Jewelry Arts Institute’s Student of the Week-Barbara Clayton

by jeanettecaines on June 28, 2011

Congratulations to our latest Student of the Week- Barbara Clayton.  I thought we might continue our discussion on jumprings with these striking earrings.  Barbara did a fabulous job with these earrings, letting the stones be the star.  To allow the stones to keep center stage, the jumprings have to do their job as well as be in proportion to avoid the HELLO I AM A JUMPRING effect I’m sure you have all seen before.  Here are a few tips on how Barbara did it.

Oftentimes having a full circle jumpring soldered to a bezel makes it too prominent in the design.  An easy solution to this is to make a half jumpring but they often prove tricky for students.  The key to making them match and look beautiful is the “wasted” step in between of soldering your jumprings closed first.  Barbara then stretched them perfectly round on a small mandrel.  The key to making them match is to stretch one until it looks nice and round and mark that spot on your mandrel with a sharpie.  It’s then easy to stretch them all to exactly the same size for perfect matches.  We then mark 1/3 to 1/2 of the circle where the seam is and cut it off.  A little filing is then all it takes to prepare them for soldering.  Barbara did a wonderful job with her jumprings and let her stones shine. Well done!

 

jeanettecaines

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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }

MARIA September 2, 2011 at 12:01 am

wow love these jumpring they are so beautiful elegant to wear as well

Marilyn Malbon July 2, 2011 at 3:25 am

Barb, so nice! Congratulations to you.

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