Tutorial on making my 2-strand hook-and-eye clasp

[Pearl Dreams]

Here is the tutorial on making the 2 strand hook and eye clasp. The heart-shaped loops on the hook and eye allow you to attach two strands.

(Edit: Further on in the thread we work on a 3 strand clasp I'm calling the 3-Petal clasp. See photos on pages 4 and 5)

There are a lot of photos! We did this because some of you may never have wrapped wire before. I tried to show where to hold your hands. I will clarify and answer questions-- please make note of the specific photo or post you have a question about.

A few pointers:

1. I used 20 gauge wire for this hook. Cut 4 inches for the hook and 3 inches for the loop.

2. Nylon head pliers are cheap and very useful to straighten wire and hold the piece without marring the wire. You can get them at a craft or beading store. (Even Michaels has them.) If you don't have them, you can still make this clasp, but be careful not to make marks on your wire with your pliers!

3. It is important to make the mark on your round nose pliers with a permanent marker. Don't skip this step! Without the mark to help you position the wire, you may end up making the two parts of the heart-shaped loop different sizes and the piece will look lopsided!

4. A nylon head mallet (hammer) is used to hammer the non-wrapped parts of the clasp when it is finished. This "work hardens" it-- it compresses the molecules of the wire and makes it strong and springy. It will not flatten the wire or make it brittle. We got ours from Rio Grande. (By contrast, hammering with a chasing hammer (steel) will make the wire more brittle and flatter.) NEVER HAMMER CROSSED WIRES-- they will break. Don't hammer the wire where it is wound (wrapped) either.

If you don't have a nylon head mallet and you still want to work harden the finished hook, you can hammer the hook with any other hard smooth plastic object-- I experimented and found that the plastic barrel of a thick permanent marker is hard enough to hammer with and didn't leave marks on the wire. If you are going to do this, experiment first with a piece of wire before you make your clasp-- you don't want to risk denting or marring your finished clasp!

 

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1. Tools you will need for 2 strand clasp. (Some of these you can get by without)

Left to right:
Chasing hammer, nylon head hammer, anvil (or steel block) small dowel --I used a chopstick (larger dowel shown if you want to make a larger hook with longer wire), a permanent marker with a fine point, round nose pliers, wire cutters, nylon head pliers, 4" 20 gauge wire, 3" 20 gauge wire, a ruler.

2. Mark your round nose pliers with permanent marker

3. Mark your chopstick or dowel

 

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4. Straighten wire if needed with nylon head nose pliers (note, this will make it a little stiffer)

5. Grasp end of wire with tip of round nose pliers

6. Rotate your pliers hand inward to form loop. You will have to reposition your pliers on the wire halfway through the turn.

 

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7. The finished loop

8. Wrap wire around chopstick or dowel

9. Apply pressure with index finger nails to shape hook

 

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10. The hook so far

11. Pinch hook and grasp wire at mark on pliers

12. This shows the hand positions

 

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13. Bend wire to the right in the same plane as the hook

14. Close up of bending wire with round nose pliers

15. Reposition pliers

 

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16. Shows position of fingers and wire

17. Bracing hook with middle finger, use index finger to force wire over pliers

18. Push wire over pliers

 

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19. Hook at this stage

20. Reposition pliers at red mark

21. Pinch hook and push wire back over pliers with index finger

 

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22. What it will look like after curving wire back

23. Grasp wire with pliers at red mark as shown

24. Hold hook and push wire over the pliers with index finger

 

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25. Pull the wire down to form the heart shape double loop

26. Cross the wire over

27. The wire crossed over completes the heart shape

 

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28. Grasp heart shaped loop with nylon head pliers

29. Grasp wire near end with pliers

30. Slowly wrap wire (away from you)

 

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31. Use wire cutters to cut off end of wire. Use pliers to pinch end of wire so it lies flat. (May prefer to use flat nose pliers for that)

32. Apply pressure with thumb to shape hook as needed

33. Hammer lightly with nylon head mallet to strengthen wire. Do not hammer over the wrapped wire!

 

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34. Hammer heart shaped loop as well. Remember not to hammer over wrapped wire!

35. The finished hook

Next we'll do the eye of the clasp!

 

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To make the eye part of the clasp:

36. Hold 3 inch wire 1 inch from the end

37. Bend wire to the right 90 degrees

38. Position bent wire under chopstick or dowel as shown
Edit: the wire should be perpendicular to the dowel. When the loop is done, the wire will hang straight down from the wire.

 

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39. Push wire up to dowel with thumb and use pressure from index finger to curve wire around dowel

40. Cross wire over

41. Clip wire with wire cutter as shown

 

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42. The loop so far

43. Use widest part of round nose pliers to grasp loop and rotate to close it

44. The closed loop (you can close it more than this-- I realized too late that it was not as closed as I wanted to show it)

 

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45. If necessary straighten wire by drawing it through nylon head pliers. I found I needed to do this.

46. Grasp wire at red mark as shown.

Edit: There has been a question about how far away from the eye loop to bend the wire. This is about 1 cm (or a little less) from the eye loop. The idea is to leave enough space so you can wrap the wire 3-4 times later to finish it, but not so much space that you make the eye half of the clasp unnecessarily long.

47. Bend wire 90 degrees to the right-- NOTE this is not in the same plane as the loop (as was the case with the hook) but perpendicular to it! This will make the clasp sit right on your neck.

Edit for clarity: It is hard to show three dimensions in the photo and I have received a question about this photo. In the photo I'm showing the eye loop as resting on my left index finger. This was just to show where everything is. In real life, to bend the wire, I grasp the eye loop in my left hand such that the wire is sticking straight up in the air. Then I use the pliers to bend the wire to the right, that is downward, 90 degrees (or a little more)

 

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48. Use index finger to curve wire around pliers at mark

49. Continuing to curve wire

50. Preparing to change direction

 

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51. Curving wire backwards over plier

52. Repositioning pliers at red mark

53. Pulling wire around pliers at red mark to form heart shape

 

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54. Crossing wire over

55. Grasping heart shaped loop with nylon head pliers

56. Wrapping wire (away from you)