Welcome back to Wire Jewelry and Wire Work Basics.
I have been working on a new series of videos and tutorials for you to enhance your basic wire working skills.
In the next few posts, we will focus on creating a variety of Wire Spirals which we can add to our jewelry designs as embellishments or components.
Wire Spirals can be used on many types of jewelry projects.
From charms in stringing projects, to soldered accents in metal projects, wire spirals are a lovely versatile element and are easy to make with practice.
Today, we are going to focus on making two types of flat, 2 dimensional spirals.
- Open Centered Closed Spirals
- Close Centered Closed Spirals
TIP – If you haven’t worked with wire a lot or recently, I recommend that you practice with cheap wire before starting a new project.
Tools and Materials
Here is a list of materials and tools I used in the tutorials with my affiliate links provided for your convenience.
Using my links will help support this blog and the free content I share with you.
The Techniques
The full tutorial is in video form below. Here are a few tips to help you along the way.
- Try not to let mistakes frustrate you.
- By using cheaper wire, it is easy to cut off the booboo and start again.
- Practice is an important part of mastering the techniques of wire work.
- Check out other tutorials if you have trouble understanding.
Not everyone teaches or learns the same way. So explore other tutorials and lessons on your own.
When you cut your wires, make sure to use the flush side of the cutters on both ends of your working wire.
As a prerequisite of sorts, you need to be able to make a simple loop.
Try to resist the urge to roll the pliers as you push the wire.
Make small incremental moves, slow and steady wins this race.
If you find that your pliers are scratching the surface of the wire spiral, try using the nylon jaw pliers or cover the tips of your pliers with painter’s tape.
Painter’s tape is easy to remove from the pliers without leaving a sticky residue.
I hope you find this tutorial useful and have fun adding closed spirals to your designs.
Stay tuned for my next Wire Spiral Basics post, when I will show you how to make a three dimensional cone spiral.
If you want to get a jump on things, make a few open center spirals ahead of time.