Folded Crumpled Clay + Bracelet - 123Clay

Photo & Resin Coat On Polymer + Errings - https://www.facebook.com/totiayno

Hollow Wirework Kumihimo Bracelet - CSLDesigns

Published on Jun 5, 2015

In this tutorial I show you how to make a hollow wirework kumihimo bracelet, with beads running along the inside of it. Please feel free to give it a go yourself and I hope you enjoy.


Flush cutters on Amazon:
http://goo.gl/2kFxDL (Affiliate)

6 step bail making pliers on Amazon:
http://goo.gl/QglsTs (Affiliate)

Round kumihimo disk on Amazon:
http://goo.gl/jzzxly (affiliate)


Materials:
6mm diameter wooden dowel with hook on the end
0.8mm round wire (20 gauge)
6mm rounds
10mm end bead caps (Amazon - http://goo.gl/S0oqDu (affiliate))
Findings

http://www.csldesigns.uk/csldesigns-blog/

Wirework DragonFly - SheIs12.Blogspot.com.au

Wire Wrap Dragonfly Pendant Tutorial

http://sheis12.blogspot.com.au/2013/01/wire-wrap-dragonfly-pendant-tutorial.html

 

As promised here is the latest tutorial for this lovely dragonfly pendant. So lets gather our tools and get started.

 

 

 

 

For this project I used:

1. bent nose pliers
2. wire snips
3. round nose pliers
4. 8 inches of 18 gauge artistic wire
5. 20 inch length , and a 12 inch length of 24 gauge wire
6. chain
7. matching clasps and jump rings 
8. complimentary brass finding or flower accent
9. 6 glass pearl beads in graduating sizes

 

NOTE: This is just an example, not written in stone! I love happy accidents , and encourage you to experiment with your own colors and variations :)

 

Here's the note card sketch I did when I made the first one. I generally make a quick sketch afterwards to remind me of how I did a new design. If it serves as a reference for you, great!

 

 

Starting with the 8 inch thicker wire, and using my bent nose pliers I bent a gentle 'v' shape at the 4 inch mark.

 

 

 I wanted the wings to be about 1 inch, so I measured and marked 1 inch out from the center on both sides.

 

 

  

 

Then proceeded to gently fold the wire over my ring mandrel at that 1 inch mark, make the bend on both sides. you should wind up with a basic heart shape. ( you can also use a pen, dowel, knitting needle, etc to form what ever size curve you wish.)

 

 

  

 

Bring the tails up until they lie flat and parallel to the tops of the wings. hold the tails in place at the 'v' point with your pliers and use your fingers to bend the tails down at a gentle angle. The tails are criss cross here. Looks like a bow now.

 

 

  

 

At this point I measured and snipped both tails to equal lengths (1.25 inch) to start forming the bottom wings. 

 

 

  

 

Using the round pliers hold the tip of tail up towards the top points of the pliers. ( I generally roll away from myself) roll the pliers until the wire forms the small loop, continue to to roll the loop until you have a small half spiral. Looking at the picture  the small loop will curve up towards the bottom of the top wings. 

 

 

 

 

There the frame is formed, and we have 2 top wings and 2 bottom wings. 

 

 

  

 

Now it's time to add the lacy look to the wings. Using the longer 24 gauge wire we are going to find the half point on the fine wire, and lie that center point over the top center of the wings, and fold the fine wire to the back of wings.

 

 

 

 

 Take the top fine wire and wrap one coil around the 'v' point going to the left, and take the bottom fine wire and wrap one coil around the bottom right of the top wing. 

 

 

 

 

 Just working on the right wing for now we are going to do that over under thing. Since the wrapping wire is at the back....up through the center over the front of the top, around and up through the center, and over the front of the bottom....continue alternating top and bottom until you reach the curved tip of the wing. 

 

 

 

 

Around the curve of the wing we are just going to tightly coil the wrapping wire around and around until the curve is filled.

 

 

  

 

Once filled with the coiling make sure the wrapping wire is to the back of the piece, and snip it close to the wing frame wire.

 

 

 

 

See the tiny snipped end. Use your flat pliers to crimp that end towards the inside of the wire frame. I always run the piece against my cheek (The cheek test) to make sure I can't feel any snags!

 

 

  

 

From here continue on the opposite side and complete the left wing in the same pattern.

 

 

 

 

 Okay, let's bead this bad boy :) I was out of brass flowers so I flattened a bead cap to create one. 

 

 

 

 

Next using the 12 inch piece of 24 gauge wire we are going to put the (large) head bead at about the 4 inch mark. bend the wire around the bead and pinch together under the bead.

 

 

  

 

The tails of the wire should be one long, one short. Add the flower and pull it up close to the head bead.

