For the Figure 8 Jump Rings, I would recommend you use half hard sterling silver wire instead of the dead soft type. It just seems more sturdy. As usual, you want to be careful using pliers when working with wire because you can easily mar the surface of the wire. Optionally, you might dip the tips of the pliers in that rubber mixture they sell at art stores in order to coat them. I haven’t done that with my pliers, though.
I’ve used 22 gauge Half Hard Sterling Silver wire for this example, but 20 gauge might be even more sturdy. Because the ends are “open” it’s good to have it as strong and sturdy as possible. The amount of wire you will need will depend on the size of the loops of your Figure 8 connector, but you can start off by cutting off an inch of wire.
Now, what you want to do is start turning a “normal-sized” loop in the usual manner that you usually do as in Figure 2. (For me, that’s about 1/2 inch up the tip of the pliers) Grasp one end of the wire with those Rosary Pliers firmly and with your other hand bend the wire around in a loop. The loop won’t be complete, but don’t worry about that. You can refer to the tutorial for Plain Loops if you’re confused here.
Next, remove the plier tips from the loop you’ve created. The loop should be nearly complete, so that the end of the loop is almost intersecting the wire. If it’s not, use the Rosary Pliers to bend it some so it’s nearly touching. You’ve just made the smaller loop of the Figure 8.
With the newly made loop facing upwards, grasp the wire as close as possible to the loop as in Figure 3a. Most importantly here, you want to grasp the wire HIGHER up on the Rosary Pliers because you want this second loop to be larger than the first. (If you want them the same size, then use the same position on the pliers). Compare Figure 2 and 3a to see what I’m talking about here about grabbing the wire at different positions along the pliers.
Now what you want to do is to bend the wire in a loop back in the opposite direction around the Rosary Pliers to complete the Figure Eight shape. Again, the wire doesn’t have to go in a complete loop, but you want it to nearly intersect with itself. Push down on the wire while holding the pliers in order to get the loop correct. You want the free end of the wire to look like it is “connecting” back to the other end of the wire to get that “infinity” type of look to your figure 8.
