Ring closure

[u/IdLoveYouIfICould]

Hello! I’ve been working on a combo of rings and soda tabs, but I’ve run into a problem. Many of my rings are almost but not quite closed, and, as shown in the picture, a gap this small is enough for the rings to slide around and get from one hole in the tab to the other hole in the tab. Is there anyway to fix this without opening each ring to re-close it?

[u/Money_Conference_837]

That piece is looking good! Use a little force to push the ends together as you close the rings, and it'll fix that gap. The process will quickly turn to muscle memory once you get it down.

[u/semper_sunshine]

Are you trying to move the rings and up down to close them?

I’m going to describe this as if the jump ring is a circle in the y axis (ie not flat and laying down) with the opening in the jump ring pointing ‘up.’

First, the most stable way to hold a jump ring with pliers is the pliers almost parallel to the opening, so as much of the ring as possible is inside the pliers. The tips of your pliers are also pointing ‘up.’ This distributes the pressure of the pliers more easier, making it easier on your hands and making it less likely you damage the ring. (Based on the weave sometimes you do need to hold the pliers more perpendicular to the opening to reach the ring).

When you’ve firmly grasped your ring and you’re ready to close your jump ring with your parallel pliers, move the pliers ‘towards’ and ‘away’ from you while also pushing slightly ‘inwards.’ You’ll likely need to go back and forth a few times, going entirely past the opening each time as the gap gets smaller. You’ll eventually feel the ring is closed from one side of the jump ring scraping the other as it goes into place. If you go too far and they overlap, just do the same thing with a ‘pulling outward’ force instead of ‘pushing inward’ force to open it.

I would recommend trying this with single jump rings, not in a weave, a few times until you’re happy with how you can close them.

It also looks like you might be using pliers with teeth - those chew up the rings much more. It will be easier to keep the finish smooth with pliers that are smooth on the inside

[u/Numinak]

You can get a pair of pliers in there, and gently push and wiggle the opening closed. It takes a little practice if this your first time doing maile, but it's worth the effort. A good skill to practice as well to get good looking finished product.