I Can't Live Without...

Hang on, the answer to that is coming--we have to roll through my front-end credits first--my Mood Ring and Studio Noise.

Mood Ring: Green

Studio Noise: Lionel Richie; Can't Slow Down (All Night Long)

Now we can begin!

This is my first post as a participant in a popular blog-world phenomenon called a blog carnival. In a blog carnival, a number of bloggers blog about a specific, narrowly-defined topic, and in their individual posts they provide links to the other carnival bloggers in an attempt to provide a variety of resources all in one place, at one time.

The question raised for this "episode" of our blog carnival was “What tool, skill/technique, or technology has most affected your work, and in what way?” This was a tough question for me to answer because as a tool junkie, I have a special affection for most of the tools in my studio, most of them are priceless with regards to what they allow me to do--a few of my favorites being my GRS Magnablock Ball Vise and accessories, as well as my Spirflame water torch. However, if I had to name just one tool that has most affected my work, it is my Jump Ringer, a product created by Ray Grossman.

Note that there are two "jumpringers"--the one that is the creation of Ray Grossman, and the one manufactured by Pepe.
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The Jump Ringer is a tool (kit) used to wind and cut metal wire for the purpose of making uniform, cleanly-cut chain links and jump-rings (or, whatever else you want to use the links for). It comes in a few different versions--the Basic and MKII versions, the difference being that the basic cuts softer metals like gold, silver, etc.; whereas, the MKII cuts the hard metals such as stainless steel, titanium, etc. I have the Basic, High-Production version which comes with 15" mandrels. For those who don't do a lot of chain-weaving don't want to pay the higher price, there is the Standard version with shorter 5" mandrels.

My set-up consists of the mounting bracket for the drill, the drill which I plug into my flex-shaft foot control to power the drill and control its speed, the blade housing and arbor, and the coil holder. Since I have one of the older versions of the set-up, I supplied my own drill and the foot-control from my flex shaft.

The Jump Ringer is important to what I do because I cut and fuse *a lot* of links for weaving chain. In the months to come, I will be cutting and fusing even more, so efficiency is very important to me. If I had to wind wire to make the number of chain links that I usually need, I’d be in a lot of trouble—both time-wise and physically (I do not desire Popeye forearms...). The Jump Ringer cuts the time needed for this at least by half. And, for those of us who've wound and cut links by hand, we know that sawing them post-winding can be a bit of a drag unless you only need a very small number of links. The Jump Ringer makes that part of the process painless.

The Jump Ringer can be purchased at a number of jewelry supply vendors, and the cost varies as you can purchase the entire system, or parts as needed. I provide the link to Connie Fox's site, Jatayu, where she sells and lays out very nicely all of the components to the system. Again--other vendors sell it, but I find her site most easy to navigate. You are welcome to compare prices from other vendors such as Otto Frei, Rio Grande, etc. A bonus is that no matter where you purchase it, the system designer, Ray Grossman, provides free technical assistance should you need it--and he's great to work with.

Abandon me on a desert island and I only have 5 things to bring??? One of them had better be my Jump Ringer (that is, the kit, otherwise each item in the kit might count as one of my 5 and I have to leave room for my 2-ton tub of snack granola).
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The links to the blogs of the other carnival participants are provided below.

Elaine Luther
http://creativetexturetools/news

Marco Fleseri
http://www.fleseri.com/blog/

Angela Crispin
http://angelacrispin.canalblog.com/

Comments

[Tamra]

Hi Angela!

Thanks for the compliment on the slide show.

Aaaahhh--nothing like cutting and fusing chain links! Hehe.

Please visit as often as you like--thanks for peeking in!

Tamra

[Angela]

Hi Tamra,
Great slide-show of your "Jump Ringer" set up. Cool !
Have a great intense-precision-cutting-fusing session ! I'll come by and visit now and then to see all the other cool things you'll be coming up with :) Angela