A citrus slice on a jump ring. A lake on a plate. A flamingo for the week. The starter is the chain and clasp that hold those faces on a wrist walking International Drive or sitting downtown after the heat.

Read the hang from the ring down: jump ring, then the face, then the letter if there is one.

This kit is the starter and the faces. Searches sit at the bottom. Citrus, lake, flamingo, and skyline live on Catalog. Mail: sales@tabaconda.com.

How a dangle hangs

A lake souvenir
A lake on a plate.
Gold chain starter strand with a lobster clasp, a closed ring, and one empty jump ring on cream paper
A starter strand: lobster at one end, a simple ring at the other, one empty jump ring already on a link.
  1. Starter on the wrist. Chain plus lobster, with one empty place. James Avery’s public charm-bracelet guide asks you to measure just below the wrist bone and add one inch so hanging pieces have room.
  2. Jump ring through the hole. Twist the ring open (do not pry the ends apart), slide it through the plate hole or the letter’s bail, then onto a link, then twist it closed.
  3. The face hangs. A lozenge with a center hole sits on the ring. A shield with a top hole hangs point-down. A letter hangs from its own bail.
  4. Read it from the clasp around. The first empty place is where the first dangle lives. Later pieces fill later links.

Tip

The International Gem Society bracelet lesson treats a charm as a smaller pendant that hangs from a single bail, a chain as the foundation, and a clasp as the closer. This kit follows that order.

Jump rings. The opener

The IGS findings lesson describes a jump ring as a plain wire ring with an opening along the ring. Twist it, slide on a chain or a plate hole, close it. Inexpensive, many sizes, many metals. Unsoldered rings can pull apart under strain; solder if the hang has to stay closed through a park week in water.

In a note to us, name the job: “a ring that will take a lozenge with a center hole.” Send the inner diameter you already wear if you have it. The Amazon search below is a category, not a gauge we pick for you.

Split rings. The slower cousin

Gold letter C charm hanging from a gold split ring, with extra jump rings on cream paper
A letter C on a split ring. IGS treats a split ring as a double coil of wire, like a key ring.

IGS: a split ring is a double circle of wire. You twist the chain or the plate onto the coil the way you add a key. Slower to change, harder to lose. Use it when the hang has to survive pool chlorine and a long walking day, and you do not want the ring to twist open in a hotel sink.

Note

A split ring is still a ring at the top of the read, not a clasp. The lobster still closes the starter. Do not put a split ring at the clasp end unless that is the closer you already wear.

Lobster clasp. The closer

Gold jump ring beside a gold lobster clasp on cream paper
Jump ring (left) versus lobster clasp (right). Same gold, two jobs.

A lobster is usually the closer, not the hang through a plate hole. If you want a letter you can unclip without twisting a jump ring, say “lobster join” in the note. That use is written on jump ring vs lobster.

Letter charms

Letter. Name it. One letter per dangle unless you ask for more than one hanging letter. A park-week initial is still a letter. A last-name letter from a downtown office around Lake Eola is still a letter. The search is a category, not a typeface we stock.

A letter usually hangs from its own bail onto a jump ring or a split ring. If the letter is the only piece, it can sit in the starter’s empty place. If it shares a wrist with a lozenge plate, say which piece sits closer to the clasp.

The starter strand

Starter. The first chain that can take a jump ring at all. A link chain is a different starter than a snake chain with no openings. Describe the links you already wear, or say you need a first set with one empty place.

Send the length you already wear, or the wrist measurement plus whether you want that extra inch. A child’s park-week wrist is often shorter; write the number you have.

Hang it on an Orlando week

International Drive is 11.1 miles of hotels, convention traffic, and evening gridlock southwest of downtown. A wrist on that strip spends the day in park heat, pool chlorine, sunscreen, and then hotel air-conditioning. A large plate face sits on skin. A drop taps. “Short hang” is a complete request.

Warning

Chlorine and sunscreen oils dull plating and can stress an unsoldered jump ring. If the piece has to live through a pool day, name a split ring or a soldered jump ring in the note, and keep the hang short enough that the plate does not slap the lane line.

A downtown week around Lake Eola, 23 acres, a 0.9-mile loop, is the other Orlando: offices, apartments, I-4 in the afternoon. Same families. Heat still belongs in the writing.

Order of operations

  1. Measure the wrist. Add an inch if this is a charm starter.
  2. Put the starter on: lobster, chain, one empty place.
  3. Twist a jump ring (or start a split ring) through the plate hole or the letter bail, then onto a link.
  4. Close the ring. Read the hang from that ring down.
  5. Write us the family, the letter, the hole, and the length you used. How to inquire.

Back to Dangle kits. Publisher: Orlando Charm Company and Tabaconda LLC.

Sources