PRODUCTION-STYLE WIRE WRAP

Are we in full scurry mode yet? I know I am, gatherings to attend, and Arts & Crafts shows to prepare for. Honestly, there are times when I have so much to do, I just come to a full stop, not knowing what task to do next.

Efficiency becomes more important at this time of year than at any other, and I look for shortcuts.

I'd like to share a speed wire wrap hint: Do as much as you can assembly line style.

For instance, a simple wrapped loop has a number of steps. Fully described, they are:

1. Pick up spool of wire and wire cutters.
   
2. Measure out the length you need, and cut.
   
3. Put down the wire cutters, pick up the round nose pliers, and make a wrapped loop.
   
4. Put down the round nose pliers, pick up the wire cutters, and cut off the excess.
   
5. Put down the wire cutters, pick up the flat nose pliers, and squish the end of the wrap flat.
   
6. String on a bead.
   

That's six steps, with six tool changes, per bead. Multiply that by the number of beads you need, say seven, and that's 42 steps, with 42 tool changes.

Now, instead of that, try this:

1. Pick up spool of wire and wire cutters.

2. Measure out the length you need, and cut as many pieces of wire as you'll need. (Say, seven.)

3. Put down the wire cutters, pick up the round nose pliers, and make all the wrapped loops.

4. Put down the round nose pliers, pick up the wire cutters, and cut off the excess on each of the seven pieces.

5. Put down the wire cutters, pick up the flat nose pliers, and squish all the ends flat.

6. String a bead on each of the wrapped loop eye pins you've created.

That's still six steps, and six tool changes, but you've done all the beads. You just saved yourself 36, count 'em, thirty-six, tool changes. That's a time saver, even if you're making just one thing. If you've got multiple items to make, it really does add up. It also has the advantage of being something you can do ahead of time, even when you don't have the time or inclination to attempt an entire jewelry piece.

You can continue similarly with the rest of the piece you're creating.

If you're making a bracelet, or other item that ends with a clasp, you'll need to leave both loops unfinished on the end bead, one to attach to the chain of beads you've created, and the other to accept the clasp.

TUTORIAL: SQUIGGLY WIGGLY EARRINGS

It’s December. The kids are still in school, with the holiday break still weeks away. Inside the house is breathing in, outside the chilly winds and bleak skies can make staying in a very attractive option. The silence can practically ring in your ears, can’t it?

Ringing…ears? Oooh. Let’s turn it around and make earrings! And since the squiggly-squirmy folk are elsewhere, why don’t we remind ourselves of them with a style I call “Squiggly-Wiggly?

Here’s what you’ll need:

• 22 or 24 gauge wire
• Two teal beads 7mm-8mm
• Two matte Capri blue beads 10mm-12mm
• Seed beads in matching or coordinating colors
• One pair earring wires
• Your tools

First cut a length of wire about 3” long. On one end, bend a very small spiral of about 1 ½ to 2 rounds. Use protected tips on your round nose pliers to prevent little gouges. I personally let the gouges happen, to add an interesting textured look.

Now is a good time to play with the color sequence a bit. You might like to put the blue seed beads next to the Capri blue bead, and the teal seed beads next to the teal bead, or the other way ‘round might appeal to you more. Just string the beads onto your 3” wire and take a look. When you’ve decided, take the beads off the wire, and you’re ready to start.

I opted to match the seed beads to the beads, so I’ll give the directions that way.

The next thing you’re going to do is string on a blue seed bead, the Capri blue bead, and another blue seed bead. Make a wire-wrapped loop at the top, ending with a sharp bend up and then a gentler bend down.

Now bend the wire straight out, away from your bead:

At about the ½” point, bend the wire back in, then back out again, and then back toward the bead another time, decreasing the length of your “squiggle” as you go.

Cut the wire off to the point at about ¼” beyond the last outer loop. You want to have enough left to make a round loop at the bottom. Play with this; yours do not have to look exactly like mine. Use your fingers to mash things this way and that to get the look you want.

Okay! Time for the next part!

With about 3 ½” of wire, begin a wire-wrapped loop, but before you complete it, thread it through the top loop on the Capri blue bead assembly:

Finish the wrap, then string on the teal seed bead, teal round bead, and teal seed bead. Make a wire-wrapped loop at the top, then “squiggle” the wire down the side of the bead. Your bends are going to be much gentler this time. I’ll let the photo speak for itself:

Now repeat what you just did, all those steps above, unless you want only one earring. (Just kidding—I know you know!)

