Tutorial: Ornament Hanger

It's that time of year!  I'm sure many of you make ornaments for yourself, or to give to friends and family.  Here's a simple tutorial for a customized beaded hanger - it makes your gift that much more special!

Tools needed:

Wrap N Tap pliers; Chain Nose Pliers; Wire Cutters; Round Nose Pliers; Ruler; Cup Bur

Materials Needed:  18 gauge wire; 24 gauge wire; assorted seed beads or other beads of your choice

First, cut approximately 5 inches of 18 gauge wire; mine is silver plated.  You can use sterling if you wish, or copper, or brass, whatever you want!

 Next, use your cup bur to smooth the edges.  I didn't want to tumble my hanger to smooth the edges, which is why I used the cup bur.  But you can also tumble if you prefer.

Turn a simple loop on one end of the wire using your round nose pliers; I made mine small by turning the wire at the small end of the plier.

Next, insert your wire in the Wrap N Tap plier as shown; I used the largest round.  Turn the wire in the opposite direction of your first, small loop.

 Your hanger should start to look like one!

  Turn a larger loop at the other end of the wire.  This end is larger to accommodate whatever you might be hanging on the hanger.

 I used my chain nose pliers to put a slight bend in the hanger, so that it hangs straight.

 Next, take an approximately 8 inch piece of 24 gauge wire, and begin to wrap it at the bottom of the hanger, close to the loop.  Don't worry about how it looks - you can adjust the wire with your chain nose pliers, by pinching the wraps together, to make it look neater.

 Cut the extra piece of wire and pinch it in so it looks neat and won't scratch or catch!  You can see how the chain nose pliers did an excellent job of pinching the wraps together to look nice and neat!

 Choose the beads you are going to use for embellishment; I chose size 11 pearly white beads, and size 8 blue beads because those are the colors of the ornament I am making.  You can use anything - swarovski, gemstones, whatever your heart desires!

 This is the hard part - you have to hold the hanger while wrapping the wire around it at the same time making sure your seed beads go where you want them to go!  You just need a little bit of patience on this step!

 When you make it up to the little bend you put in the wire, wrap the 24 gauge wire the same number of times that you wrapped it on the bottom - in this case, it was 4 wraps.  Again, you can use your chain nose pliers to pinch the wraps closer.  Cut off any excess wire.

 Here is your finished ornament hanger! 

As I mentioned, you can use any wire and any beads - this is a simple design.  I'd love to see what you come up with for your ornament hangers - I bet you can make some amazing things!



Susan Kennedy
SueBeads