In jewelry making findings are all the little piecey parts that you will need to complete a projects. (Yes, that’s a technical term.) There are quite a few little pieces that are a very important part of your jewelry making supplies. They are all the different connectors, bases and finishers of a jewelry piece. Without jewelry making findings, you could not complete your project. (You may not even be able to begin it!)
What Piecey Parts Are Considered Jewelry Making Findings?
Bails
Bails are the jewelry making findings hold your pendants in place and attach them to your necklace. Some pendants come with a bail built in (a way to hook the pendant to the wire, like a loop or hook, etc...), but sometimes you can’t find exactly what you want. Bails help you create your own unique pendants, and give you a way to attach them to the rest of your project.
They have all sorts of different bail styles. You can find them with obvious or hidden loops, hinges so they can open and allow you to change out your pendants without dismantling the entire jewelry piece, with bead holders to create a bead pendant, or as blanks with flat places to glue something to. The different options seem to go on forever.
Bead Caps
Bead caps are decorative little tops (and bottoms) for your beads. They are concave pieces that fit a bead like a hat. They hold beads in place, and also add the decorative element to them. You can give a boring bead a little more pizazz with a couple of bead caps. They come in lots of different sizes to fit the different size beads out there, and tons of different styles.
Blanks
There are blanks for just about every type of jewelry you can think of. Some of these jewelry making findings will have loops for dangles, and others will just have spaces to fit rhinestones, gems and crystals in. There are charm bracelet blanks that you can fit a certain type of charm into, much like the Italian charm bracelets. They have all sorts of starting point blanks for earrings, rings, bracelets, broaches, etc... Blanks are a great way to get your creative juices flowing!!
Clasps
Clasps are the closures you use to finish off your pieces. There are quite a few different styles of clasps out there. You have round clasps, lobster clasps, hook and eye clasps, decorative, etc....
Clasp Ends and Closed rings
Closed rings are a little different than jump rings. These are rings of wire that are soldered permanently closed, or created as one solid piece. They can be used in any part of jewelry making, but since they are closed, you have to use jump rings to attach them.
These jewelry making findings are often used as clasp receptacles [Pictured above with clasps] (to clip your clasp onto to close your jewelry piece). Since these are not open, you have to attach to them in the beginning of your process. (Example: If you are making a necklace, and you want a closed ring to clasp to, you will have to weave your string or wire through this closed ring, then crimp the wire around it.) There’s a ton of different sizes, colors, materials and styles to choose from.
Crimp Beads
Crimp beads are used to hold your wires or string together, or to hold beads in a certain place on a bracelet or necklace. You actually crimp (smash) the beads together so that they pinch your wire or string, securing the two ends together. These fun jewelry making findings have their own special pliers that have a specialized bump to pinch the center of the bead together so that the bead can also be folded in half. These pliers come in a couple of different sizes to use with the different sized crimp beads.
Crimp Bead Covers
Crimp bead covers are used to hide the crimp beads. The edges of the a smashed crimp bead can be really sharp, so the covers not only help hide the ugly piece of flat metal, but also protect your skin. Crimp bead covers also come in lots of different sizes so that they can compliment your design. I have only seen them in gold and silver colors, but they do have antiqued gold, gold plated, gold filled, antiqued silver, sterling silver, silver plated and sometimes you can find them in brass.
Dangle Bobs (another one of my technical terms)
Dangle bobs (the real term is drops), these are the jewelry making findings you can attach to hang from your necklaces, bracelets, etc... to add that perfect finishing touch. You know how really nice necklaces have that added dangle in the back by the clasp? Well, that’s what these are. You can choose from balls, or a charm type, or just some sort of decorative wire accent. They have resin drops, enameled drops, sterling silver, gold, etc.... Just about any material you can think of, and in just about any shape and style you could think of.
Earrings have probably the most different types of jewelry making findings out there. Depending on what style of earring you are making, dangle or post, there are lots of different options to choose from.
You can get ear stud blanks to glue simple gems or rhinestones to, or you can get an earring ball and post that will have a loop for you to attach any sort of dangle to. Ear stud nuts are the backs to post style earrings.
Then you have the ear threads and wires. There are a ton of choices in this group, alone! Different styles, materials, etc... You can even make your own ear threads (with a little wire and some chain) and ear wires (with a little bit of wire) Curve them any way you would like, and put all sorts of decorative spirals and curls on them.
There’s also all the hoop blanks out there. Some have only a few rings to attach to, while others have lots. You can glue rhinestones, gems or crystals to them, or use jump rings and wire wrapping techniques to add dangles. (You could even do both!!)
If you don't have holes in your ears for post or wire type earrings, they also have a few different clip on styles to choose from. These also come in a few different materials. Some have loops to attach dangles, and others have flat spots to glue gems, rhinestones and crystals to.
Earrings most definitely have the largest variety of options out there. Get creative and you’ll be amazed at what you can come up with!
Ends
Sometimes call terminators. They are the findings that end your work. Memory wire ends fall into this category. There are all sorts of different kinds of ends. Crimp bead cover ends, memory wire ends, leather and cord ends, ribbon ends, etc.... These things are all ways to connect your project piece either to a clasp, a jump ring, or to connect the piece together. These are also used to complete your existing project and end it completely.
Head Pins and Eye Pins
Head pins and eye pins are an important part of making dangles. These pins are nothing more than a piece of wire with a head on one end to stop your beads from falling off. The head pins will have a flat head and eye pins will have a loop. They come in all sorts of different gauges, lengths and materials. You can even find decorative head pins with some sort of added head design instead of just a boring flat head. The only downfall to head pin is you have to make sure the head of the pin is larger than the hole in your bead, otherwise, your beads just slide right off. These are also findings you can make yourself, click here to find out how.
Jump Rings
Jump Rings or split rings are possibly one of the most important of all the jewelry making findings. They are the connectors of just about anything and everything. They are a small piece of round, or shaped, wire with a split that you can pry open, link to something else, then close back up again. They are, in essence, a split ring. There’s a ton of different sizes, colors, materials, shapes and styles to choose from.
Links
Links are more fun jewelry making findings. There are all sorts of links out there. What makes something a link? It will have a loop or loops on both ends so you can “link” something together. They range from simple wire links (which you could also make yourself) to elaborate designs with inset stones or gems.
Spacer Bars
These are a little like links. They have loops on both sides, but they are used to space out your work. These little findings make it possible for you to make multiple strand necklaces and bracelets. They keep the strands separate so they don’t get tangled up. These also have a wide range of styles, from the super simple to the uber elegant.
Misc Other Jewelry Making Findings
This category would include any other types of jewelry making findings I haven't already mentioned. Like: cell phone findings, button covers, kilt pins, key chains, pin backs, barrette and bobby pin blanks, bead cages, hat pins, bead frames, hair combs, book marks, etc... If you can think of something to add beads or “bling” to, there's jewelry making findings out there to make the job a little easier, or just to get your creative energies started.
Jewelry making findings really just include any part of a project that, by itself, is nothing, but added to other findings, beads and components, it becomes jewelry.