Open the bottom loop of your earring wires, and hang your bead assemblies on them. Be sure to hang them “facing” opposite directions, to make a left and a right.

Finished set:

To show what a difference another choice of beads might make, here’s another set (I did make a whole pair, but couldn’t get the two of them to play nicely together for their portrait):

You’ll notice I finished off the top bead differently, too, by using a tad more wire and wrapping it completely around the bead, to end in a tiny loop against the glass. Use your imagination, and may the Force be with you!

Are the kids home yet?

A BRACELET A DAY?

It dawned on me the other day that I may be a tad overbooked as the bazaar season opens. My first inkling came when I took my store of little Tea Kettle Characters to the first bazaar I had on my schedule. Since I'd never done this particular show before, I took all of them, figuring the woman running the show, Cindy, could choose the ones she liked, and I'd leave just those.

I carried the two big tubs into her garage-cum-Christmas-shop, and began pulling my peeps out and setting them on the table. "Look at those!" someone said. "Ohmygosh, those are adorable!" came from someone else. You can just imagine my smiles as we talked, there was so much excitement about them.

In fact, there was so much excitement that Cindy decided she wanted ALL of them! This bazaar runs every weekend from this Thursday through the fifth of December, which means I have no Tea Kettle Characters left to put in the other four shows I'm doing in that same timespan. Holy cow, I thought. I've got to get busy!

Then I thought, Four shows. I've got four shows scheduled in a 3-week period. I don't have enough jewelry made either!

So I've been busily making more bracelets, and earrings to match. Here are the latest two:

LOOKS LIKE BEADS TO ME

About five years ago, a friend gave me a big paper bag of computer innards consisting of small black squares with colored electrical wires embedded in them. I've waited all this time to come up with something to use them for.

Finally! So, two things: This is what I'm using the wires for:




And in the process of removing the wires, I discovered they were held in place by little green soft things. They're short cylinders with holes through them...looks like beads to me!


I think they're going to be fun to use. Watch for it....

EASY FABRIC FLOWER PINS

(These are so easy to make, I'm not even going to put up directions. But if you need more to go on than the photos, feel free to ask in a comment or email me!)

Remember the Cuff Bracelets I've been working on? ( Cuff Bracelets) Well, I was working on them one day, when it occurred to me that fabric flowers would look good on them. I did several that way, and had a row of the flowers lying on the counter, waiting to be attached to the bracelets. Suddenly, they seemed to present themselves to me as complete in themselves, not just as components for something else. Pins!, I thought. They could be pins, too!

And now they are, several dozen of them. Here are some of the ones I've finished while on this Arizona trip:

On another note, this is our last afternoon here. We'll leave for Oregon early tomorrow morning, something I have rather mixed feelings about. It's warm here. I'm outside every day. I even have what is for me a tan--something that approaches a color other people start out with. (I am such a white woman!) I love it. Of course, when summer hits, it will be miserable hot, but not yet.

It's still cold and rainy back home. As much as I miss the people there, friends and family, I do not miss being cold. I keep reminding myself that the spring flowers will probably be blooming like crazy. I should play Dorothy, and click my ruby flip-flops together three times, intoning, "There's no place like home. There's no place like home. There's no place like ho...."

PARK SALE FUN

We picked the right week to be here. In my opinion, anyway. This is the week the RV park has its park-wide patio sale. I was up and ready for it when it started, and to my surprise, so was the husband unit. We got on our bikes, and wound our way from street to street, down one, and up the other, looking for the patio sales.

I was on a quest. The only thing keeping me from finishing those five white button-stack bracelets was a shortage of white beads. I needed only ten, and I had that many, but they weren't, somehow, just the right ones.

Of course, if it has beads on it, I'm going to look, whatever the color. I'm not nuts. Or maybe I'm just not that focused, that I could pass up pretty beads just because they weren't exactly what I was supposed to be looking for.

This is what I ended up with, after perusing all the sales:

Just look at those gorgeous green beads! And the lime-olive greens of the hoop earrings. The copper, silver, and pink-centered earrings, I'll wear, but the rest of the jewelry I'll take apart. The white earrings contain all the white beads I need, and more, including what appears to be four swarovki crystals.

