hey everyone! this is jessica from jewelrytutorialhq.comand bespangled beads on etsy. today we're going to learn how to finish aleather or cord necklace using fold - over crimps. the leather that i'm using is the flat black3mm suede leather that i sell in my shop, and i also have kits available for the findingsthat we're going to be using. these are two 3 millimeter fold-over end crimps.
sterling silver flat snake chain, you're going to need two jump rings, and a clasp of your choice. the tools that we are going to use includechain nose pliers, here on the left, and bent chain nose pliers on the right....or you canuse two pairs of chain nose pliers or two
pairs of bent chain nose pliers. you'll also need a pair of flush cutters and we're going to start by trimming our leatherto an inch shorter than the finished length desired, so for a 16 inch necklace, i'm goingto cut my cord at 15 inches. and the next thing you want to do is squeezein the sides of the crimp a little bit - it's going to make it easier to fold them overthe leather. insert the end of the leather or cord intothe crimp and then use your chain nose pliers to squeeze one side down at a time. make sure you give it a good squeeze and get it nice and tight, then on to the other side.
now using your flush cutters, if you needto you can just trim off the excess material if it's sticking out too much. be carefulnot to cut the ring on the crimp. now we're going to take one of our jump rings,grasp it firmly in the jaws of the chain nose pliers, making sure that the opening of thering is facing upward. with your other pair of pliers, grab the otherside of the jump ring. you want to make sure you've got a lot of the ring supported bythe pliers, as opposed to just holding it with the tipslike this, where you're not going to be able to open the ring, first of all, and you'relikely to also scratch and damage the metal. so you're just going to twist one of the pliersaway from you, and the other one towards you
gently. you always want to open a jump ringlike this - from front to back instead of side to side. i'm going to show you again from another angle- you can see how easily that moves. that's the motion that you want to replicate. so now we've got our open jump ring, we cansimply slide on the end of the crimp and grab our pliers, and using the same motionclose the jump ring back into place, and just wiggle it back and forth until you get theends to meet. now, resist the urge to squish it with yourpliers - that's just going to weaken the jump ring and ruin it!
we're going to do the same that we did forthe first crimp again for the other end. so just gently squeeze in the sides of thecrimp a little bit to make it easier, insert the leather, use your chain nose pliers andfold one side down at a time and make sure you squeeze it tight. and again for the other side. trim off any excess, again being careful notto cut any of the crimp or the loop. slide on your pendant, now we're going to attach the second jumpring to this end. before you close it up, slide on your clasp,and then twist the jump ring closed with your
pliers and wiggle it into place. that's how to finish off a leather or cordnecklace with fold-over crimps, and this is what i use for my handmade pendants. if you like this video, you might want tocheck out some of those projects here and
you can make your own pendants to go withyour new leather cords. i hope you'll visit me at jewelrytutorialhq.comand don't forget to like, share, and subscribe :) thanks for watching!
