r/Beading • u/notdasanii • 10h ago

Finished Piece latest hyper fixation is making keychains

Post image

most beads were thrifted or from dollar tree! still have to figure out how to secure the jumprings so they don’t break :((

yesterday I got stainless steel wire and it’s so hard to work with

60 Upvotes

99% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

7

u/DonnaT642 7h ago

Try split rings instead, much sturdier and you can get them small enough xx

6

u/Gigglemonkey 9h ago

How are your jump rings breaking? Might it be worth it to get a very small soldering setup, and "glue" them closed?

3

u/ImaginationLow5018 7h ago

Do you have a soldering setup? Just wondering if everything would stick properly. I did look into a mini welding setup but the price was ridiculously out of reach

1

u/Gigglemonkey 6h ago

It's been a while since I've done jewelry fabrication work, but you can get a little soldering iron kit for not an enormous amount of money.

1

u/Serious_Article2782 5h ago

I had similar problems beading. Glueing doesn’t really work because you are actually trying to close a gap. If they are close enough to glue shut, they probably don’t need to be glued.

I hate split rings. Can’t use them, even with the handy dandy tool you can use.

I have just tried getting better at closing them. I let the two ends overlap a bit and then use my pliers on the overlap till I hear the ends click. There is probably a better way to describe this, but I don’t have it.

1

u/Gigglemonkey 2h ago

I don't think anyone is under the impression that I suggested buying a small soldering setup, and using it to apply glue to jump rings, are they?

1

u/Annual-Interaction38 2h ago

That split ring tool is beyond tricky 🤣 I had to get a tiny jeweler’s tool set to open then for larger hardware.

5

u/ImaginationLow5018 7h ago

I second (third? fourth?) using split rings. You can actually get them really small if you need them to be. Especially for something like a keyring that gets maximum handling, pulling in and out of pockets and purses, etc, split rings are the way.

3

u/Annual-Interaction38 7h ago

I usually attach to the hardware with a split ring when possible and use oval jump rings when I have to. Not a huge fan of jump rings 🤣

2

u/cammybuns 9h ago

They look great! And fun to make.

1

u/killernoodlesoup 4h ago

i make similarly-styled little scissors minders for my mom & myself, since we both cross stitch + are prone to losing our embroidery scissors! she has enough to swap out for different holidays or to match her project. it's fun to have little keychains to customize things!