Headpin + Wire Chain Tutorial

Trying out new ways to use murrini headpins is fun. I've been thinking about different ways to use them as part of a chain. Here's one of those ideas, plus a tutorial so you can try it too. 

Flush cut 1.5" sections of 14g wire. I used sterling silver, but feel free to use your metal of choice. 

Using a chasing hammer, begin to hammer each end flat, flipping the wire over so hammering occurs equally on both sides of both ends. 

Hammer the center section to slightly flatten it. The ends should flare out more than the center. 

You can leave it as the hammer texture, but I chose to use a different stamping tool on each segment to create a different texture. 

To check the texture, color with a sharpie, then use steel wool to remove the high spots. I will patina later, but once the headpin is added, you cannot alter the texture. So I want to make sure I'm happy with it first. 

Once you know you're happy with the texture, make a dot where you want to add holes to each end and then punch the holes with your tool of choice. 

Take the headpin you're going to use, and bend the wire 90 degrees as close to the glass as possible. 

Slide the hammered link into the bend of the headpin. I tried to hold it in the smallest portion of the link (in the center). 

The next part is very fiddley and difficult to photograph while performing the action. Wrap the wire as tight as possible one time around the link while holding the glass on the flat surface of the link. 

Next, wrap the copper wire around the base of the glass, between the glass and the wire. This helps to snug and stabilize. 

Once you've wrapped the wire around the base of the glass, wrap the wire around the link tightly a couple times next to the glass (again, to help stabilize and snug in place). Then wrap in a more loose organic fashion up one side of the link, leaving space for a spiral. 

Depending on the size spiral you want, cut off any excess wire. I left about 1/2"-3/4" length. 

Take chain nose pliers and holding the end of the wire, create a spiral with the wire. When creating more than one link to the chain, you may want to pay attention to spiral direction being the opposite on each side. It's personal preference. 

The photo below does a better job of showing how the wire is wrapped onto the link and around the base of the glass. 

Here's the (almost) finished piece with a special pendant I got from Staci Louise Smith 1.5 years ago. I still needs to finish the clasp, give it a bath in liver of sulphur, and a massage in the tumbler (removing the pendant first!). I can hardly wait to wear it. 

Fun With Chain (and No Soldering!)

I love interesting chain, and I especially love it if it's handmade. I really love copper and am frequently disappointed that practically all of the commercial copper chain I see is either copper-plated brass or steel--no solid copper chain! I'm sure there's probably some economic or practical reason for this but it still gives me the frownies. So sometimes I make my own. I love looking at an interesting commercial chain and figuring out a way to make something similar myself--preferably without soldering! Below are three styles of chain I have enjoyed making that require no soldering or even sawing.

The first chain is a simple figure 8, made from heavy-gauge double-ended ball headpins. I haven't actually ever used it for anything, I've been saving it for the "perfect" project. The two lengths at the top are copper and sterling silver, and the ones on the bottom are copper and brass.

The figure 8s are joined by other smaller figure 8s, which are just wire hammered flat before being formed into the 8-shape. For the larger 8s, I just experimented with different gauges of copper wire, making figure 8s of various sizes until I found a size and gauge I liked (these are done with 16 gauge wire, and the smaller connector figure 8s are 18 gauge wire.) I left what I thought would be enough length to form the ball at each end,

unfolded it and measured it, and then cut a bunch of pieces that length.

I balled up the ends in my torch and then created my figure 8s,

And then hammered them.

I could have joined the 8s together with plain jump rings but I decided to do something more interesting and did the smaller figure 8s. You could do beaded links in between, or wrapped links, or whatever you want.

You can also use figure 8s without the balls (*snort* I said BALLS), such as in this bracelet I did a few years ago. Those are just plain figure 8s, doubled up, with a couple of big jump rings around the middles. I did saw these jump rings, but there's no soldering here.

The chain below is based on commercial chain I have seen that I liked. I thought, "I bet I could do that myself!"

For this I just start with 6mm widths of textured copper sheet (I think this is 24 gauge--click HERE for a brief explanation of how this sheet is embossed) and hammered rings squashed into ovals (I just turn them on their sides and tap them with the hammer into an oval shape):

(It doesn't matter to me that the cut section of the ring is ugly, because it's going to be hidden inside the textured sections; but if you wanted to, you could certainly solder them closed and make the invisible parts tidy.) For the chain above, each textured strip is about 28mm total length. I curled the ends with the 3mm barrel on my step jaw pliers. The rings are formed from 14 gauge wire on the 6mm barrel of my step jaw pliers. Here's what the back looks like (I kind of like the back too):

And from the side you can see how it's formed:

It's not perfect, but I like my jewelry like I like my men. Primitive.

The last chain is a simple twisted bar chain. You cut a piece of wire, hammer half of it one way, the other half the other way, and put a hole in either end. Ta-da!

It looked plain so I wrapped the middles with double-ended ball headpins (or "bones," as I heard Shannon German call them once.) The ones below are just plain, obviously. You can link them with plain jump rings, or beaded links, or whatever you want. I especially like using the bar links for sterling chain, because you get a lot of mileage out of it for not a lot of labor or cost (compared to doing fiddly little round or oval links--especially if they're soldered. Ew. Not My Thing.) I think this is 14 gauge wire.

There is some other chain I want to try, some with some simple soldering and another with textured washers. I'll let you know how that goes!

Keirsten
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Tutorial: Convertible Fall Necklace

When Michelle McCarthy introduced herself at Bead Fest, she was excited to guest blog and write up something our Art Jewelry Elements readers would love. I suggested a tutorial. She had one written up and photographed about a week or two after Bead Fest ended. Enjoy!

