Shiney Lounge

FREE Wire Work Tutorial – Making a flat coil

This is such a useful and versatile technique. Flat coils are a great way of finishing

off wire ends neatly. We  recently used this technique on a couple of the projects we submitted to Beads and Beyond and Making Jewellery Magazine (see images).

There are many uses for the flat coil; making headpins is just one of them. Use a piece of 0.8mm wire and make a small coil bottom, thread on your bead(s) and there you have it. It’s also useful for putting a large bead/large hole bead onto a wire to turn it into a pendant. You can make the coil any size to suit the beads. We also use this technique to make hammered charms: make a small coil and then hammer it with the chasing hammer on a steel block and it produces a neat effect to add to earrings, necklaces or bracelets (see image)

This effect was recently used on the ‘A New Leaf Project’ that featured in Beads and Beyond Magazine. Below we have featured the steps to help you make flat coils in a neat and professional way.

Tools required:
Flush Cutters
Round Nose Pliers
Nylon Jaw Pliers

Step 1

Using the round nose pliers, grip the tip of the wire and turn a small loop

Step 2

Continue turning until you begin to overlap half a turn

Step 3

Grip the loop flat inside the nylon jaws and turn the pliers while guiding the wire around the loop so it forms a flat, spiral shape. Using Nylon Jaw Pliers stops you from marking the wire as you grip!