How To Make Jewelry: Handmade Wire Jewelry

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In order to work with wire, you need to know how to make some basic shapes. After that, you can get creative and use these shapes to create intricate pieces.

Basic loop: To make this, take a piece of wire and using round nose pliers, <a href='http://krystydesign.com/wiedza'>bizu</a> bend in half; cross one half of the wire over the other to form a little loop. To secure it, hold the loop steady with flat nose pliers, being careful not to scratch the wire. Take one of the wire ends and using your thumb -- or another pair of pliers - carefully wrap it around the other wire end, under the loop. The end result is that it should look something like a noose, where there is a secured loop with wire wrapped under it. This type of loop is great to use when making things like pendants, where you want the loop to be strong and stable.

Sqiggles: Using round nose pliers, bend a piece of wire into a series of rounds (like waves or a snake); a good way to practice is to bend the wire in half; then bend one of those halves in half, and so on until you have a series of these squiggles.

Spiral: Use round nose pliers to make a full loop at the very end of the wire. After, carefully hold the loop in a pair of flat nose wires so that the loop is perpendicular to the pliers. Using your thumb, push the wire around the loop so that you're moving it away from you. Keep rolling it (as if you're building a snowball) until you have a spiral shape.