It's Hip, Hip, Hip to Be Square

See if you can follow this turney logic flow...  I made some simple coils for the kids at Summer Camp to use as beads, and wanted a larger mandrel, so tried to use some lolly pop sticks and bamboo skewers.  Lolly pop sticks were a disaster, and bamboo skewers were okay, but got hard to work with after a little while.  Beads got made, fun times by all...

So thinking back on that, I was brain storming what else I might already have around the house that would be easier to work with, and decided to try knitting needles and some faux ivory Chinese chopsticks.  The top half of the chopsticks are square....hmmmm.

Also kicking around my brain was a variation on this necklace, but with round beads of the same stone as the focal, and maybe jump rings as spacers.  I would need A LOT of jump rings....hmmm.  I've never made my own jump rings, but how hard could it be?  And how cool would it be if I used square jump rings?  And how did my brain make that leap?  No freaking idea. 

After wrapping the chopstick I use my bench block and hammer on each side which makes the sides straighter and the end result is more square like.  The chopstick has held up to a fair amount of beating, although suddenly the top inch flew off as I was hammering.  Not sure if I should just keep using chopsticks or get a square metal rod at the hardware store.  I'll probably keep using chopsticks until I destroy them all and then run to Home Depot :-)