Beadmaking 101

Lesson 4: Wire

Wild Wire

Once you have mastered basic wire bending techniques, the next logical step is to create pieces of jewelry made entirely from your own hand-crafted wire beads.

While any wire can be used for this purpose, you'll find that the Wild Wire(TM) brand of wire is commonly used among bead makers.

Though relatively new to the market, Wild Wire(TM) produces an extensive line of craft wire in every imaginable color, as well as many other useful bead making supplies.

Particularly helpful to new wire bead crafters are the pattern books that Wild Wire(TM) offers. These books supply lots of examples of wire jewelry, as well as simple instructions for recreating the projects on your own.

The pattern board set that they offer is also very useful to beginners. The set consists of a small plastic board covered with holes, and a bag of little pegs, which fit into the holes. Essentially you can place the pegs into the board in whatever pattern you want, and then wrap the wire around the pegs to create loops, and curves with ease.

I would strongly recommend checking out the full product line as you venture into wire bead making.

Examples of Wild Wire(TM) Jewelry

The bracelet shown here is just one example of the sort of jewelry that can be created using Wild Wire(TM). To create this particular piece I created each segment individually, and then connected them all together to create the finished bracelet.

While the overall piece looks complex, the segments were relatively easy to create. Following the instructions from one of the Wild Wire(TM) project books, I simply twisted the wire around several pegs on a Wild Wire(TM) pattern board, adding beads as I went along.

I then created jump rings using the same wire to connect all of the segments together.

For additional examples of Wild Wire(TM) jewelry, and project instructions, be sure to check out the following websites: Wild Wire & Bead Necklace Wire Projects & Articles

More Fun with Wire

As you become more and more comfortable with wire bead making, you might think about learning to solder. Soldering is a fairly easy process to learn, and allows bead makers the opportunity to create wire designs that would not otherwise be possible.

Even if soldering is not something you are interested in learning, the project includes instructions for wire twists that could easily be incorporated into your wire designs.

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