All about jewellery making

Yes, Christmas is now fast approaching and many of you are probably beginning to think about Christmas beading projects.  Last year I wrote a tutorial for a beaded Christmas star, the protoytype of which is patiently waiting in our Christmas box ready to adorn the tree again this year. 

Beaded decorations for the Christmas tree are an excellent way of extending beading skills beyond personal adornment and into home decor.  I believe that such beaded decorations given as gifts are truly appreciated by the recipient and, as in our own case, are carefully stowed away to be brought out year after year.  What a lovely way to celebrate an extra special Christmas such as baby’s first etc. 

I have put together a list of some great resources for Christmas beading patterns.  Some are free, some to purchase, some simple and some fiendish!!! 

• Beaded Christmas wreath ornament (free pattern)
• Beaded Christmas bauble (free pattern)
• Beaded Christmas star ornament (free pattern)
• Russian leaves Christmas ornament cover
• Peyote stitch Russian Christmas ornament, quite fantabulous!
• Beaded pagoda Christmas ornament designed by Paula Adams (free pattern)
• Beaded snowflake patterns
• Christmas beading kits available from:  http://www.spellboundbead.co.uk
• Fabulous festive beading patterns available to purchase from http://www.bead-patterns.com
• A whole range of books with patterns for beaded Christmas tree ornaments are available from www.beadecked.com. Also check out their gallery for some great Christmas beading eye-candy!
• ‘Simply Sparkling Christmas Beading’ is a very recently published book that may be of interest when choosing Christmas projects. I have only been able to have a very quick glance at it in a bookshop but it certainly looks good. Here are the details:

Title: Simply Sparkling Christmas Beading Author: Dorothy Wood
ISBN: 0715325434 Publisher: David & Charles Date: August 2007

I have recently uploaded these gorgeous crystal snowflakes to my bead shop.  They have been placed alongside a range of other Christmassy beads, in a special ‘Christmas Beads’ section to make Christmas bead shopping easier.  This section will be added to over the coming weeks to include reds, greens, golds, silvers, snowflakes and sparklies.  Have fun with your festive beading!  Clare

Just a quick ’show and tell’ and a teensy tutorial.  I am loving wearing these earrings at the moment.  They are very simple to make using a basic hoop finding.  Here’s how I made them:

Materials:
2x hoop earring findings (or make your own from wire)
1 pair ear hooks
0.2 mm wire
Small handful size 9/0 seed beads
Small handful size 11/0 seed beads
3 large drop beads
4 small drop beads

1.  Un-hook the wire hoop at the back of the pre-made hoop finding and thread on your chosen drop beads in the following order - 1 small, 1 large, 1 small, 1 large, 1 small, 1 large, 1 small.  For the moment forget about these beads, just let them hang on the hoop out of the way.

2.  Take some fine wire, approx. 0.2mm in diameter, and wind it a few times around the hoop at the top.  Once the wire is firmly attached thread on your first seed bead (I have used blue size 9/0).  Position this bead up against the hoop on the outer edge and wind the wire around the hoop a couple of times to secure it.  Now you are ready to thread on your first group of 3 smaller seed beads which will sit on the inner edge of the hoop (I have used pale grey size 11/0).  Here is a close up picture to give you the idea:

As you can see from the photograph I have repeated this process 3 times plus one blue size 9/0 seed bead before incorporating the drop beads into the design (the drop beads essentially replace the 3 seed bead unit that you have been adding).  Each drop bead is separated by a size 9/0 seed bead and the wire should be wound around the hoop a couple of times between each bead so that they are all secured in place.

3.  Very nearly there!  Continue until you have incorporated all 7 drop beads into the design and then resume wiring on seed beads just as you did at the beginning so that they match the first side.

4.  Attach ear hooks and you’re done!

Copyright 2006 http://www.allaboutjewellerymaking.info
Not to be reproduced on any other website, in printed format or on a portable media device. May be printed for personal use but must not be used for commercial purposes.

  These earrings are fairly simple to make although they do take a bit of patience and you may have sore fingers at the end!  They are an excellent way to practice wire-wrapped loops (if you do not yet know how to create wire-wrapped loops see this post that gives links to tutorials on the net).

N.B. To see a bigger picture of these earrings please visit the original post where I first introduced them.

Here’s what you need:

2 x length of chain consisting of 9 fairly large links (if you don’t have any loose chain you can appropriate necklace extenders such as these for the task)
72 x headpins.  I used 2 inch silver-plated headpins
72 x crystals or 4mm beads of your choice
Round nose pliers
Flat nose pliers
1 pair of ear hooks

For my example I used 3 shades of crystals to create a gradient effect.  You could use any combination of colours, a solid colour or even create a rainbow effect.

Start by adding 4 beads on wire-wrapped loops to the link at the bottom of the chain like so:

diagram 1

As you proceed to add beads up the length of the chain add 2 wire-wrapped crystals/rounds on one side of the previous set and 2 on the other side like this:

diagram 2

This will ensure that they hang nice and evenly.  That’s all there is to it!  Just keep adding beads as you wish.  To achieve the gradient effect I changed colour after 3 rows.  Once complete add to an ear hook and hey presto just the other one to do.

Besides changing the colourways you could also experiment with the length of chain and the number of beads.

Hope you enjoyed this mini-tute.

Copyright 2006 http://www.allaboutjewellerymaking.info
Not to be reproduced on any other website, in printed format or on a portable media device. May be printed for personal use but must not be used for commercial purposes.

The All About Jewellery Making Mini-Guide to Wire Jigs

What is a wire jig and how is it used?

