Chunky Jens Pind

Hi,

I would like to make a 'really chunky' jens pind bracelet. I was thinking of using 2.0mm or 2.5mm thickness silver wire. Can anyone tell me what size I would need the rings to be for this thickness wire? I was going to buy the soft wire as it is soo thick.

Hope you can help!

Thanks :)

Karen

Karen, without trying to teach granny to suck eggs, if you can do jpl, you should know that it needs an AR of between 2.8 and 3.1.

For 2mm wire, I use rings with an ID of between 5.6 and 6, depending on the temper of the wire - remember it will harden up a lot as you wind it. Make sure they're really tightly wound on your mandrel - too much springback will stop the weave from locking properly. I'd recommend hand cutting these - a KK would struggle with 2mm wire, and it's a lot of wire to make a mistake with. If you want to go up to 2.5mm wire, then an ID of between 7 and 7.25 should work nicely.

Definitely make a test piece in copper first.

Hi George,

Thank you! I know....slap my wrists :) I need to get my head around the maths of AR. I've tried reading up on it more than a few times but it's like a foreign language, lol. I know I need to learn it because it's important for different weaves.

Thank you for your help :) I will definitely do a test piece in copper.

Karen

p.s George can I ask a question. I noticed you make a triple colour copper jens pind. It looks gorgeous! I have two copper variations. The standard copper colour and tinned copper. I did a search but couldn't find another 'natural' copper colour. Can I be cheeky and ask what the third copper is? :)

AR's much less complicated than it's sometimes made to sound - especially if you're working in mm wire gauges. It's simply the relationship between the width of the wire and the inner diameter of the rings you use.

So for example, a byzantine weave, which needs an AR of 3.5 would work like this:

For 1mm wire, you need 3.5mm id rings - 1(mm wire) x 3.5(AR) = 3.5 (mm ID)
so 1.2mm wire would need (1.2 x 3.5) = 4.2mm ID rings
and 1.5mm wire would need (1.5 x 3.5) = 5.25mm ID rings

Provided you know the AR of a given weave, you can just multiply that by the gauge of the wire to get the right size ID to wind your coils. The ID is generally assumed to refer to the mandrel size used rather than the actual ring size - so if you're using wire with a lot of springback, like hard silver or metals like stainless steel or titanium, you may need to adjust the mandrel size slightly to ensure the ID doesn't get too big - hence the convention of usually giving an AR range for a weave, referring to it's tightest through loosest tolerances.

Hi George,

Thanks for explaining the AR in plain English. I understand now :) Duh! It seemed allot more complicated from the links I was reading. I'm going to print this out so I can't forget.

Thanks George. You're a star!

Karen

Hi,

I just wanted to update you on my chunky jens pind bracelet. I bought some copper 2mm wire and practiced using 6mm and 6.25mm rings. I found the 6mm were far too tight and didn't allow the bracelet to bend at all! I settled for 6.25mm and I'm really pleased with my final bracelet.

Thanks for your advise :) I'm really pleased I experimented with copper first to get it right.

Karen

It would be great to see a picture Karen :)