Ok so its been a while since my last post, and I feel I should move away from my general discussion of different styles of charms and charm bracelets to some nitty gritty charm bracelet geeky stuff.  I’m sure you are all delighted to hear this, but sometimes the difference is in the detail, so I am going to have a quick chat about my findings with, erm, findings…

Charms have to be attached to bracelets.  And yes, its probably not the most exciting thing in the world, but there try telling me that its not important when one of your prized tiffany charms has fallen off in the street somewhere and has no doubt been run over by a truck by now!  Findings are the small attachments which attach charms to charm bracelets.  Actually I believe technically that jewellery findings is an overarching name for any small intricate pieces of jewellery which are used in the assembly of earrings, pendants, necklaces and the like, but its only really with charm bracelets that I have come across the phenomena.

There are a number of these different ‘findings’ which you can use, and I’ve seen some people invent their own out of all sorts of string, wire, twine etc, but to be honest I don’t think its a long term solution, especially if you value your charms in anyway (plus I think they look daft).  The most common type of attachments for charms are lobster clasps, split rings, jump rings, spring rings or bolt rings.

These all have various benefits and downsides, and I’ll try and take each in turn to address their respective issues.  Firstly Lobster clasps.  Aptly named after their resemblance to a lobster’s pincer, you pull a little trigger back to open the clasp, and you can then attach it to pretty much anything.  Lobster clasps are sturdy and won’t open themselves so you can feel pretty confident that it is not going to loosen over time and drop your charm off.  That said, the sturdiness of them also means they can look clumsy, especially if you like small charms.  You can buy lobster clasps in solid gold and silver, as well as plate.

Split rings are like tiny little keyrings, you have to work the ring around whatever bracelet link you are attaching the charm to just as you would a keyring to a key.  The only problem is if you have a chunky bracelet they can be quite fiddly, and they might not fit at all.  They are quite standard, and most shops and websites will give you free split rings when you but a charm.

Often confused with split rings are jump rings.  These are rings with a little split in them (hence the confusion) which can be bent back to allow something (like a charm) in, then moved back into place to close the loop.  There are issues in that there is nothing keeping the ring shut, and over time they can work themselves open.  Accordingly you can get solder jump rings and no solder jump rings, but if you want to get these rings soldered then you will have to take them to a jeweller most of whom will charge anything up to £15 per charm which, depending on where you buy your charms from, is often considerably more expensive than the charms themselves.  A soldered jump ring is very secure, however, and does not have any of the bulkiness of lobster clasps.

Spring rings and bolt rings are like other varieties of lobster clasp, only circular.  The spring ring has a loaded spring mechanism which you can pull back to put around a bracelet, and the bolt rings a screw mechanism.  Both are secure, with a bolt ring probably being the most secure of the three, but they again suffer from the bulkiness of lobster clasps, and having a dozen of them on a bracelet really does look a bit clumsy.

My advice is go for what you feel looks best, but make sure its a secure option.  Soldered jump rings can be costly, but they are probably the best looking way to securely fasten a charm to a charm bracelet.  There’s no point in scrimping on your findings and if you would choose solid silver charms over plated, then I would say you want to do the same for your findings.  Plating can wear off over time, especially on findings which constantly rub against the other metal components, leading to miscolouring and sometimes rust, and you wouldn’t want that on your charm bracelet would you?