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Making Friends, One Bead At A Time

"No act of kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted." ~Aesop 

FREE JEWELRY MAKING LESSONS

This bead and wire chain can be used to make a bracelet or necklace.  One tip I got from a friend, who makes a lot of these, was to work with the wire in one large piece and not to cut it up into a bunch of smaller pieces. This way you end up with much less wasted wire. 

Here are the supplies and equipment you'll need:

• approx. 2.5 ft. 24 gauge gold-filled wire or silver 
• 10 - 6mm goldstone beads
• round nosed pliers
• wire cutters
• narrow bent nosed pliers

2. Continue to hold loop with your round nosed pliers while using your narrow bent nosed pliers to wrap the ½ inch part of the wire around the longer wire.

NOTE: Here is a good place for a few of those tips I mentioned. The first has to do with holding the loop with your round nosed pliers. While you do this, use your pointer finger, on the same hand that’s holding the pliers, to hold the loop in place on the nose of the pliers. Try to do this each time you wrap the wire. This will help to keep your loops circular and uniform in size. Now for tip 2. I’ve got two pair of bent nosed pliers. The ones with the more narrow nose works better with this project, especially once you start adding the beads on. Though you could also use regular flat nosed or needle nosed, I highly recommend the bent nosed for this project.

3. Use your bent nosed pliers to ensure that the coil you’ve created is tight and nothing is sticking out. If it doesn’t feel smooth enough, file down any pieces that might poke the wearer.

4. Now add your choice of bead(s) to your wire.

5. It’s time to do another loop. This time, make a loop by wrapping the wire around the smaller end of your round nosed pliers making sure you leave approx. ¼ in. between the bead and loop.

6. Continue to hold the loop with your round nosed pliers and use your hand to wrap the longest part of the wire around the ¼ inch of wire you left between the loop and bead. It will probably wrap around 3-4 times.

7. Use wire cutters to trim off the long wire. Then use your bent nosed pliers to finish closing the coil. Again, as before, you may have to use your file.

8. You’ve finished the first section of your chain. To ensure that it will lay correctly, use your bent pliers to make sure both loops are facing the same way.

NOTE: You may notice, at this point, that the first loop I made is much larger than the second loop. I did that on purpose since the first loop is used to join the bracelet. It’s kind of like your jump ring. From then on, the rest of the loops are made the same size as the smaller until you do the last loop. Then you make the last loop large again.

9. Now it’s time to do the next section and attach it to the one you previously made. Repeat step 5 and loop it onto the previous section you made before you start wrapping again.

10. Continue to hold the loop with your round nosed pliers and use your flat nosed pliers to wrap the small part of the wire around the long wire. It will probably wrap 3 - 4 times.

11. Add your bead to the long wire and repeat step 6 and 7

12. Continue this process until the chain is as long as you want it.

13. Finally, add a clasp. You can either add a pre-made clasp such as a lobster claw or spring ring, or you can make your own using wire .

As you can imagine, the possibilities are endless with this chain. This bracelet is approx. 8 inches long with these supplies. Once you get it finished and you either decide to wear it or pass it on to some one else, then it helps to shape the bracelet to the wearer’s wrist. 24 gage wire is very soft, much more so than the 20 gauge used in many of the  previous projects. So, it’s easy to do this. Just put it on the person’s wrist and then give it a little squeeze all around their wrist. This gives the bracelet a more circular shape.

All graphics and lessons created by Tammy Powley.