Week 4 -- 52 Things -- Entwined Hearts Earrings

I made these a while ago but never got round to finishing them, I needed to finish off the earwires so finally got my hammer out and gave them a little pounding!!

 

Entwined Hearts Earrings

My little spotty dotty beads, with 2 colour dots on white and my own design wire earrings with handmade earwires too.

I really love anything heart shaped, I love to make heart beads and I have a new heart press which I got last year at Flame Off and I still haven't used it yet, really desperate now to try it out!

I NEED TO GET INTO MY WORKSHOP!!

So many ideas to get cracking on, the list is getting longer!!!

If I don't get there I'll just have to get on with something else!!! Mmmmmm what could that be????

You'll have to wait and see!!!

E x

Top Tip Tuesday ~~ Tutorial ~~ How to make Wrapped Loops

How to make:  Wrapped Loops

You will need:

Wire cutters
Round nose pliers
Flat nose pliers
Chain nose pliers

Head pin
Beads


1.  Onto a headpin place on desired bead(s), do not trim headpin as you did in the turned loop.

2.  Grasp the headpin with round nose pliers, approx. 4mm above the bead

3. Start to pull the wire around the blade of the round nose pliers, using your fingers or chain/flat nose pliers, to form the loop.

4. The wires should cross over

bend back the upright wire to centralise the loop (as in the turned loop)             

    

Tip: At this point you need to attach to the chain and/or earwire, if do not want to use a jump ring to attach the bead component.



5. Now take the chain nose pliers and hold the loop,

Grasp the loose end with a second pair of pliers (I use flat nose pliers but you can use whatever you have), pull this wire around the upright wire; ensuring this wire is perpendicular to the upright wire.



Tip:  If the wire is not perpendicular you will get sloping or diagonal wraps and they may not be neat and tidy. Using the flat nose pliers, straighten this wire so it sits perpendicular.

  

6.  Continue to wrap the wire around the upright until you get to the bead, the usual amount of wraps is 3 but it can be any number you want it to be, you are only limited by the length of wire left on the headpin.

Tip: While winding take the wire to the top (still holding the loop with the chain nose pliers), let go with the flat nosed pliers and reposition your hand by grasping the wire from the back and carry on by pulling the wire round and towards you 



and up 

let go again and reposition as before to pull upwards to the top once again

Don’t try and complete a wrap all in one go!

7.  Take the cutters and trim off the wire end as close to the base wire as possible.

Tip: You may need to straighten the loop after the wraps are complete as it can sometimes tip over slightly. Put the round nose pliers back into the loop to do this, as if re-turning it again.

 

Also the base wire can bend over slightly, just use your flat-nose pliers to straighten the loop so it becomes upright again.  

    

8.  Take the chain and/or flat nose pliers and tuck the end in by squeezing it down

slowly moving round the wire so no more wire is sticking out, until it is neat.

A Wrapped Loop

The wrapped loop is a little difficult to get right but with practice will become easier.


I hope you find this tutorial helpful and if you have any difficulties or any questions please contact me, I am happy to help.


Once you have mastered the wrapped loop, it is a very useful skill to have and can be used in many different ways within different types of jewellery making, earrings are a very common use but can also be used in bracelets, pendants/necklaces for linking or connecting components together, maybe in brooches and even in other types of accessories.

 

Bangle on a wire, connection to chains.

 

Beaded Finial on the clasp of a bangle

 

 

 

Necklace - Beads on a wire, connection to chain

 

Bookmark -  Connections between beads

Next time I will cover Coiling (I do not use a Gizmo) all done by hand.


Until then lots of practising required.  80))

E x

Top Tip Tuesday ~ Jewellery Basics Tutorial ~ Turning Loops

Jewellery Basics Techniques

I will be adding a number of Jewellery Basics to my blog along with other techniques in wirework.

 

In this tutorial I will show you how to make a turned loop using both methods, I have used one single bead to show how to do it with a bead in place.  I recommend that you try a few times on some spare, old or cheap headpins to practice before making a pair of earrings, for instance.

 

A Turned Loop

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. On a headpin place on beads in desired pattern/design.  

 

 

 

2. Trim headpin down to approx. 1cm above the last bead.

 

 

 

3. Take the round nosed pliers, grasp the end of the headpin between the blades at the very tip.

Tip:

Ensure the tip of the pin does not protrude above the blades of the pliers, run your finger across the top of the blades ~ you shouldn't be able to feel the tip of the pin.



4.  Turn the pin around the blade pushing down with your thumb to form the loop, until you can't go any further.

                                 




5. Reposition your blades to continue with the loop until it closes, straighten you hands to allow you to continue comfortably

         

                                                           

 

this should resemble a ‘p’ or ‘q’ shape 



                                           



6.  To finish the loop, place blade of pliers into the back of the loop

       

 

NB:  take careful note of the position of the blades in the loop

  

7.  Bend back the wire to centralise the loop above the bead  

     

You may need to ‘tweak’ the loop as the bending can cause the loop to open a little, to close it up, just place your blades into the front of the loop again and just pull around to remove the gap, making sure you have fully inserted the blade into the loop, otherwise the loop can distort.    