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Supplies:  
32" antique copper chain
1" antique copper chain
20g antique copper wire, antique copper toggle
4 faceted antique copper discs 
2- 6mm emeral bicone crystals
2- 4mm smoked topaz bicone crystals
4 -6mm antique copper jump rings

ceramic leaf and acorn charms

 Directions:  Bend 32" chain section in half.  At the half way link, attach the toggle bar to the chain with a jump ring.  At the other end of the chain, attach each chain end to the round portion of the toggle.  Using the last jump ring, attach the 1" section of chain to the round toggle connector.  

Cut 2-4 inch pieces of wire.  At the bottom of the small section of chain, form a wire wrapped loop.  String a 4mm crystal, 6mm crystal and the disc.  Form another wire wrapped loop, but before closing it, attach the leaf charm.  Close the loop, but don't trim the extra wire tail.  With your needle nose pliers, start a wire twirl.  Push the twirl over the charm wire to help hide it. 

 A half inch up the chain, repeat these steps, but attach the acorn charm instead.  Now you are ready for fall!

 Sources:  chain: Bead Landing, crystals: Swarovski Elements, wire: T-Beads, toggle and discs: Cherry Tree Beads, jump rings: Michaels, ceramic leaf and acorn: Firefly Design Studio 

-Michelle McCarthy
Firefly Design Studio

Three Super Simple Ball Chain Ends

I just love using ball chain, but figuring out how to connect it to other things is a challenge! I found these ball tip connectors at Chain Gallery, where I have been buying 3.2mm antiqued copper-plated ball chain and connectors:

They're super easy to use, but a little limiting in that the holes won't take anything thicker than 18 gauge wire, so if you need a heavier jumpring, you're out of luck. I don't always like the look of them either--sometimes their commercial look doesn't work with what I'm making. I've been thinking of different ways of treating the ends of the ball chain. Melissa Meman did a fabulous tutorial HERE on using double-ended ball headpins to create a gorgeous connector that is an aesthetic element all in itself. The methods below are a little more utilitarian and not nearly as pretty, but they're handy if you need a slimmer connector.

The first method involves using old-fashioned ball chain connectors and a ball headpin.

You're going to insert the headpin into the connector and form a wrapped loop. Here's how:

First, cheat open one of the holes a bit with your pliers, and snap the headpin in as shown. This headpin is made from 18 gauge copper wire (the connector is the size sold to go with the 3.2mm ball chain, and the 18 gauge wire makes a nice, tight fit).

 Squeeze the hole tight again:

Then make your wrapped loop:

I like double-wrapped, hammered loops, so this is how I finished mine:

If you don't like the look of that gaping hole, you can add a bead to your headpin to help fill the space. (I got a little fancy and tried some blue-green patina on my headpin.) The holes on these 3mm copper beads were too small for 18 gauge wire so I used 20 gauge instead--worked fine.

You can also fill the hole by inserting two links of ball chain instead of one:

Unless you get your wrap super tight down on the top of the connector, these will tend to swivel so you won't always see the little beads inside. Sometimes you'll see the back of the connector. In a bracelet or necklace that probably won't matter much, but if you wanted to use this in an earring, you'd need to make sure they didn't swivel around so that the side you want is always facing forward.

Another option is to dress up the ball tip connectors I mentioned at the beginning of the post with a rustic wire wrapped loop. I like this more workman-like look than the plain ball tip connector, and another benefit is that you can use a larger jumpring with it now, or attach it directly to some other element in your piece.

I'd be happy to show you how to do the wrap above in another post--just let me know in your comments if anybody's interested.

Happy New Year!

Keirsten

Lune Artisan Jewelry
The Cerebral Dilettante

Bird on the Wing Pendant with Embellished Chain - Free Tutorial

Birds are a perennial favourite with bead makers and buyers alike and this easy tutorial can be adapted to work with your own favourite examples.

Supplies

1 bird bead and wing(or similar) pendant.

1 flat/curved/disc bead

2 x 15" lengths of chain with link large enough to thread a double strand of waxed linen through.

8" 20 gauge wire

2 x 30" lengths of waxed linen

Seed beads (larger than chain links)

Charms and/or Czech glass flower beads
Headpins and jump rings
Round nose pliers and cutters

Step 1

Using the wire and round nosed pliers create a wrapped loop to attach the wing pendant.

Step 2

Pass the tail of the wire through the flat/curved/disc bead and the bird bead and make another wrapped loop to create a bail (add a seed bead to stabilise if required).

Step 3
Attach a length of chain to the bail either by opening a link in the chain or by adding a jump ring.

Step 4
Double up one length of waxed linen and attach it to the bail using a larks head knot.

Step 5
Thread a seed bead onto the double strand of linen and pass it through the second link of the chain. Add a second bead and pass the linen back through the chain skipping one link as you go.

Step 6
Continue adding seed beads and threading through alternate link of the chain until you get to the end. Check the tension of the linen and that the beads are evenly spaced.

Step 7
Add a final bead and tie of the linen to secure and then trim.

Step 8
Repeat steps 3 - 7 on the other side of the bail to complete the necklace.

Step 9
Add a clasp and jump ring.

Step 10

Use the headpins and seed beads to create charms with the Czech glass flowers if required.

Step 11
Using a jump ring attache the charms to the wrapped loop of the feather pendant.

And that's it - your necklace is fnished!

By changing up your beads and charms you can vary the effect you get with this design... Here's another example of the design that was published in Jewelry Affaire in 2015.

Hope you enjoyed the tutorial - happy creating.

Bird and leaf set from THEA elements