July 31, 2012

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I’m always on the look out for new craft and jewelry supplies to add to my repertoire. Ha! I love combining craft and repertoire in the same sentence. Anyhow, a few weeks back I was talking to my local jewelry supply guy and telling him that sometimes, my wire slipped through the opening of my jump rings when making necklaces like this, if my jump ring wasn’t closed just so. Jump rings can be persnickety little things, especially if they’re sorta cheap, which I am at times.

So he recommended these wire guards to replace jump rings when stringing beads. They’re basically look like little horse shoes with a channel in the middle that you fee your wire through. Because it’s one straight line there’s no way for the wire to slip through it, therefore securing your wire firmly in place. I used them to make my first piece for Making It Lovely over the weekend and I was really pleased with the results! They were easy to manipulate and the results were flawless.

I’ve yet to come across these cool little guards at places like Michael’s or Joann’s, but you can find them I’m sure at any specialty jewelry supply store, or tons of places online.  I see they even come in copper and hematite colors in addition to gold and silver.

So have you found any fun new crafting supplies that you can’t live without?  I’d love to hear!