Wire wrapping is a creative and intricate style of jewellery making. Exactly as you’d expect it to be, wire wrapping is a technique that involves curving, bending and wrapping wire to make different types of jewellery. Once you’ve practiced and developed your skills, wire wrapping can be used to create pendants, rings, bracelets and more.
With the size of wire and the right tools, wire wrapping can be a fairly straight forward type of jewellery making where no soldering, sawing or any other additional steps are required.
Step 1 – Understand the Basics
We think that wire wrapping is one of the most fun and creative styles of making jewellery! When first starting off, it can seem overwhelming so it is a good idea to watch as many video tutorials and guides as possible; seeing somebody show the process, step by step is always a great starting point.
Step 2 – Practice
After watching a few videos, why not start practicing by using your pliers to create a few loops with your wire. Small loops are a great way to figure out how easy wire is to work with. After creating a few loops , try and practice twisting the wire and forming a ring shape, a ring mandrel can be used for this. Take your wire and wrap around your ring stick at least twice, this will give you a solid starting point. Once you have the ring shape you an practice creating designs with the wire left over, create loops and twists and wrap your wire as many times as possible. Experiment with how you want it to look and if you’re not happy, use a pair of nylon jaw pliers to straighten out your wire and start again.
Step 3 – Start off With One Design
Once you’re comfortable with bending and shaping your wire, a good next step is to try and create one piece. This could be a ring, necklace or bracelet but whatever you decide it is advised that you conquer making one piece of wire wrapped jewellery confidently and comfortably before you start making too many. Although a lot of wire wrapped jewellery can involve gemstones, start by making wire wrapped jewellery on it’s own first.
Once you are comfortable creating a piece of jewellery with wire, you know how to finish the ends and are confident creating shapes, loops and more you can move on to creating more complex pieces.
Wire wrapping is such a timeless and classic style of jewellery making and a great starting point for new jewellery makers. Requiring just a few tools, wire wrapping is an inexpensive and fun way of making jewellery, so why not get started today? Invest in the right tools and practice, practice and practice some more and you’ll find that you’ll soon enough be able to create some timeless and classic pieces of jewellery.
Cooksongold