May 21 2009
by C.S.

Sterling Silver Toggles

One of the most interesting and timeless closures is the sterling silver toggle. Since the beginning of time, humans have found that by wedging a piece of bone or wood through a smaller loop, you can create a secure wedge from which you can pull hard without the bone or stick coming through. The toggle lock has since evolved into many fancier forms, but the idea remains the same. Sterling silver toggles have essentially a toggle, which is the loop part of the lock, and a bar, the stylized stick part of the lock. Stones and Findings carries many different toggles . We have brushed toggles , leaf toggles and round toggles . We pride ourselves on our uniqueness and the cleverness of some of our sterling silver toggles.

We sell toggles separately from our bars because they are interchangeable. You can wear some of the sterling silver toggles as pendants. One of the examples if our leaf toggle . We create a number of varieties of leaves like this. At the same time, we also make other shapes of hearts and free-forms. Also, we have toggles where the loop is not obviously a loop, but rather it is blended as part of the design of the leaf or branch.

You can use the bars of the sterling silver toggle locks only if you are using chains with suitably sized link holes. We have some sticks that are extraordinarily long to accommodate larger chain loops. For example . Sometimes, designers might want to use stone pendants with large holes as the toggle part and buy only the stick part to create toggle effect. Conversely, designers might want to use our fancy toggles with a biwa (or stick pearl) as the stick part. Possibilities are endless. And we've created a plethora of designs for different purposes.

I am fond of designing with the toggle in the front, which allows for other charms and stones to be easily hung from the toggle. However, my favorite is putting the sterling silver toggles to the side. You can make it stay in that position by anchoring a heavy pendant to the necklace.

Toggles have a shortcoming of not being readily adjustable in length, unlike a lobster clasp with an extension chain. However, that can sometimes be remedied. You can position a loop, for example a large soldered ring on the same side of the chain as the stick part. Then, you can pull the stick and chain through the toggle and use the loop as a second toggle loop, thus shortening the chain. This method will give you two possible lengths for the necklace.

Well made sterling silver toggles will be very secure. You hear horror stories of the necklace or bracelet falling off and of losing them on the street. That often happens when the stick is too short. Stones and Findings made their sterling silver toggles extra long for their sets. You should always test the length and security of the toggle clasp by taking two sets and inserting the bar of one into the toggle of the other and working it to see them to see their security. However, if a second set is not available, you should measure the half length of the bar. It should be at least 20% longer than the widest part of the toggle.

Sterling silver toggles are fun and they can be very clever. I highly recommend you try designing with them outside of the traditional round shape and get creative with how you position them.