17.Repeat these steps for the second eye pin.
Set these aside.16.Hold the eye pin wire with the rubber tube
on it in one hand with the wire that you bent
pointing toward you. Using the round nose
pliers, grip the end of the eye pin wire that
is pointing toward you and roll it away from
you. Your hand position will be similar to
that of holding a bicycle handlebar. At this
point, the loop at the top of the eye pin wire
should be large enough to slip the ear wire
on. After you add the ear wire, use the round
nose pliers to grasp the loop of the eye pin
wire and roll it closed. You can use the round
nose or chain nose pliers to adjust the shape
of the loop at the top of the eye pin if you
need to.
I use base metal head pins
and eye pins for strength on
projects that use a loop closure at
the top. Base metal is stronger than
sterling silver, and you will not need
to worry about the loop coming open.
I do use sterling silver for the ear wires;
some people are sensitive to base metal
because of the nickel content when it
comes in direct contact with their skin.It will become easier to keep
the loop round in shape the
more that you do this technique.
An alternative to using a ruler to meas-
ure the spot to cut off the eye pin at(^5) ⁄ 16 ” above the black hollow tube is to
designate a bead that is^5 ⁄ 16 ” long or a
piece of hollow tube cut to^5 ⁄ 16 ” and
slide it onto the top of the eye pin and
cut the wire directly above it. This will
allow you to have uniform length on all
of these that you do.