| The illustration above shows the left hand, holding the flat nose pliers, resting in place while the right hand, using the rosary pliers, in a gentle but firm motion turns the other end of the eye pin into a circular shape. Let your wrist make the turn. The technique for properly turning the eye pins is shown below. Grasp the already-formed loop of an eye pin with your flat nose pliers. Have rosary pliers ready in your work hand. Insert an eye pin into a bead as shown. Grasping the pin close up to the bead, make a gentle twist down, forming a 90 degree angle. Move your pliers down a bit and grasp the end of the pin to begin making a circular motion, turning the end of the pin in on itself. How far you move down the pliers nose depends on the size of the eye pins you are using. The closer you are to the narrowest end of the pliers, the smaller your circle will be. You will find that the metal bends easily; it is very pliable. Go slowly at first and practice until this is a smooth and effortless movement of your wrist. Continue turning until a circle is formed. A more oval shape is OK too. Attach the next eye pin or length of chain Close the eye pin all the way, tucking the end down inside the bead. It is important to use the correct eye pin size for the bead you are using, or your loops will be too large, or so small, there will not be room left to add the next eye pin. See chart below.
CORRECT EYE PIN POSITIONING Eyepins closures MUST be perpendicular to each other, or the rosary when finished, will not hang straight and links will kink. Perpendicular: One circle goes one way, the other goes the opposite way as shown below  Timesaver: Don't put your flat nose pliers down in between steps. Always work with both sets of pliers to handle your work, as shown at left. Mary finds this more difficult, but Chris is a pro at it. Mary puts the flat nose pliers aside and grasps the bead in her left hand, while making that final turn with the rosary pliers in her right hand. Whichever way works best for you is OK! Choose the right size eye pin for your bead or you'll be struggling your way through making things fit. The larger the bead, the larger the eye pin. Too large eye pins may be trimmed with wire cutters or the cutter on your rosary pliers, but may result in uneven sizes and slows your progress. |