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Attaching charms to bracelets and necklaces has always been one of those things that has bugged me, as a crafter. I actually used to solder jump rings to the charm loops to attach them, which was messy and inevitably painful. I tried using split rings, but the loops on charms are usually large enough that they ruin a split ring. Jump rings were easly, but I always worried about them being pulled loose.
Finally - I came up with a new technique for attaching charms to bracelets. The trick is to make a head pin drop with a coordinating bead, and slip the charm into the loop of the headpin. Here are some pictures to help make sense.
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In this example - I'll show how to attach a charm to the end of the "grow-chain" in a bracelet. You could ue the same technique to attach a charm to a closed ring or a charm-loop spacer.
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The parts:
a headpin (1 1/2")
a bead (6mm bicone)
and a charm.
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Slip charm into open loop
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Slip chain into open loop with charm.
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All finished - charm is quickly and securely attached with a bit of color.
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Here I used the same technique to attach the pewter flower charms. I made little loops that have three charms each and interspersed them through the bracelet to give the appearance of fullness. Again - some pictures illustrate the technique.
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The Parts:
One 6mm Bicone
One Pewter Charm
Several Glass Flower Beads
Three Headpins
One "closed" jump ring (they come pre-soldered and won't pull apart).
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Using round nose pliers, make loops on all three headpins. Slip the charm onto the loop with the bicone bead, and slip the closed ring into that loop as well. Wire wrap the headpin shut, and snip off excess wire.
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Slip the closed ring (with attached bead and charm) through the loop of one of the flower-headpins. Wire wrap shut, and snip excess wire.
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Slip the closed ring (with attached bead, charm and flower-headpin) through the loop of the last flower-headpin. Wirewrap shut, and snip excess wire.
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Once I have a nice pile of be-charmed closed rings, I string them on jewelry wire, each ring spaced 3/4" or so from the next with matching beads.
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