2. You will need
•
flat marquise shaped bead
about 25mm long, side
drilled
•
12 inches (30.5 cm) of 20 gauge
soft copper wire
40 inches of 26 gauge soft copper
wire for wrapping.
6 inches of 26 gauge soft copper
wire
Tools:
Round nose pliers
Chain nose pliers
Flush wire cutters
A metal file
•
•
3. Step 1: Put your 20 ga wire through the hole of the
bead, and make sure both sides are the same length.
Then, bend the wire up on each side, by pressing it
against the side of the bead with your fingers. Both
sides of the wire should cross above the bead.
Step 2: With the tip of your chain nose pliers, grab
each side of the wire at the tip of the bead, and bend
the wire back up as shown in the picture.
Step 3: In this step, we will create the bail and the
asymmetrical frame of the pendant. Grab your 40
inches of 26 ga wrapping wire. Leave a short tail,
about 1 inch at one end of the wire, and wrap the
right side of the frame wire 3 times as shown.
4. Step 6: Now, bring both sides of
the frame wire closer to each other
and wrap both sides twice.
Step 5: Now, repeat step 3 and
wrap the right side of the frame
only, 3 times again.
Step 6: Just like you did in step 4,
wrap both wires again twice.
5. Step 7: Keep weaving your wire that way until you have a
woven length of 3.25 inch (8.25 cm). Finish your weaving
with the 3 wraps around the right side wire. You can cut the
small tail of weaving wire that you left at the beginning,
and press the cut end against the frame wire. Do not trim
the excess wire left after your last wrap. If you have a larger
bead, you can keep weaving the length of the frame later on,
as you go to make sure it fits perfectly around your bead.
This picture shows the end of the woven frame, ending with
the 3 wraps. This will be our woven frame wire.
Step 8: To form the bail, we are going to wrap the woven
frame wire around the thickest portion of the chain nose
pliers. Starting at about half inch from the bottom of the
woven frame, press the woven frame around the jaw of the
chain nose pliers to form your bail, as shown in the picture.
6. This picture shows the work with the pliers removed.
The woven frame wire is now on the back of the
pendant.
Step 9: Now grab the woven frame wire and start
wrapping the bottom of the bail by bringing the
woven wire around the base of the bail, and around
the top of the bead. This picture shows the front of
the pendant.
Step 10: Continue wrapping by bringing woven
frame wire around the top of the bead to make one
complete turn. The wire is now located at the back of
the pendant.
7. Step 11: Now, bring the woven frame wires back up
again towards the front of the pendant as shown.
Step 12: Use your fingers to gently shape the remaining
woven wires against the side of the bead. Create a gentle
curve around the side of the bead with your hand so that
the bottom of the curve covers the bottom tip of the bead.
Tip: At this stage, if you have a larger bead and the
woven frame is not long enough, you can adjust the
length by wrapping the frame wire a little bit longer
until you reach the desired length. Trim the excess
weaving wire and use your chain nose pliers to press the
cut end against the frame wire.
Step 13: Holding the frame and bead securely with your
non dominant hand, bring the woven frame around the
bottom tip of the bead, towards the back of the bead.
8. Step 14: Continue bringing the wires of the frame around the
bottom of the bead to form a small loop as shown in the picture.
Step 15: This picture shows the back view of the pendant. Use
your flush cutter to cut off the excess wires, and carefully file
the ends smooth.
Step 16: Use your round nose or chain nose pliers to tuck the
ends of the frame wires at the bottom of the bead as shown.
Now, you have a beautiful pendant that you can put on a
chain and wear proudly.