How to Make Basic Hooks and Eyes

Hooks and eyes consist of two pieces that join together, making them excellent closures for necklaces, bracelets, and anklets. The size of the hook and eye can vary depending on the size and scale of your project. They can be linked to a piece of jewelry by knotting or with jump rings.

How to Make a Hook

  1. File both ends of a short piece of wire.
  2. With round-nose pliers, make a small curl on one end of the wire. This creates a loop through which jump rings and other components will be threaded to attach the hook to the rest of the piece of jewelry.
  3. About 1/2″ from the curl you just formed, grasp the wire with the pliers. Using your other hand, wrap the wire around the pliers into a hook shape.
  4. With round-nose pliers, create a small loop, curving away from the inside of the hook.

How to Make a Figure-Eight Eye

  1. File the ends of a short piece of wire.
  2. With round-nose pliers, make a large loop that ends at the midpoint of the piece of wire.
  3. Create an equally large loop, running in the opposite direction, with the other half of the wire.

How to Make an S-Hook

Depending on how you use it, a wire curled into an “S” shape can function as either a hook or a loop. If the curves of the S are kept open, then you have an S-hook that can be paired with eyes to form closures. If you pinch the S closed, however, you have two loops.

  1. Curl just a little more than one half of a length of wire around the nose of round-nose pliers, creating a hook. Repeat on the second portion of this wire, arcing the second hook in the opposite direction.
  2. Take the very tip of one end of the S-hook in the nose of the pliers. While holding the hook stable with another pair of pliers, create a tiny curl at the end. Repeat on the other end.