findings, clasps

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Carlinda" :

]I have a question for y'all. Do you prefer to use handmade clasps and jump ]rings and findings, or do you mostly use commercial ones? And I'm pretty ]sure most of you use sterling or gold-filled or 14kt, right? If you make ]your own, how did you learn? Internet, books, magazines? Thanks for any info ]you can give me. I'll be back in a few days!

right now, most of mine are Bali. once i get more wire-working experience, i'll probably make more of my own. i use sterling or copper. mostly learned from help here or from "picture" books.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Oh, crap, I'm too exhausted to make my own.

Never anything else! ~~ Sooz

------- "Those in the cheaper seats clap. The rest of you rattle your jewelry." John Lennon (1940 - 1980) Royal Varieties Performance ~ Dr. Sooz's Bead Links

Definitely - I agree. On occasion I will use pewter clasps and charms, but only if they're really nice ones like Terra Cast makes.

On Thu, 22 Apr 2004 15:39:07 -0400, Dr. Sooz wrote (in message ):

I hate to say "Oh good, it's not only me," but I don't make my own findings, either. There are so many beautiful findings out there, I've never really seen the need.

I have a friend headed off to India to see family, and I've asked her to see about getting me some clasps. She tells me that 22K gold is common there, and that the cost is less than what I'm paying for 14K. That would make me very happy.

Kathy N-V

I'm a toggle convert. Especially for anything I wear myself. I'm hard on jewelry and I forget to take it off, so I need something very secure. So I like toggles. And I don't know how I'd make them. Hooks are better in that they are easier if you want jewelry to be adjustable. And though I do some wire work, I'd rather spend my wire working time with something more creative.

Becki B has a page on making customized hooks, but I don't remember where.

And yes, Sterling, Gold Filled or 14K only. Again, this is because I'm hard on jewelry, and expect everyone else to be too.

One thing about jump rings. I am more likely to want soldered rings and am not able to solder, so I don't even think about the jump rings.

Tina

I use commercial clasps. This is one of those things that I *could* probably do if I set my mind to it, but I don't see why I should for the kind of simple designs I buy. I'd rather spend that time designing the piece that goes with it. Remember, time and money are a tradeoff.

Eventually I will be buying fancier clasps, too, of the kind that I could not make for myself (with stones set in, etc.). As I start making really high-end pieces, I'll need that sort of clasp to maintain the tone.

Celine

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :

]I am more likely to want soldered rings and am ]not able to solder

you can buy them soldered . . .

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Which I do. And which is also why I don't make the unsoldered ones.

Tina

I've actually been playing around with an idea in my head to make my own toggles out of wire...silly, I know, since I can buy any number of manufactured ones...but then, i'm kinda nuts anyway.

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :

]Which I do. And which is also why I don't make the unsoldered ones.

ah - i misunderstood! sorry!

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Jalynne" :

]I've actually been playing around with an idea in my head to make my own toggles out ]of wire...silly, I know, since I can buy any number of manufactured ones...but then, ]i'm kinda nuts anyway.

actually, i should probably have qualified my answer. if the bracelet is "my wire wrap", i make the clasp to match. if the whole project is beaded, i use a premade clasp. so if i'm making a wire-wrap bracelet, odd are i made the clasp, too.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

I've been wondering if there's a way to make a toggle clasp adjustable. Maybe, in a small size, use 8-12 mm rings linked together to choose from, and one toggle.

Tina

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :

]I've been wondering if there's a way to make a toggle clasp adjustable. ]Maybe, in a small size, use 8-12 mm rings linked together to choose from, ]and one toggle.

i have some from Nicole that have a ring on each side [ oOo ] and the toggle goes into the center ring. i use one of the side rings for the bracelet and one to hang a charm from. i could probably link them together with jump rings and make it adjustable that way - the problem is, if you have more than one, it's going to mess up the look of the bracelet, i would think, because each oOo is 14mm. plus, you're going to have toggles left over . . .

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

If you are going to sell high-end jewerly then making your own clasps is a real plus -- it is cheaper and more "exclusive." I started making mine simply because I ran out of clasps and could not stop making jewelry, LOL. It is a lot cheaper unless you are buying expensive clasps. Which I also recommend.

Becki "In between the moon and you, the angels have a better view of the crumbling difference between wrong and right." -- Counting Crows

I hope if/when you come up with something, you'll post a link to how it turns out. I do a little wireworking, and would love to make my own toggles.

Cheers, Carla

Jalynne wrote:

Sure thing. It's gonna take a while of playing with it. Oh...and they'll likely be pretty plain, not a lot of extra stuff on em. Thinking about whether i should wait and take the wire working class first..

I make 99% of my jumprings (lack of wire purchase planning usually accounts for the other 1%) and probably 99.5% of my hooks/closures.

They are sterling, and I learned mostly from adapting things I saw. The cast ones, I learned from a silversmithing class in 1978...had to take an art class in college!!!

Hi everyone, Thanks for all your feedback. I'm doing lots of reading of old magazines and books right now after my surgery, which was more extensive than originally planned. So it looks like I'll have plenty of time to plan and design clasps and stuff. This is pretty short, hard to type with one hand! Thanks again.

Carlinda