SKY PIXIE was
inspired by the wrapped bead
blog (below) and created
this new collection from
'Charity Shop' beads and
0.9mm bronze coloured wire!
It's called:
The Sherbert Summer Collection
I hope her pieces, in turn, will inspire
you to do some wrapping ...
I T ' S A W R A P !
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Wrapping Beads
& Stones
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
There are so many ways to wrap beads
and 'stones' with wire in order to decorate,
embellish and enhance your jewellery
designs. A very plain bead can be made
to look very unique with a little personal
wire wrapping customisation.
Below are some images of techniques
and variations that I have experimented
with over the years ... and I know I will
continue to develop more. Infact, my new
book (available now on pre-order from
www.amazon.co.uk) called 'Making
Beautiful Bead & Wire Jewellery' has a
brand new version - a pebble transformed
into a unique key-ring pendant with a
double-spiral wire wrap feature!
I hope this will inspire you all to start
wrapping and encasing your beads and
come up with your own original designs.
Please feel free to send in any images of
your wrapped inspired pieces
to linda.jones@wirejewellery.co.uk
(in JPEG format) and I will publish them
in the next blog!
Bead Caged Necklace, Handbag Charm & Bracelet
with Spiral + Coil Wrapped Pendant Earrings
Cages are a great way of using up cheap, plastic beads, as all that can be seen is the colour and not the quality. They are also good for badly drilled beads or misshapen stones.
Open Caged Bead
(This is the same
as the cage - but
when you place a
large bead in a small
cage you end up
revealing more of the
bead. Re-thread the top
of the cage and bead with
wire, to ensure that the
bead cannot drop
out.
Encased Marbles (above)
This style of spiral encasing only works for round beads and marbles, again
this is a good way of enhancing a bead that has a badly drilled hole or no hole at all.
Encased Beads (Small)
This encasing technique is created in a slightly different way to the 'encased marble' (above) but is a great way of caging small beads to create clusters and beaded tassels.
Framed Stone or Cabochon Setting
This style of framing is suitable for cabochon styles, or non-drilled glass pendant shapes.
Framed Drilled Bead
Using a similar technique to the framed glass pendant above, this bead is framed as well as threaded with the wire, with the excess wires used as top spiral decorations.
Free-form Wrapped Pendant Bead
Another good way to use up cheap beads, as you can wrap the outer edges with wire and 'tweak' to tighten around the frame.
Free-form Flat Wrap
This technique of free-form wrapping works on any shape, from beads to large pendant shapes.
Horizontal Wrapped Stone
This style can be used on a non-drilled or drilled stone or bead.
Vertical Wrapped Bead
Very similar technique to the horizontal (above) but this time, vertically wrapped.
Wrapped Donuts
Plumbing washers, glass or semi-precious donut shapes all look great wrapped in wire. Experiment with coloured wires for this.
Herringbone Bead Wrap
Fiddly but effective!
Spiral Single Wrapped Beads
This is similar to creating a 'cage' whereby the spiral at the top and bottom hole of the bead acts like a bead cap.
Single Wrap Beads
Use this single wrapped bead loop to enhance your threaded beads. The little 'tweak' or twist not only tightens the wire around the bead but creates added detail.
I think that's probably enough wrapping inspiration to get you started. So get that wire out and tip out some random beads from your stash and as Dizzy Rascal would say: "Get Rappin', Man!"
Free-form Wrapped Bead with Wire & Bead Tassel
by www.wirejewellery.co.uk
