Last week, a customer in the bead shop wanted to attach a slider/tube clasp to a bracelet she had just finished stitching. We both love these slider clasps because they have such a low profile: you see more stitching; less clasp!
Her bracelet was perfectly designed for a 3-hole clasp, with three "peaks" on the end:
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| St. Petersburg bracelet |
But when I placed a 3-hole slider next to the bracelet's end, the clasp clearly wasn't wide enough:
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| Bracelet next to 3-hole slider clasp |
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A 5-hole slider was the perfect size, but the 2 extra holes just wouldn't do. Unsightly, just sitting there, empty:
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| Bracelet next to 5-hole slider clasp |
I'd always wondered what would happen if I tried to remove some of the rings on these sliders, and here was the perfect opportunity to find out.
Using my chainnose pliers, I grasped the extra loops (individually) as close to their soldered connection to the tube as possible, and gently twisted each loop back and forth until it snapped off. Then I filed each connection point as close to the tube as possible to remove the leftover loop and solder:
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| 5-hole clasp after removing 2 loops on each half and filing smooth |
Look! Pretty close to a perfect match:
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| The 3 remaining holes line up almost perfectly with the peaks on the end of the bracelet |
And here's the finished product:
Nice, right?
Other than
that time I used Perfect Pearls to turn a silver clasp purple (and similar patinations with Liver of Sulfur, etc.), I have never altered clasps. If I couldn't find a clasp I liked, I just stitched one from seed beads! But this successful experiment has emboldened me a bit!
Have you ever altered findings to make them suit your needs?
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