Monday 6 February 2012

The WireHeart Guild

As my very final offering to February's
Valentine theme of all things
heart-shaped ...
below is a freestyle
"TWIN PASSION"
PENDANT
tutorial.




As it's freestyle, don't be too
worried about following the instructions
too methodically -it's just a guide to get
your creative juices flowing!
Feel free to let the wire 'talk to you'
and lead you in the direction it wants to
most naturally flow ...

So, if you're sitting comfortably,
gather together: 0.8mm SOFT
silver-plated wire, round and flat
nosed pliers, wire cutters and a
cylindrical mandrel - such as pen.






















1. Cut 2 x 8" (20cm) lengths of 0.8mm wire (or more
if you want to create a larger pendant). Place the ends
of the wire together so that they run parallel and wrap
the doubled wires around the circular shaft of your round
nosed pliers to create a loop - one end should be longer than
the other ...





















2. Working with one of the shorter lengths, randomly wrap
this around one of the longer projecting wires, creating a
spiral at the end.

























3. Repeat with the second shorter wire, wrapping it
around the remaining projecting wire.
























4. Bend one of the longer projecting wires back up
towards the double loop and squeeze the end of the
bent wire together to create a short doubled stem.

























5. Place a pen (or similar cylindrical mandrel) next to the
doubled stem and shape the wire around to create a rounded
edge, leaving the rest of the wire projecting back down away
from the top double loop.

























6. Bend the wire back towards the top double loop and
spiral the end inwards, to form a 'heart' frame.




















7. Repeat steps 4-6 with the second projecting wire.





















8. Once again, place your cylindrical (pen) mandrel to
shape the side of the frame and bend the end of the wire
back around towards the top double loop.























9. Repeat step 6, to create a spiral with the projecting
end of wire, curling it in towards the doubled stem
to form the second 'heart' frame.

























10. Now spend a little 'tweaking' and rearranging
the wires until you're satisfied with the overall shape.
As you can see above - you can suspend beads from
the ends of the heart. These gorgeous heart shaped
coloured shell beads are available from:
http://www.londonjewellerysupplies.co.uk/

You will also find a tutorial for a 'MERMAID'
NECKLACE with matching EARRINGS and BRACELET
that I made using them. Just perfect for Valentine's!

































All that's left to do, is to suspend it from a ribbon, cord
or chain ... and it's ready to wear!

************************************************************************************


PLAYING AROUND WITH WIRE and EXPERIMENTING
WITH freestyle FORMING AND SHAPING can provide no
end of surprises and new design styles ...

























Above, is a small pendant shaped with 3 wires.
























... and here's a slightly busier version ...

























... and finally here's a beaded version with gold and
silver wires! The options are endless so do post up
your versions to share on FACEBOOK!

************************************************************************************


The main thing is to have FUN - let the wire FLOW
F R E E S T Y L E !(P.S. I said "WIRE" not "WINE"!!!)

4 comments:

  1. P.S. I said "WIRE" not "WINE" at the end!! :o)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What a wonderful blog post - thankyou!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  3. Thanks for your feedback, Jen! Much appreciated!

    ReplyDelete
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