and I like anything that allows me to use more beads as this does in the loop closing! There's a detail of the clasp, a shot of the whole bracelet so you can see how the clasp ties in and since this shot is very dark, a close up; all with Bacchus in the title:
Materials
4mm wide flat silver wire 0.7 mm round wire 1 small Bali daisy spacer easy silver solder 0.7 drill bit hand tools: saw, needle files, round nose pliers, side cuttersMethod Measure off and lightly score 15mm of the flat wire, but don't cut it yet. It's easier to drill it before cutting. Centre punch then drill three holes in the flat wire; one at 7.5mm, and a hole either side about 2mm on either side. Now you can cut off your length of flat wire. File the ends straight and finish to 1200 wet and dry.
Blob an end of the 0.7mm wire and snip it off about 4 -5mm below the blob. Set aside. Make a U-shape in the end of the wire with round nose pliers. The arms of the U need to be 4mm apart and 8mm long. Flatten one side of the daisy spacer slightly by rubbing it gently on some 600mm wet and dry paper.
Coat the arms of the U-shaped wire with flux and fit it into the two outer holes of the flat wire, allowing them to protrude from the top of the flat wire. You can stretch or compress the arms to fit. This forms the shank on your clasp. Test to see if size 11 seed bead will pass through easily (string a few temporarily as your test strand). Adjust if necessary by pushing the shank in or out. Solder using medium or easy solder. Pickel and clean the piece. Snip and then file the ends off the U-shape wire that are protruding until they vanish from the surface. Grip the shank and sand the top, using progressively fine grades of wet and dry to 1200 grit.
Flux the top of the clasp and the tail of the blobbed wire. Thread the daisy spacer onto the blobbed wire and then push this into the center hole on top of your clasp, with the flattened side of the spacer and the flat wire together. Solder. Carefully file out the end of the wire protruding from the back within the U shape. Pickle and polish the clasp with rouge. You're done.
To use the clasp, attach it with 6 to eight beads, make the closing loop 14
- 18 beads, what ever length you attach it with, you need 2 extra beads for the loop closing to centre it when it's closed.