1. To give you a sense of their diminutive size, here are the mini clothespins next to a regular full-size one. The store had even smaller ones available, but I thought they would break too easily, so I passed on them.

2. The first modification will transform a mini clothespin into a tube-rivet holding clamp. To begin, saw off the pointed tips of the clothespin.

3. Measure your most-used tubing stock with a drill gauge to determine what size drill bit to use to create the hole. In this case, a #41 drill bit is compatible with the 3/32 stock tubing I use the most.

4. Draw a perpendicular line at the halfway point on the flat clothespin end that was created when we sawed off the tips. Where the line meets the pin jaws, drill a hole into the wood using the drill bit selected in Step #3.

5. The tubing fits perfectly, and you can secure it using a rubber band around the jaws. This makes it easy to hold/mark/saw/file tiny lengths of tubing for hollow rivets, hinge knuckles, tube settings—you name it.

6. Best of all, unlike the full-size ones, the mini clothespins fit within the standard jaws of a ring clamp.

7. Filing and sanding is a snap when tubing is held in these little clothespins.

8. The second modification we’ll make lets you securely hold commercially made hollow rivets while adjusting the length of the shaft for installation.

9. To modify the clothespin, disassemble the pin and saw a slot in the inner surfaces that the rivet head flange can slide into during sawing. The placement of the slot depends on the length of the rivets and how short you need to saw them for the jewelry piece.

10. Reassemble the clothespin and voilà! You now have a securely held and ready to saw/file/sand rivet at the ready. For extra security, you can wrap a rubber band around the clothespin to hold it tightly closed. Now, to come up with 22 more applications for the rest of those clothespins…