How to Make a Simple Hook and Eye Clasp

	Wire Elements, Tarnish Resistant Bright Copper Wire, 16 Gauge 8 Yards (7.3 Meters) SKU: WNT-1634 $11.99
	The Beadsmith Jewelry Fine Round Nose Micro Pliers SKU: XTL-5514 $8.49
	Xuron Double Flush Cut Shears Pliers -Strong & Easy SKU: XTL-5605 $24.99
	Xuron Jeweler's Super Fine Pliers Chain Nose Flat Nose SKU: XTL-5450 $25.99
	Wubbers Bail Making Jewelry Pliers - Small 2mm And 2.5mm Size SKU: XTL-0030 $31.99
	Wubbers Bail Making Jewelry Pliers - Medium 3mm & 5mm Size SKU: XTL-0031 $29.99
	Beadalon Beading Mats - Prevent Bead Rolling 12 x 9 Inch (Set of 3) SKU: XTL-9930 $3.99

Note: This audio transcript is auto-generated and may not be completely accurate.
Hi. This is Julie from Beadaholique.com. Today I want going to show you how to make a hook eye clasp using just some craft wire and a pair of round nose pliers. Here's the clasp we're actually going to be making. You can see that it fits nicely together. Here is that same clasp over here where I've added some beads and some wire wrapping. You can really make it very decorative but I think this nicely illustrates how you can do custom a clasp and have it really match the piece of jewelry you're doing. So it's a really useful technique to know how to do and it's really quite simple. For this project we're gonna need a cylindrical object such as this pen and that's going to help us to make the eye part of our hook and eye clasp. You're going to need two lengths of wire and this is sixteen gauge craft wire. I've chosen copper but it also comes in gold and bronze tones. I've mine to two and half inches each. If you would make a little bit of a larger clasp go ahead and just cut a little bit more wire. You're going to need a pair of round nose pliers. You're going to need a flush cutter and a flat nose pair of pliers as well. This is a chain nose flat nose but it works well. Now if you wanted to get fancy and you've started making a lot of these I would actually recommend purchasing some bail making pliers. They're actually a little bit easier for this than the round nose because they stay uniform in there width the entire length whereas with the round nose they taper down to a point For this project I really wanted to use a round nose because I know it's a tool that just about everybody has in they're beading arsenal. Make sure you cut your wire and it's probably come out a little bit bent. Don't worry too much about that just go ahead and use your fingers. Try to straighten it out a little bit. Doesn't have to be perfect. So let's start by making the eye part of the hook and eye clasp. To do that we're going to pick a place on our round nose pliers. This is about a third of the way down depending upon the size of your round nose pliers that will make a difference but I'm just going to grab my wire between my plier prongs. I'm going to twist back. I'm going to release. Grab it again and twist until it meets the body of there wire. I'm just going to go the other side and i'm gonna make sure that I twisted in the same direction. Again I'm going to try to find the same spot that I used before because I want my loops to be the same size. Grab the wire and twist, release, and twist again. This is the object that we have right now. So now I'm going to take my cylindrical object and with the loops facing me I'm going to start and what I find to be in the middle, it doesn't have to be exact because you're going to be able to wind this up as you go. Now I'm going to push my wire around my pen. I'm just going to slip it off and now I have the eye part of my hook and clasp. I can just set that aside right now. Now to make the hook part we're going to take our two and half each piece of wire. I'm going to eye ball what I think is the middle of it and I'm going to bend my wire in half. And I'm just pinching it. That wasn't quite perfect. That's no big deal. I'm going to take my flush cutters and snip off a little bit of a difference. Now that is perfectly in the middle. Now taking my round nose pliers I'm going to again make a simple little loop and I'm going to go in an opposite direction of my main loop. So instead of curving inward I'm going to curve outward until the end of the wire meets the body of the wire. Flip it over try again to line it up in the same spot. This is what we have now. I'm going to again pinch it together a little bit. You can see that those line up nicely because I tried to make them the same size. Now I'm going to take my round nose pliers put it just about a eight of an inch down from the very tip and bend. I actually like going from both directions because the round nose pliers do taper. I find it gets a little bit more of a even bend. Kind of work it from various directions. If you have the bail making pliers you won't have to worry about that but with the round nose it's good to be cautious. I'm gonna come in with my flat nose and I'm just going to even it out a little bit. Try to straighten out any kinks so it's flat. I like pinching it together. And there you have a very simple hook and eye clasp made with craft wire and round nose pliers. Go to Beadaholique.com for all of your beading supplies needs!