Saturday, October 24, 2009

How To: Washer and wire necklace



Here are all the supplies I used:
Seed beads
One larger bead for the center
Wire (size must fit through the seed beads)
Two washers in different sizes.
Wire snippers
Round nosed pliers
Rubber tipper flat pliers
String or chain to hold the finished product



Wrap the wire around the washer, keeping it pretty tight. Leave the end of the wire loose for now, we'll use it later to bind the other end.



Hold the bead against the washer as you bend the wire so it's close up against it. This will keep it from "wobbling" as much.



If you have a pair of rubber nosed pliers (available at most craft stores) you can squeeze the wire as you go. This helps to mold the wire to the bead and also keeps it from losing it's position after you're done. If you don't have rubber nosed pliers you can use the regular ones but you'll have to be careful not to crack your beads and it may scar up the wire a little bit.



When you've gotten all the way around twist the wire together to keep it from moving around later. I have two twists in here because I didn't use a big enough piece of wire initially and had to add in a second. That's fine because you won't even see this middle part later. Notice that longer piece of wire hanging off of it? It's very important for a couple of things.



It will hold the center bead for starters. Just pass it through and put it in place. The second washer we add in a little bit will help hold it in the correct spot. If the second washer is a lot smaller than the first (like the copper washers pictured at the top) then you will probably want to put some seed beads on either side of the large bead to help keep it centered behind the little washer.



Just to give you an idea of how the second washer will cover up the tie off spots and help keep the bead in place:



Cover the smaller second washer the same way as the first.



Using the longer wire from the first washer I threaded it through the smaller washer's wire to bind the two together. Be sure that they're tight so they won't wobble later. Then you'll need to pass the wire between the two washers and through the middle of the big one so it comes out the back. Next go ahead and wrap it around one of the big washer's wires on the back a couple of times to keep it close against the back and let the rest of the wire stick up.



Use a pair of round nosed pliers, also available at craft stores, to twist the wire around and make a circle just above the top.



Then wrap the wire around itself to tie it off and make a pretty ending. Continue the wrap until the end is hidden behind the washer. Now you can cut it off with a pair of wire snippers and tuck the end in tight (so it won't poke you while wearing it). A pair of flat nosed pliers are good to squish the end in hard.



And voila! You are now ready to attach chain or string to your pendant.

2 comments:

  1. this is gorgeous... and you make it look so effortless too

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you for this excellent tutorial!! Very creative. I will link to my blog in a future post.

    ReplyDelete

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