Wire wrapping jewelry making. How to make wire wrapped pendant. Free wire wrapped stone pendant tutorial Valeriy Vorobev.
Quite popular jewelry are not only those that can be bought in the store but also made by hand at home. So although it is 21th century now, Wire wrapping jewelry making is still very popular. Thus we can make original decorations made of copper wire, which you can make yourself at home with a minimum of inexpensive tools. What tools are useful in such a fascinating matter and what interesting ideas should we pay attention to? All of these we will learn further from Valery.
Table of Contents
Wire wrapping jewelry making. Copper wire for jewelry.
Yes, we are going to use natural copper wire (without varnish on the surface). For beginners, this is the most suitable material available. I am telling you this with full responsibility, as a person who has been doing this technique for about 20 years. So if you want to get familiar with Wire wrapping jewelry making – I am the perfect person to help you with that. Quite a while ago, I was engaged in filigree for some time. I myself, still make most of my jewelry from natural copper.
Why do I love copper wire? Bear with me and I’ll tell you everything you want to know.
First of all – it is the cheapest material of all wires. Natural copper wire can be purchased at the online store. I want to draw your attention once again – copper wire should be natural, soft and without varnish!
But before you look for copper wire on the Internet, look at your nearest electrical store, where they sell electrical wires.
Go to the store with a caliper or at least a ruler. We will measure the thickness of the copper wire. The salesmen in the store will tell you only about the cross-section of the wire, and the cross-section and the thickness of the wire are not the same things.
So, 1mm or thicker wire can be found in electrical stores. You can purchase single, double and triple-stranded wires. All of these wires have a protection layer. Already at home, carefully off cut the protection layer.
You can find 0.4 mm thick wire in power cables (for welding). There is a lot of it there. I cut pieces of 3 meters and remove the protection layer. This wire is the best for Wire wrapping jewelry making.
First, we need a natural copper wire thickness of 1 mm and 0.4 mm. If you can find it in the store, buy a few meters. This is the most copper wire of all copper wires! If you can’t find anything, you can buy it in an online store. Let’s continue to talk about the advantages of natural copper wire. Copper wire can be flattened and forged on an anvil. Copper wire also can be twisted and drawn through nozzles. Copper wire can be soldered with copper and phosphorus solder, you can anneal and melt copper. And finally, it can be patinated, sanded and polished. I will say right away that you can also do all this with natural wires made of other natural metals (nesilver, melchior, brass, bronze and silver).
But copper wire has one particular advantage. Let’s talk about the main characteristic of wire – its hardness. As a rule, there are three types – hard, medium-hard and soft. Usually, craftsmen use a soft wire and sometimes take the medium-hard wire to make the basis of the jewelry. Thickness is important, especially in wire weaving. This is when a thin wire is weaved on a thick wire.
Natural copper wire is ideal in its parameters for the jewelry making. Once purchased, you can get to work right away. A wire from other materials is almost always not suitable enough in its parameters, it is much more difficult to work with. I have worked with many different metals and copper wire is the only wire that I have no complaints about. So, if you want to make your Wire wrapping jewelry making as comfortable as possible, the copper wire will be your best shot.
Wire wrapping jewelry making. Making wire coils.
To make a copper wire pendant we need to make two wire coils beforehand.
I have already told you in detail how to make long wire coils. This technique will come in very handy in Wire wrapping jewelry making. To make the wire coils we need copper wire.
Wire wrapping tools.
Don’t be scared, we won’t need a lot of tools to make a pendant out of wire and stone. We will need a very small set of hand tools.
I always strongly recommend that everyone get a pair of rubber-tipped pliers (nylon jaw pliers). This is a very good tool for Wire wrapping jewelry making. Now you can freely buy them in online stores. They can be with interchangeable jaws (but it may be hard to find them). You can see them in the photo – they are with yellow handles. Most are sold with the jaws glued firmly in place. The pliers in the photo have red grips.
If you find pliers with interchangeable jaws, don’t forget to buy spare jaws too. Also, I found out that the interchangeable silicone tips are softer than the non-interchangeable ones. I use both, but for certain works. Do not worry about it yet, you will figure it out in the process. Buy any of them, it will be much harder to work without them.
Stones for wire jewelry.
What kind of stones do I use for Wire wrapping jewelry making? I recommend that you use natural volcanic or glass stones for your jewelry. Simply put, they are hard. As a rule, a stone is fastened at once in the process of work and then it is wrapped with wire. We use metal tools, do chemical procedures, and so on in our work. A soft stone can be easily damaged in the process of work, even during polishing. The conclusion is obvious. The harder the stone, the better. Now there is such a wide variety of inexpensive stones in online stores.
Wire Wrapped Stone Pendants. Wire Wrapped tutorial.
This tutorial is suitable for craftsmen who have at least some experience with wire. It seems to me, that this tutorial may not be suitable for beginners.
We need five pieces of 1 mm thick wire, about 50 cm long. You will need a lot of thin wire 0.4 mm thick.
A natural stone bead with a hole.
In advance, you need to prepare two wire coils of about 5 – 7 cm each.
Next, examine the photo and make this pretty pendant.
To make the copper wire and stone pendant look noble and ancient, it can be patinated. Various substances available at home can be used for patination. In stores, you can buy special solutions for patinating copper. Be sure to read the instructions for these solutions.
Also, check out Wire wrapping pendant tutorials:
Wire wrapped tutorials PDF Valeriy Vorobev