And the entire lot cost me a total of $4.50! Oh, I do love garage sales.

I also got myself a darling little housedress or nightie, totally vintage, and cute, and very lightweight cotton. That was a whopping fifty cents. I'll see if I can't get a photo of it tomorrow.

MEET THE NEW CUFF BRACELETS

Okay, I've been talking about the new cuff bracelets I've been making for weeks and weeks. It's about time they actually made an appearance on my blog. (My apologies, by the way, for being so completely absent of late. I got sick, followed by rather lazy, followed by way too busy trying to make up for the first two things in this sentence!)

The bracelets came about because a stack of nice, but small, faux leather samples from a local design house came face to face with my deep reluctance to throw anything remotely useful away. What, I wondered, could you make with something that little?

Here's what I came up with:


That's one of the very first styles I came up with. Basically, if you want to do your own, you cut a piece of faux leather a little larger than 4" X 6" (10.2cm X 15.2cm). Attach a button or buttons. Placement will depend on where you want the decoration to be in relation to the lacing--near one end if you want it right next to the laces, or in the middle, if you want the button to ride on top of your wrist.

Once the button is securely attached, fold your piece in half lengthwise, and sew about 1/4" to 3/8" (0.6cm to 1cm) from the edge. Pink the sewn edge, and punch five holes on each end. Cut a length of elastic cord about 24" (61cm) long, and lace through the holes like you would a shoe. Lace each end of the cord through two holes of a four-hole button, and tie a knot. You can cinch the laces tight after the cuff is on your wrist, using the button.



After I did some simple button adornments, it occurred to me that the scraps from cutting the cuffs could also be put to use, and I did this:


Then the idea of using pinked disks of colorful fabrics popped into my mind:


You'll notice there are a few beads, too, I'm sure.

A couple more:






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MORE SHANK BUTTON JEWELRY DESIGNS

Yesterday felt like a day to make a bracelet, so I did. Then I made earrings to match, and then more.

In the past, finding a way to incorporate shank buttons in jewelry has kind of stymied and frustrated me, because there are so many really beautiful buttons just crying to be used. I begin to think I've found the answer.

So, if you want to try this, you might start here:

A Small Shank Button Tutorial

because that's actually where I started. The bracelet simply enlarges on it. So, pictures first, and then a bit of explanation on the difference between using the buttons for a bracelet and using them for earrings.

This is the finished bracelet:


And this is what I used:

• 5 vintage shank buttons, about 5/8" (1.59cm)
• 5 charcoal mother-of-pearl flat circle beads, about 1" (2.54cm) in diameter
• 12 oblong vintage black plastic "jet" beads, about 1/2" (1.27cm) long
• 12 head pins, 2 1/2" (6.35cm) to 3" (7.62cm) long
  
• 36 black seed beads
• 2 round vintage plastic "jet" beads
• 4 small silver bead caps
  
• 1 clasp
• Non-tarnishing silver wire, 20 gauge

Here's a photo of the back of the bracelet:

As you can see, I didn't fill the gap between the shank of the button and the ring bead, which added one more possibility for movement to the piece. It also wasn't necessary to bring the wire to the back of the bead to prevent the beads' spinning to show the wrong, or back, side--your wrist will do that.

So the process would be to make a wrapped loop on one end of a piece of wire about 2 1/2" (6.35 cm) long, string on one side only of the circle bead, then the shank button, and then run the wire through the other hole in the bead, ending in another wrapped loop. After the first bead group, of course, you'll want to join the wire-wrapped loops as you go, to create a chain of wire, buttons, and beads.

When you've joined the five buttons, measure the bracelet to your wrist, to see if you need another button-bead link. My wrist measures about 6 3/4" (17.1 cm), so five was about right. More length will be added by the clasp assembly, in this case a silver capped bead wire-wrapped to each part of the clasp and the bracelet ends.

After you've created the basic bracelet, string the head pins:

• 4 head pins strung with one oblong bead and three seed beads
• 4 head pins strung with one oblong bead and two seed beads
• 4 head pins strung with one oblong bead and one seed bead

Attach one of each group to the loops joining the bracelet links, using a wire-wrap or simple loop. (I prefer to wire-wrap, as it's sturdier, and looks nice, myself.)

Note: While my seed beads were all technically the same size, I did pick through and put a slightly smaller bead on the top of each stack.

