Time is Money!

Let's talk about buying findings vs. making everything by hand. Today I wanted to make a type of necklace that required two soldered (closed) jump rings each. I only had 4 closed rings on hand and wanted to make 10 necklaces so I decided to make the jump rings myself. This is not something I do on a regular basis, so I don't own any specialized tools that would have made it easier for me.

The steps to making closed jump rings are:
1. Annealing wire (not everyone does this, but soft wire is easier to wind by hand
2. Winding wire around an appropriately sized mandrel
3. Taping the coil of wire so the cut rings don't drop onto the floor, forcing you to 'assume the position'
4. Sawing or cutting the coil into separate rings
    a. Sawing requires a jig of some sort, a professional one or a notch in your bench pin, or something else clever
    b. If you use a wire snip to cut the rings, one side will be (almost) flat/flush and the other side will be pinched - so you'll need to file or cut the other side
5. Using two pliers to close and align the jump ring closed
6. Placing solder at the seam
    a. I can never find the seam of a properly closed jump ring so I mark on either side of the opening with a Sharpie. The ink will burn away by the time the solder is ready to flow
7. Dropping the soldered jump ring in water to quench it.
8. Repeating with the other jump rings
    a. Obviously you'd want to prep all the jump rings the same way so you can solder them all at the same time.
9. Testing the jump rings to make sure they're really closed
10. Re-soldering those that aren't
    a. I'm only willing to try one more time. Anything more is annoying to me.
11. Pickling to remove the oxidation
12. Stringing on a safety pin to tumble polish or polish by hand
13.. Patinating if desired

That's a lot of steps!!! Although it is a great way to learn how to solder. Great for your assistant that is. If you have one.

Time yourself and figure out how long it takes to do these steps with 1 foot of wire. How many jump rings did you get out of it? Making jump rings is not skilled labor. Pay yourself $10.00 an hour for this task. Including the wire and your labor - how much did it cost to make one jump ring?

Now go look at a few different sites (remember to check 'chain mail' makers) and compare. How much can you buy them for, versus making them yourself? How many different sizes and gauges of jump rings do you like to use? Want to make them all?

In my mind - a jump ring is a jump ring is a jump ring. They're round pieces of wire. Period. There's nothing artistic in a jump ring. Even twisted wire ones (which I like to use and would never in a million years make) are just pretty versions of a plain old jump ring.

I made my coil using about a foot of wire, cut the rings with a wire cutter, realized I had to do all that extra work to make them look nice (instead of poorly made and 'crafty'), dropped them in the recycling jar, and got out some commercially made twisted wire jump rings and soldered them closed myself. 15 out of 20 soldered the first go 'round, 5 needed a second try. Then I strung them on a safety pin and they're happily tumbling as I write this post. (just took 'em out) I had not pickled them, and the tumbler did nothing to remove the oxidation. So now there's a little more I have to do with them. I've just spent all day on jump rings when I could have been making the necklaces. Sheesh!

So - making jump rings myself is definitely not worth my time. Every artist has to make their own decisions about their process. You might think about how much money you have in the bank that you can spend on supplies (some people have more, some have less), how much your time is worth and how annoying you find certain tasks. Then remember that if you don't pay for a commercially made finding up front - you should definitely be charging your customer for the finding that you're making by hand. So is it really cost effective in the long run?

I do like to see hand made clasps and earring wires on handmade work. So the decision on whether to buy those items commercially is totally up to the artist. But jump rings? I don't mind spending a little money to save me annoyance and time.