Braided Wire And
Bead Bangle
Judy Larson
Beads are added to braided wire in
this bangle with a wire wrapped
closure.
Materials:
50-57” of 20 gauge round wire (see Step 1)
An assortment of round beads-8mm are used in
this tutorial
Tools:
Round, flat and bent nose pliers
Flush cutter
5/16” and ¼”mandrels
Optional: Wire twister
Directions:
Step 1: Straighten and cut one wire (Small-24”; Medium-25½”; Large-27”) long. Straighten and cut another
wire (Small-26”; Medium-28”; Large 30”) long.
Step 2: Find the center of the
longer wire. Place the 5/16”
mandrel on the wire at that point
and wrap the wire around it as
shown. Using bent nose pliers,
pinch the wires together close to
the mandrel, creating an eye.
Step 3: Open the eye up slightly. Leaving a 1” tail, wrap the eye with the
other wire. The first wrap or two will have to be pushed together and
back down to the bend in the eye.
Step 4: Reshape the eye around the ¼” mandrel, pushing the two ends of
the wrapped wires close together and making
sure that the wrap wire is pulled to the outside.
At this point you may also need to wrap the
short wrap wire around the eye a time or two.
Hint: Check out the Double Wrap Bangle
tutorial for instructions for a larger eye.
Step 5: Holding the two wrapped wire tails close together, use the
wrapping wire to create a “neck” below the eye, wrapping 4 to 5 times to
show.
Step 6: Trim the short eye wrap
tail so that there will be just
enough wire to tuck down between the two wires at the base of the eye.
Note: The back side of the bangle is the side this wire is bent towards. If
your neck wrap wire is on top and not on the bottom as shown, do not
worry. Just make sure that from now on you work from the outside or
front of the bangle.
To the left is an optional style of eye in which the neck is wrapped but
not the eye portion.
Step 7: Thread a bead on the center
wire. Bend the center wire down.
Note: This is the only time you will
bend the center wire down.
Step 8: Pull the top wire over the top of the bead and
down parallel to the bead wire.
Step 9: Pull the bottom wire over the bottom of the bead and up
under the bead wire and over the top wire.
Step 10: Slide a bead on the
center wire. Pull the top wire
over the top of the bead and
down parallel to the bead
wire. Pull the bottom wire
over the bottom of the bead
and up under the bead wire
and over the top wire.
Continue in this manner until the bangle length is appx. 7” from the end
of the eye to the end of the last bead for a size small, 7 ¼” -7 3/8” for size
medium, and 7 ½”-7 ¾” for size large.
Step 11: Make sure that the ends of
the two longest wires are even.
Holding the wires wrapped around the
bead in place, tightly twist the two
longest wires together for the hook.
Step 12: 1¼” from the bead, bend the hook wire down to the right of
the bead. The hook wire will be longer than you need. Trim it off so
that the cut end just sweeps across the top of the last bead. DO NOT
CUT THIS WIRE TOO SHORT!! It is better to cut a bit long and trim
slightly to get it to fit than to have it too short.
Step 13: Wrap the remaining wire up
around the front and around to the back
again as close to the bead as possible.
Continue to wrap until you have 4 to 5
wraps to show, ending on the back. Trim
the wrap wire off on the back of the bangle.
Use flat nose pliers to flatten and secure the
wraps.
Step 14: Using flat nose pliers, bend the hook wire 45 degrees up to the outside of the bangle. Using round
nose pliers, bend the hook shape as shown.
Step 15: Hook the bangle ends and shape the bangle into a circle or an oval.
Hint: It may help to wrap the bangle
around a large cylindrical object like
a pill bottle or soda bottle.
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