STEPHIE'S BEADS AND BAUBLES

I wanted to share a tutorial here of a piece I did twenty years ago. I have put off doing this charm for a long time because I knew I had to redesign it so it would be an easier to do charm. When I did it all those years ago I did a very complicated wire wrap thing and I knew I could do it better this time It took me about three hours but I figured it out and I am very happy with the finished charm .

here is the charm and the tutorial will follow. Once I post this blog I will do a short YouTube video and will come here and add it right before the first picture.

First lets start with the materials you will need.

It is a pretty simple piece so not too many items are needed to make it.

Some basic tools,

wire cutter

two pairs of jewelry pliers one to hold the item while you use the other on the piece if needed, you might just need one plier

a looping plier

a ruler to measure the wire

after you have your tools together the materials you need are

a 12 to 14 mm pearl or bead for body of angel any size you like is fine,

a smaller bead for the head, proportion for the body.

A heavy gauge 6 mm jump ring

a two inch head or loop pin for making jewelry

Wire , I used aprox 24 to 24 gauge wire.

I used silver, you could use any color you wanted.

If you use a head pin,  you do not need to bend up the bottom, but if you use a loop pin you need to bend up the bottom which I will show below in the instruction.

Once you have gathered all your tools and materials together. We will start by making the wings.

You will start by cutting a piece of wire right around 4 inches long

You will then fold it in half

Using your round ended pliers you will make a loop by twisting each side over and grabbing the loop with your pliers and twisting it around by hand by holding the loop in your hand and twisting or keeping it on the pliers and twisting, which ever works for you !!

One you have the V with the loop down, You will add your beads. On each side you will place, in this order

one bugle bead,

one seed bead,

one bugle bead

one seed bead,

One bugle bead,

The seed beads are only in the middle between the bugle beads.

Repeat on the other side

You will then hold the beads in place carefully and fold up on each side to make a W. Make sure the beads are pushed all the way up against the loop before you do this step.

Then you will fold them down  and over crossing the wires

You can then fold the wires over again, they should be on the same side, but if you accidentally fold each one the opposite direction that is fine, as long as each one gets fold back around to secure the triangle for the wing. Fold them under and over next to the loop to hold it all together.

After you cut the extra wire off as close as you can, you will take the pliers and pull the loop down . It has to be down to string it between the beads. Hold the wings securing with your hands, the pliers will break the beads, and just use one of your pliers to fold it down and straighten it out.

This is when you will need the head pin, or the looped head pin that you pulled the loop flat

Now you string everything onto the head pin, big bead first, wings , make sure you like the way they lie, you can try them both ways and once you are happy with them, add the small bead, the “halo” jump ring and now it is time to loop the top of the wire.

Using your rounded pliers you are going to bend the wire around higher up on the plier, not low like the other loop you made to start the wings, that one you wanted smaller, this one you want to make a loop that is big enough that you will not have the halo come off over the top. Once it is a piece of jewelry that is not an issue, but you really want to make that loop a big rounded loop to hold it on.

Now your charm is ready to put on a chain, or make two for earrings, or you can add a lobster claw for a zipper pull,  or add it to a metal book mark or a key chain. You can use it to make just about anything !!

I hope you enjoyed this tutorial. If you have any questions just ask . I will be heading over once this is posted to do the video. As soon as the video is done , I will add it to this blog post.

Thank you so much for stopping by !!!

Stephie