Hello all: I have made several necklaces that I wear myself. I have
different attachment methods for the decorative hanging part to the
chain.
My problem is how do you attach the decorative part to the chain so
it wants to stay face forward when you wear it. The necklaces range
from close to the neck to a long chain. A lot of my designs come
from an inch square copper square with a hole drilled into it. The
shorter necklaces tend to stay where they are placed, the longer
ones…HELP!
Thanks:
Carol
My problem is how do you attach the decorative part to the chain
so it wants to stay face forward when you wear it.
Hi Carol With a wider bail (the loop at the top of the pendant), the
pendant is less likely to turn when you wear it on your longer
chains.
You can plan to leave a long tab of copper 1/4" or wider at the top
of your pendant so that it can be curved to the back to make a bail.
Form it by curving the metal strip over a small rod or dowel a bit
larger than your chain. Fit the end well against the back of the
pendant and if you can, solder it in place. You might also make that
tab long enough that it can be rolled at least a complete turn to the
back, making a tube shape across the top for the chain.
Another option is to design your pendant with two openings side by
side at the top. The chain can pass through the first hole from the
back side of the pendant then return from front to back via the
second hole. You may need to use a small drill first then switch to
larger drill bits to enlarge the holes enough for your chain to pass
through.
Hope this helps. Good luck to you.
Pam Chott
Song of the Phoenix
Hi Carol, This can be a frustrating problem, but is solvable with
some planning and forethought. What I tend to do is think about how
my bail will work and what direction it will “tend” to face very
early on in the project. For example, right now I’m working on a
series of flat copper squares attached to structures similar to
picture frames. I want them to lay flat to the body and not turn.
So I’ve planned a couple of different sorts of bail attachments to
change the “pivot point” natural to the piece.
In 2 of the pieces (sorry, i don’t have pictures yet), i’ve "hung"
them from a decorative rope wire coming up from both sides of the
frame (almost a triangular shape). The wire contains a soldered
large jump ring that is the actual connection point to thread the
chain. In these cases, this bail is actually part of the design of
the piece.
In another of the pieces, I’ve attached 2 round bails, one at each
of the top corners. The chain will thread through both, which will
hold it flat across the top of the square. This approach works just
as well if you want the bails hidden and attach them on the back of
the piece.
Both of these designs make it harder for the piece to turn because
the connection point to the chain is “wider” than usual.
In other designs, I always count the number of jump rings I’m going
to need to get the chain to pass through at the correct angle to the
piece. If you think about a flat piece of copper, drilled front to
back, the first jump ring will go through at a 90-degree angle to the
body. If that ring is large enough, the chain can pass directly
through it and there’s no pivot. However, if you want the piece to
"drop" below the chain more, you have to add more jump rings. Each
one you add will be at a 90-degree angle to the previous one, so to
get back to the correct angle to the body, you have to have an odd
number of rings (no matter what the size of the ring or even if they
vary in size).
Hope this helps!
Karen Goeller
@Karen_Goeller
My problem is how do you attach the decorative part to the
chain so it wants to stay face forward when you wear it. The
necklaces range from close to the neck to a long chain. A lot of
my designs come from an inch square copper square with a hole
drilled into it. The shorter necklaces tend to stay where they are
placed, the longer ones........HELP!
If I understand correctly, perhaps “twisting” the chain as you would
a curb chain might help.
Jonathan Brunet