Friday, January 7, 2011

.. another happy ending..................

by Kelli Pope
After using lots of handmade hook closures for my necklaces and bracelets, I wanted another look..... toggles. So, I started making those, too. The best thing about them is, once you have the bar, you just need a link to put it through. That link can be a circle, square, teardrop, whatever shape you want. It can be the end of a chain, a closed jump ring, a soldered piece of wire you've formed and finished, a hand formed clay piece, or.... well, whatever you can imagine, and your heart desires it to be.

Above is an example of one link I created from punching a hole through a copper disc. I then sanded it, hammered it and antiqued it.



I'm sure there are other ways to make the bar for your toggle, but this is the easiest for me. Simply cut a piece of wire. Above is 16ga copper. File the ends so they're nice and smooth and rounded.
Then make a loop in the center. I then hammer mine for strength. You can also use a tumbler. One main point to remember - your bar has to be longer than the widest part of your link. Otherwise, it will fall out when being worn.

And VOILA!! toggles. Remember the link I made for the last blog to use with the hook? Above it also works great with the toggle bar.





...............and it's another happy ending !!!



3 comments:

Artisan Beads Plus said...

Wow Kelli! What a simple way to finish off a necklace or bracelet to make it unique... I found myself in the hardware store on a few occasions shopping for different pieces that might go into or finish off a piece....

Patty said...

I love happy endings. :-)

Shannon Chomanczuk said...

I have started making my own clasps so I can say yes I did make everything on that piece! Thanks for the tutorial now I will be making lots and lots of toggles too!
Shannon C

face
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...