A wire jig is a device used by jewellery makers to shape wire.  It enables you to create wire shapes that are the same size over and over again.  This means that a wire jig is particularly useful for creating ornamental links for a bracelet, necklace or a pair of matching earrings.  It is essentially a board with holes into which you place pegs of varying sizes.  The pegs can be positioned in many configurations allowing you to create a wide variety of shapes.  To give you a better idea I have taken a photo of my own wire jig:

Here is a close up of the wire jig pegs - as you can see there are a variety of sizes:

Now for an example of a piece of jewellery made using a wire jig:

 The framework for this pineapple quartz chandelier pendant was made using my wire jig.  For this particular result I used one large peg at the base guiding the wire around two medium peg pegs up to one small peg at the top.  If you have read my post on this pendant you will know that this piece intially started out as one half of a pair of earrings.  I was able to successfully create a matching pair because I used the wire jig.  Unfortunately I over-estimated the size and they were rather enormous for earrings!

Once you have decided on your desired configuration of pegs you can starting creating shapes! A good way to start is to post the end of the wire you are using into one of the holes in the pegboard prior to wrapping it around the first peg.  This helps to create some tension so that you can pull the wire round evenly and it can easily be trimmed off once you have completed your design.  Don’t rush, try and take the wire round smoothly keeping it as close to the board as possible.  Practice is the key here.

What types of wire jig are available and how should I decide which one to buy?

There are a large range of wire jigs on the market from very basic plastic ones to much more sturdy examples such as mine and those produced by the well known company ‘Wig Jig’.  Initially I started with a cheap plastic one but I found this to be inadequate for my needs and actually not terribly effective at creating wire shapes.  The plastic was just not up to the job.  My current wire jig, illustrated above, is excellent as both the pegs and the board are metal.  I got this particular one from International Craft.  

I have never used a ‘Wig Jig’ but my research has shown that their pegs are metal and their bases are acrylic.  They have by far the widest variety of jigs: these include super-size pegs and a spiral maker as well as jigs with boards offering layouts of circular, square and semi-circular holes for the pegs.  Their range can be seen here.

You can of course make your own wire jig.  The easiest way to make a simple model is to hammer nails into a block of wood in the configuration you want to use.  This would be very sturdy but you would have to make a separate jig for each pattern you want to make.  Althernatively you could make an adjustable jig by drill holes to take small dowel.  If you do this remember to not drill all the way through the wood or your pegs will fall out.

What size of wire should I use?

The best thing to do is have a little experiment but here are my guidelines.

I personally suggest that anything finer than 22 gauge is a bit too flimy.  It all depends what you are using it for.  If you want to create links that will retain their shape then 20 or 18 gauge are best.  Anything thicker will probably be a bit difficult to bend round the pegs and anything finer will not hold its shape.  It is advisable to ‘work-harden’ your wire with a mallet after you have removed the wire from the jig as this will strengthen it. 

If you are making wire shapes for card embellishments that do not need to be particularly durable a thinner wire such as 24 or 26 gauge would be ok.  These gauges of wire often comes in a variety of colours and so are particularly suited to this purpose.

See my guide to wire gauges if you need further explanation as to the thickness of the wires mentioned. 

Where can I learn more?

There is lots of information on the internet but the best place to start is the ‘Wig Jig’ website.  Besides lots of information about jigs there are also lots of tutorials for wire components. 

Useful wire jig links

http://www.wigjig.com
http://www.jagwearjewelry.com/wirejig.htm - how to make your own wire jig

Materials

Size 11/0 seed beads (I have a wide range of colours in my bead shop, Bead Tree)
1 ring base with 8 metal loops (see diagram below - these are available from Jilly Beads)
Fine wire, approx. 28 gauge
Wire cutters
Chain nose pliers (if you don’t have chain nose pliers you could use flat nose instead)

This ring is much easier than it looks and it is an excellent way to use up small amounts of seed beads.  The base of the ring is a base metal adjustable band with 2 rows of loops:

Attaching the beads is quite simple using finely of approx. 28 gauge.  I would start with roughly 1.5m of wire so that you have plenty to work with.  If you find this length difficult try using a shorter piece and join another length on when you need it.

Begin by winding the wire around the ring base close to one of the outermost loops prior to taking the wire through the loop itself (see diagram below).  Thread on 7 beads of colour A and take the wire through  the loop again like this:

Now thread on 7 beads of colour B and repeat the procedure one more time with colour C.  At this point you should have 3 small loops of different coloured seed beads stacked neatly against one another. 

Take the wire around the ring base to carry it across to the next loop and repeat the process.  Keep repeating this step until you have completed one side of the ring.  The first side should look like this:

 
(Please note that each metal ring should have 3 loops of seed beads attached.  I didn’t draw them all in here as it would have looked very confusing.)

Now do the same for the second side of the ring.  Once you have completed the final group of seed bead loops take the wire through the centre of them so that it comes out in the middle of the 2 rose.  Thread on 3 seed beads then take the wire through the centre of the loops that are directly opposite pulling it under the ring tightly before bringing it to the next loop on the opposite side to repeat the process again.  Continue in this way until all the centre gaps between the two rows of loops have been filled. 

Finally wind the wire tightly around the ring base close to an end loop before trimming.  To give a neat finish and ensure that the wearer does not get poked by the wire ends I usually trim the wire on the top so it will not come into contact with the wearer’s finger.  The last part of the process is to squeeze the end with chain nose pliers so that it is as flush as possible to the ring band.

This pattern can be easily varied to create many possibilities and can be easily completed in an evening.

Copyright 2007 http://www.allaboutjewellerymaking.info   Not to be reproduced on any other website, in printed format or on a portable media device. May be printed for personal use but must not be used for commercial purposes.