You shouldn’t repair fine jewelry by yourself, but these quick fixes will have you wearing your favorite fashion jewelry again. For both problems, the solution is the same. You need to replace the broken clasp with a new one. When purchasing a new clasp, the safest bet is to buy one that is similar in size and shape to the old one. This will ensure your jewelry will fit and wear the same way. Once you’ve found the right one, attach your new jewelry clasp. This is one of the harder simple repairs, only because working with crimp beads can be difficult for new jewelry makers. In order for a crimp bead to hold, you need to find the right size crimp for the beading wire you are using. You can flatten crimps with flat-nosed pliers, but for a professional finish, special crimping pliers will make the job easy and give longer-lasting and beautiful results. To change the earring finding, your earring component needs to be attached to the ear wire by a loop or jump ring. Open the loop of the ear wire using the same technique you use to open the jump ring to attach a clasp. Remove the old ear wire and attach the new one by opening and closing the ring the same way. Place the ring on the ring mandrel as far down as it will go. Tap gently on the side with the mallet, gently pushing the ring down. Repeat on the other side by removing the ring and flipping it over. To re-shape a ring, you only want to apply enough pressure to make the ring round again. To make the ring larger, you will continue tapping, rotating around the ring until it moves to the desired size on the ring mandrel. Note that re-sizing or re-shaping fine jewelry or rings with stones should only be done by professionals to avoid loosening stone settings or causing a stress fracture in the metal. Some metals cannot be stretched this way, so if the size does not seem to be changing, that may be the problem. Tangles happen when more than one chain gets wound up together and may also involve knots. Untangling and unknotting chains takes patience, a couple of sewing pins, good lighting, a hard surface, cotton swabs, and some baby oil. Be patient. Starting at a loose end, begin to untangle one or two pieces of chain. Use the cotton swab to apply baby oil at stubborn knots to help make the chain glide apart easily. The same technique works well for knots in chains.
