Shiney Lounge

FREE Wire Work Tutorials – 6 designs Part 1 A New Leaf Necklace

Be inspired by Amanda and Jane’s rich wire colours mixed with CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements. Learn how to hammer your own leafy wire links, create flat coil embellishments and adapt this technique to create a stylish autumn collection.

INTRODUCTION

This collection combines hammering, wrapping and coiling wire, while integrating CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements beads, pearls and flat back crystals. Based on an autumnal theme, the collection has something for all skill levels and even features making your own ear wires to compliment your earring designs.

Designing this collection was great fun. We settled on a theme and then experimented with shapes and colours, finally deciding upon Leaf Green, Mid-Brown and Warm Gold to portray the Autumnal rich colour pallet. We teamed these up with a number of CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements crystals, pearls and flat backs, choosing pearls in predominantly Light Green, Dark Green & Dark Brown, flat backs in Crystal Dorado and Crystal Copper and Crystals in Peridot & Palace Green Opal.

If you’ve not used a hammer and block before we recommend you try it, but warn you that it is very addictive! Hammering wire is a truly satisfying experience and with the right tools you can hammer most good quality wires, even if they are coated. Always use a chasing hammer and steel block, the hammer in the shed just won’t do for this sort of work.

When working with wire, it’s important to take a confident approach to bending and shaping your designs. Remember you are in control of the wire it’s not in control of you. If you make a mistake, just take out your nylon jaw pliers, run it through the wire and start again. What we sometimes consider as a mistake, is actually just a new design, so its good to remain open minded!

Once you have mastered the core techniques involved in these projects, the rest should come easy. The feature necklace isn’t a quick make, but once you have created all your leafy links, putting it all together takes no time. We opted for our own toggle clasp, but you can always go for a complimentary leaf-style, copper toggle like the one we used on the ‘Crazy Wire Bracelet’ (coming in a future post).

When we were making the feature necklace, we were delighted with the look but it just wasn’t a Shiney Company design without some sparkle. We usually dip straight into the bead box but this time we thought that adding some CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements flat back stones would make things a little more interesting. Gem-Tac is our favourite adhesive for adding flat backs to all surfaces. Not only is it great for sticking flat backs to metal, but it also works on fabrics, glass, leather and vinyl. Gem-Tac is a multi-purpose glue that dries clear, is non-toxic, non-flammable and you can even wash it after 24 hours and we highly recommend it.

Wire is such a flexible medium to work with. You can really get carried away once you start experimenting. Imagine making a tiara with these leafy style embellishments for an Autumn wedding. Add some red beads as berries nds you have a winter look design. Who says leaves have to be green? Why not introduce red wire or black and make it contemporary. You could connect the leaf links for some shoulder duster earrings, or combine them around a Christmas cake for a garland decoration. Practice the designs in plated wire, then go for something special using sterling silver wire, the options are endless.

You will need…

• Flush Cutters
• Nylon Jaw Pliers
• Round Nose Pliers
• Snipe Nose Pliers
• Chasing Hammer
• Steel Block
• Gem-Tac
• 1 Copper Leaf toggle clasp (optional finishing)
• 2 Copper oval jump rings (optional finishing)
• 0.71mm Warm Gold Wire
• 0.71mm Mid-Brown Wire
• 0.71mm Leaf Green Wire
• Approx. 50 3mm SS12 Crystal Copper Article 2028 CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements flat back stones
• Approx. 50 3mm SS12 Crystal Dorado Article 2028 CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements flat back stones

Tips

1. Nylon jaw pliers are the wire workers best friend! Always have a pair handy to straighten unwanted bends your wire.
2. You can hammer coated wires as long as you use a good quality chasing hammer and a steel block. It’s a great way of strengthening your shapes!
3. Use head pins to pick up flat backs; make the head slightly tacky with a miniscule dab of glue and there’s no need for the tweezers.
4. Take care when finishing wire ends. Use flush cutters to trim thick wires and squash unwanted sharp ends flat using snipe nose pliers. You can always use a file if you are working with sterling silver wire, but this doesn’t work with the coated wires as it exposes the copper core.

Step 1

Grip 75cm of Warm Gold wire between your thumb and finger approx. 15cms from one end. Wrap the long end around three slightly spaced out fingers to create an oval approx. 4cms x 2cms (at the widest part).

Step 2

Grip the edge of the frame and wrap the long end of wire around the edge twice to secure it. Pinch the other end of the oval to shape it into a leaf and wrap the wire around the frame at 5mm intervals.

Step 3

Place the leaf on a steel bench block and hammer with a chasing hammer, taking care not to hammer the protruding wires. Don’t hammer it too hard, just enough to flatten and strengthen it.

Step 4

Wrap the shorter of the two wires around the edge of the frame twice. Snip with your cutters and using the snipe nose pliers, squash the end so it is not sharp. Repeat steps 1 – 4 using the green and the brown wire.

Step 5

Gather the three leaves together by the protruding wires. Cross the wires and separate them into a group of 2 and 1 so they are at an angle (ten to two on the clock face). Twist the wires tightly twice near the top of the leaves and then separate.

Step 6

Bend each wire over and through a leaf to strengthen the connection. Trim the ends of the wire to 12cms long. Using the round nose pliers, make the beginnings of the flat coil, then grip and turn with the nylon jaw pliers to complete the coil without damaging the wire.

Step 7

Cut a 25cm piece of Warm Gold wire and evenly hammer 12cms at one end. Grip the hammered end with the widest part of the round nose pliers and turn to make a spiralled coil on the hammered section. Stretch the coil out.

Step 8

Wrap the non-hammered part of the wire around the edge of a leaf securely, near to where the leaves join. Make a flat coil with the remaining wire as you did in Step 6 and position it in the centre. Repeat Steps 7 and 8 with the green and brown wire.

Step 9

Repeat Steps 1 – 4 with only 50cms of wire and wrapping around 2 fingers to create a smaller leaf (approx. 3 x 1.5cms). You can make as many of these as you require for the length of your necklace. We recommend a short style.

Step 10

To connect, begin a wrapped loop with the remaining wire on one of the small leaves and connect it to the edge of the centre piece before wrapping to secure. Make a flat coil with the remaining wire.

Step 11

Continue by alternating the colours until you have reached your desired length. Finish by adding a copper leaf toggle clasp with oval jump rings. Alternatively you can make your finishing by creating a half size leaf for the ring and a toggle bar as shown (in a previous post).

Step 12

Using Gem-Tac adhesive and no-hotfix CRYSTALLIZED™ – Swarovski Elements flat back stones, decorate the coils. Place a small amount of glue onto the coil and place the crystals on top. Leave overnight to dry.

PART 2 – Leafy Hair Design next…