To make the matching earrings, I followed the process given in the A Small Shank Button Tutorial.

With these earrings, I did fill the space between the button shank and the inside edge of the circle beads, as I wanted the button to be centered on the ring. The beads you'll need for that will depend on the dimension of the button shank.

As you can see from the photo, I also brought the wire used for the stringing and upper loop to the back, to provide that spin-stopping function.

Finish the earrings with a dangle made from one oblong bead and a seed bead, and add the earring wires.

Just for fun, here are three more pairs, made using the same basic technique:


Notice that in the last pair, I brought the spin-stopping wire to the front, for some extra design oomph.

Well. That was fun for me. Hope it gives you some fun, too!

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MORE SHANK BUTTON EARRINGS--Mini Tutorial

Once I made the first pair of shank button earrings, all I wanted to do was make more. So I did.

This little tutorial builds on yesterday's, so if there's something you don't understand, you might want to look at it. The thing I think about when I'm working with shank buttons is the space between the shank and the edges of the button. With a bead, whatever you're stringing with--wire, thread, etc.--won't show, but with a button there's that span to cover.

I use extra beads to do that. Sometimes they don't show at all. Other times, they become part of the design. In yesterday's pair, the beads were very much part of the design; with this one, not so much so, although there's just a tiny bit of color showing above and below, almost like a seed bead.

So again, you start with a wrapped loop at the bottom, then string on a bead, in this case a blue bugle, then the button, and then another bugle bead. There should be just a little of the beads showing from the front.

At the top of the bugle bead, begin a wrapped loop, but instead of clipping the wire, bring it down the back of the button, and around the shank, and then back up to the top of the bugle bead. Are you following me so far? Here's a picture, and below it I'll continue with the rest:



Loop it around where you've begun the wrap, and then bring it back down to the back, ending with a tiny coil. The wire will cross the front of the bugle bead on the diagonal.

There's a reason for all that looping around in back: It keeps the button from spinning on the wire, so that the pretty side of the button will face forward all the time when you wear your earrings. You could accomplish the same thing with a dot of glue, probably, but I like the simplicity of this, and the interesting appearance it gives the back. That's probably not very important--I mean, who looks at the backs of their jewelry? But I like it anyway.

Here's another shot of the back from a different angle:

And the finished pair:



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SHANK BUTTON EARRINGS--A SMALL TUTORIAL

Do you ever get the urge to just make something? Maybe you don't have a lot of time, but there's that need. It was that sort of a day for me. When time is limited, earrings can feed the creative hunger I feel, and anyway, the beads and buttons were already out, because I'd finished a bracelet just before going to bed last night. Since I'd been working with green, I just dug around in the green button baggie until I found a pair of buttons I liked.

Then I turned my fifteen minute project into two that took considerably longer by deciding to do this tutorial. Well, a girl's gotta do what a girl's gotta do.

You'll need the usual array of beading tools--round-nose pliers, flat-nose pliers, and wire nips. And also

Fine gauge wire (I used 24 gauge)
2 matching shank buttons
4 matching flat, square beads (other shapes would also work--they just need to be flat)
2 seed beads

I'm going to assume basic wirewrapping technique, just enough to make a wrapped loop, to keep this brief, and also because I know others have already put tutorials for that up, and mine wouldn't be as good.

So start by cutting a length of the wire roughly a foot long. You want to give yourself enough to work with. Make a wrapped loop on one end, and the thread on a flat bead, a button, and another flat bead:
I noticed when I was working with my beads that the hole ran at a bit of a slant. If yours are similarly drilled, put the off-center hole against the shank of the button. Also, check to see whether one side of each bead is prettier or more evenly colored, and be sure to put the nicest side facing out.

This is where it gets just a bit more complicated. At the top of beads you've just strung, make another wrapped loop, but instead of cutting the wire, bring it down the front of the top flat bead, and under the button.

Now wind the wire once around the shank of the button, pulling it tight. Bring the wire down the lower bead, crossing it diagonally, and loop it around the wire-wrapping at the bottom, then back up the front of the bead, and under the button. Pull the wire in against the button shank, cross the upper bead on the diagonal, and wind it around the top loop a time or two, and clip.

That's a lot of words for something that really happens almost intuitively, so study the picture below and go with your instincts.

The last step is to wire wrap a seed bead, and hang it from the bottom loop.



I think they turned out rather well.
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