Necklace on wire

Here you will find our starter kits to get started with jewelry making: Starter Kit

Making jewelry with wire thread

Making your own personal and unique jewelry is both fun and rewarding for those with a little patience. As long as you have the right tools and materials, there are no limits to the production. We recommend stringing beads on wire. Wire is a plastic-coated metal wire that is very durable and is used with clamp beads. You cut the wire with a pair of wire cutters and clamp the clamp beads with a pair of flat-nose pliers.

Making a short or long necklace on wire with a claw clasp. You will need:

Beads: Glass beads, freshwater, stones, metal beads, etc., depending on your preference and taste. Possibly pendants or charms.

Material: Wire, clamp beads, double rings or chain and lock, e.g. claw lock

Tools: Flattening pliers and wire cutters

Things to consider before you start manufacturing:

How should the jewelry look? Feel free to lay the beads in a row in front of you. Should the jewelry be symmetrical or irregular? Should it have a pendant at the front? We sell a Bead Board which is a good tool. See under tools and aids.

Measure the wire for the jewelry (45 cm is often enough for a short necklace) and add one decimeter. Start by attaching a clasp to one end of the necklace wire. Thread two clip beads onto the wire and then through the loop of the clasp. The wire then goes back down through the clip beads and a little back through the nearest beads. When you clamp the clip beads with pliers, they become flat and the grooved inside locks the wire.

Then all you have to do is start stringing the beads. Remember to start at the neck and thread towards the middle of the necklace. If you want to start from the middle instead, you can tape one end of the wire and thread one side at a time. When you have finished stringing the necklace, finish by stringing a clip bead on the wire and then through a ring or extension chain and again through the clip bead and a few beads. Clamp the clip bead and piece of wire. Done!

The same technique is used for bracelets. Measure the desired length, for example 20 cm and add one decimeter. Then attach a clasp, thread beads and clasp in the same way as the necklace.

Making a long open necklace on wire:

Beads: Glass beads, freshwater, stones, metal beads, etc. depending on your taste. Possibly pendants or charms
Materials: Wire, clamp beads, hat pins and possibly eye pins

Tools: Straight pliers, wire cutters and round-nose pliers

Measure the wire according to the desired length of the jewelry and add one decimeter. Thread a clip bead and thread the wire back through the clip bead so that a small loop is formed. Clamp the bead with the straightening pliers and cut off the wire. Now it's time to start threading the beads. When the necklace is finished, finish in the same way you started.

Next, you can make the pendants:
Thread a hat pin through a nice bead, such as a glass drop, or a piece of the hat pin so that there is about 7-8 mm left of the hat pin, which you bend into a loop using the round nose pliers. It can be difficult to make loops, but practice makes perfect. Before you close the loop completely, you can hang it in the wire loop on the necklace.
Mount the lock with clamp beads on wire or nylon rope.

Text by Erika
Bicone Design AB