 

 

 

 

 open the tails slightly (like a bobby pin) and slide onto the center wrap on the frame. One tail on each side of that center wire. Pull the head bead and flower up close and snug to the frame.

 

 

  

 

In back separate the tails and bend the longer one up to the top of the frame, and the short one down to the bottom of the frame.

 

 

  

 

Take the top wire and bring it to the center front between the top flower petals , and wrap it one and a half times around the base of the bead. So now the long wire is in front and pointed down

 

 

 

 

Gently nudge the bead upwards towards the top of the petals. String the next large bead on the short wire and push up to first bead. Cross the long wire over the top of the short wire between the two beads, and coil the long wire around the short wire once. the long wire is now pointed sideways between the two beads.

 

 

  

 

Holding the long wire on the right side of the second bead, wrap it around the short wire with one coil at the bottom of the second bead. String the next size bead on and repeat process between each bead down the short wire

 

 

  

 

Now that each of the beads  have been strung and wrapped all the way down, your piece should look like the picture above. Now we are going to continue with the long wire and wrap and coil in the same fashion going up the opposite side.To 'tie off' the long wire I ended between the first and second beads and put the long (not as long now) wire through to the back of the piece and wrapped 3 coils on the heavy wing frame wire. Snipped and crimped to the inside like previously instructed.

 

 

 

 

At this point I gently nudged any slack out of the bead wrapping, by pushing the beads upwards along the short wire.

 

 

  

 

To finish the short tail I trimmed the wire to 1 inch and used the round nose pliers to make a tight flat spiral. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To finish I chose to use double clasps to attach to the wings. My daughter likes to trade out her pendants, and this is an easy way to do that. 

Well I truly hope you find this helpful or inspirational! If I missed anything or if you have a question please leave a comment :)

Creative Blessings! T

 

Posted by CJ Theresaat 3:06 PM

 

Adjustable Bangle with a Dangle - Ornamento

Adjustable Bangle (with Dangle!) by ornamento

This is a story of how I designed a new bracelet that are intended to be gifts. I love bangles and sizing is always an issue.  I know that the intended recipients are relatively small women but I didn't feel comfortable enough to guess their hand sizes and make conventional bangles.  I decided to make something that could accommodate different sizes.

I started out with thick brass  wire forms that I  purchased at Wolf Myrow  a few years ago.  I had originally thought they were tubes.  In fact, they were solid wire maybe 8 gauge.  I like the look of square wire so I annealed them and  squared the wire in my rolling mill.

This picture shows the same wire in three stages.  The top shows how it started out, the middle is after bending and the bottom is after a few passes in the rolling mill.  The wire gets  thinner and longer.  You have to be careful not to reduce it too fast or you will distort the edges.  And you also have to make sure the wire is properly annealed.  Brass wire is hard.

After I squared the wire,  I annealed it again and shaped it around a bracelet mandrel.  I hadn't yet decided what to do with the ends.  I ended up sawing off a few inches,

Here are three bracelets with the ends sawed off.

I was considering soldering some bronze metal clay medallions that I had made earlier onto one of the ends or the middle of the bracelets, but I thought it would look wonky.  Plus if the medallion was in the middle of the bracelet, the solder would get wear from the bracelet flexing when it was put on and taken off.  So why not try making a dangle from a medallion? The brass is so hard that I made a mock up in copper to see how I liked the idea.

 

I drilled a hole in a copper bracelet and fashioned a dangle from a copper metal clay medallion.  I like the bracelet and the medallion-just not together.  For one thing, the dangle didn't move the way I liked.   I was limited in the side of the jump rings I could use because the hole in the bracelet could only accommodate 20 gauge wire.  And the medallion only had one interesting side.  That would work for a pendant, but not for a focal dangle on this bracelet.

Speaking of hole drilling,  did I mention that brass is a hard metal?  Still I was able to drill a hole in each bangle pretty easily, with patience, the right tools, and some safety precautions.

When you drill a piece of metal, you need to tape it  securely to a sturdy piece of wood with masking tape.  As you drill, the metal and drill bit get so hot that the wood smokes.  See the  dark spots?  Those are burn marks from prior drillings. You remove metal when you drill and it scatters like dust.  I like to wear safety glasses and a dust mask when I drill like this.

I finally settled on dangles made from brass shapes I originally made for a necklace clasp I designed.  I drilled holes in them, added porcelain beads I made many years ago, and attached then to the bracelet with a jump ring that I soldered for added security.

The bangles have enough give to open wider when you put them on and you can close them a bit when they are around the wrist.  I rounded off the ends with a file and sanded them smooth to make the putting on and taking off as comfortable as possible.

By the time you read this,  I will be on my way to deliver them to the recipients.  Of course, I had to make one for myself, too!