You could also squeeze the loop together using flat nosed pliers, very slowly and carefully ~ too much pressure could end up completely distorting the loop and destroying the circular shape of the loop.

 

 

                                         A Turned Loop

 

 

Turned Loop – Alternative Method

1.  Place beads onto a headpin, bend the pin back at 90° angle just above the bead

2.  Trim headpin to 1cm.  Grasp pin with round nosed pliers at the very tip.

 

 

 

3. Bend the pin around the blade to form the loop in the opposite direction to the bend        

                                          

Tip:

Use your other thumb to help guide the wire around the blade as before.

 

 

NB:

 

If the end of the wire sits above the bead, too high, then you can trim the wire and carry the loop round to close it once again.  This shortens the wire so bringing it down lower, nearer to the bead.

 

 

 

 

That's it all done!


Next time ~~

I will show you how to make a Wrapped Loop ~  a little more complex than the turned loop but definitely worth the effort to master this technique as it has many uses and is a very fundamental wirework technique.


Til next time

E x

 

New Listings ~~~ Finally

Yes I have finally got to listing some jewellery into my ChatElaine Creations Etsy store.  My intentions are always good but get very sidetracked when I'm online (plus I have to admit I don't really enjoy listing it just takes such a long time!!!)

 

Tempest Seas in copper

So I will be trying to pop in a few things I made for Bead Magazine and maybe if I feel like making some earrings I will list those too.  I have been very off jewellery making lately, as I have been doing other things around the house instead! Like tidying up my work area and getting my beads storage more streamlined so I can actually find what I want, when I want it!

So Tempest Seas Pendant Necklace is now in my store, with copper wire and my own lampwork focal bead in it. I have one or two others to list still but I will get them up this week.



Cant believe how quickly Christmas is looming up, time to sort out my list to Santa, I think there will be tools on there somewhere! Ha ha!  80))


Till next time

E x

Top Tips Tuesday ~~ Working with Wire ~~ Wire Gauges and When to use them!

Now Blogtoberfest 2013 is over I will be continuing with my Top Tips Tuesday spot.  

There will be a mixture of tutorials, information of jewellery making techniques and Top Tips!

I do hope this will be a very helpful resource for the beginner of jewellery making or maybe even for the intermediate jeweller. 



Working with Wire ~~ Part 2

 

Here is my table of wire gauges' information of when to use them and what to use them for!

Wire Gauge	What and When to use it
0.2mm (32g) or 0.3mm  (28g)	Very Fine wire, suitable for Crochet or Knitting with wire
0.4mm  (26g)	Mainly used for wrapping, coiling and weaving, all metals
0.5mm (24g) & 0.6mm (22g)	Used in wrapping or coiling, great for twisting in Tiara making.  0.5mm in colour coated wire is great as decoration in weaving and coiling sometimes comes in 0.56mm
0.7mm  (21g)	Tends to come in the colour coated wire mainly. Not always strong enough on its own and can still be a bit weak if used as a base wire for coiling or wrapping.
0.8mm (20g)	Very versatile. Good for making earwires, can be used as a base wire if wrapped/coiled in earrings or rings. This size is used in headpins and eyepins but has been stiffened, so will be great for making your own headpins, must be hammered to strengthen it.   Will pass through most bead holes (pearls would have difficulty as they have very small holes)
1.00mm (18g)	Versatile like 0.8mm, similar uses too.  Good base wire can be used on its own without being wrapped/coiling but will need to be hammered to strengthen it. Possibly will not pass through smaller holes in beads.
1.2mm or 1.25mm (16g)	Good as a base wire for most jewellery items ~ rings, bangles/bracelets, pendants, necklaces, brooches/fibulas/scarf rings, etc. Can be wrapped with larger wires such as 0.6mm as well as smaller wires, would  be strong.  Can be more difficult to work with as stiffer but can be an asset but tougher on your fingers.
1.5mm (15g) or 1.6mm (14g)	Good base wire for larger jewellery items ~ such as bangles/bracelets, wire necklaces, brooches/scarf ring base/fibulas.  No wrapping necessary. Can be hammered but if finding difficult to do so may need annealing first to soften the wire so will make it malleable while working, then hammer to strengthen and stiffen again once finished manipulating wire.
2mm (12g)	Very large and stiff wire, will need annealing first before manipulating.  Self supporting,  good for bangles or bracelets maybe neckpieces ~ hammer to add decoration or manipulate it.

 

I do have more tips on the boil but please do leave any comments of things you would like to see me cover!  I do love to get comments so please do say hello!

 

See you next time.

 

 

E x