How to switch jump ring colours on our tassels

Our 20mm mini cotton tassels come with a SILVER jump ring already attached - but your earring hooks and other earring components are not silver! How do we make the switch? 

It's pretty simple, actually. All you require are 2 sets of pliers and your jump rings. In this tutorial, I will show you how!

You will need :- 

• 2 sets of pliers (in this tutorial I've used a set of Chain nose and Flat nose pliers from Bunnings, you will find pliers in any hardware store!)
• 20mm mini cotton tassels (find our full range here https://ajcraftsupplies.com/collections/tassels/20mm-mini-cotton)
• 6mm black jump rings (find our range of jump rings here https://ajcraftsupplies.com/collections/diy-jewellery-findings)

1. Locate the split in the silver jump ring on the cotton tassel

2. Using 2 sets of pliers, gently "open" that split by twisting the jump ring in opposite directions to leave about a 2mm gap. Be careful not to create too wide of a gap as that may warp the jump ring. 

3. Leave that tassel to one side. Pick up the jump ring you want to replace it with (in this case, our 6mm black jump ring is used for this tutorial), find the split and twist it in opposite directions to create a 2-3mm gap. You will want to make sure that this gap is large enough to slip through the tassel but again, take caution not to over-twist the jump ring.

4. Now this is the most important step of all and requires patience! 
Slide a tiny bit of the silver jump ring out of one end of the tassel and using a set of pliers, slide the replacement black jump ring in. Once it is in, slide a bit more of the silver jump ring out and the black jump ring on. Keep doing this until the black jump ring has fully replaced the silver one. You want to do this bit by bit in order to create a sort of a smooth transition to prevent losing the jump ring "hole". 

Note - as you slide the replacement jump ring in, take extra caution not to grab onto any of the tassel thread/strand along the way (even if you do, don't panic, you can pull that strand out and afford to lose it without compromising the overall structure of the tassel).

5. Once you've reach this stage, Congratulations! You have successfully replaced the jump ring on the tassel with the colour you desire.
Now it's time to shape the black jump ring with our Flat nose pliers. This step is totally optional but is recommended to maintain the integrity of the jump ring.

...and TA-DAH! Now you have our cute mini cotton tassels with a black jump ring to match your black earring hooks and components.

Of course, you can choose whichever colour jump rings you want to use as long as they are open jump rings (not closed ones) that you can split and replace. We do stock a great range of open jump rings here:

https://ajcraftsupplies.com/collections/diy-jewellery-findings

You CAN use 7mm or even 8mm size jump rings but I would not recommend using jump rings smaller than 6mm as they would be too small to comfortably work with.

I hope this tutorial helps! As usual, if you have any questions feel free to reach out to me at hello@ajcraftsupplies.com

Have fun crafting!
Zee x