Saturday 16 August 2014

DRAGONFLY TUTORIAL


















What a lovely week!
I really enjoyed filming my second
CREATE and CRAFT TV programme,
meeting the lovely, talented Dawn Bibby and
making all the samples using beautiful
materials from BEADS DIRECT!

I hope everyone has now got themselves
a WHAMMER and is finding
the benefits of using a hammer that is
totally and utterly designed to get the
best results out of wire!

As always with these programmes, there is
never enough time to showcase all the demos
I prepared and I was rushed to finish my
Dragonfly ... so, to make amends, here is a
step by step version.



1.  Cut approx. 8"
20cm of 0.8mm
(20-gauge) wire and
place your round
nosed pliers about
a third along and
bend in two.

Pick out 4 crystal
beads for the
'body' plus one
slightly larger
bead for the 'head'.





















2. Thread one of the 'body' beads onto
the shorter length and wrap the longer
wire around the side of the bead and
once around the top to keep it in place.



















3.  Add 3 more beads in the same way,
but after the 4th bead, wrap the wire
4 times around the stem (as more space
is needed here to secure the 'wings').



















4.  Thread the 'head' bead on and secure
the wire around above it.



















5. Pull the projecting wires out into a
'V' shape and form into spirals to create
the 'antennae'. Use your Whammer
and block to flatten and work harden
the ends.

















6.  To make the wings: cut approx. 12" (31cm) of
0.8mm (20-gauge) wire and wrap the centre of the
length once around the body stem, just under the 'head'
bead to secure.


















7.  Place your round nosed pliers (or any circular mandrel,
such as pencil) approx. 1.5" (3.5cm) from the centre
stem and loop around to create the top wing. Wrap the
wire once around the centre to secure.


















8.  Using the rest of the projecting wire, create the
remaining top and bottom wings. I made the lower
wings slightly smaller than the top ones.

















9.  Secure the ends of the wires by wrapping once
around, just under the top bead and any remaining
wire can be spiralled and flattened down to cover
the wraps underneath.
















10.  You can Whammer hammer the wings BEFORE
wire wrapping them all with 0.4mm wire.















... And here, for your delectation, is the finished piece
with a bit more tweaking on the wire-wrapped wings!

















In my book, 'Making Beautiful Bead and Wire Jewellery'
(page 110-113) I created the dragonflies as hair grip
decorations and used 0.5mm coloured wires, plus a
few sparkly beads to decorate the wings.



















I have also created them as necklace pendants.
These wings were shaped around a pen and are
chunkier, making the piece look part butterfly.
I think I will call this a "Buttdragfly", or perhaps
a "Dragbuttfly".  No! Maybe not!!















They are great motifs to put onto greetings cards, hair
fascinators, cake decorations, bouquet embellishments,
plant sticks ....
HAVE FUN CREATING YOUR OWN!

Happy Wireworking! and catch me again on
CREATE and CRAFT TV on Saturday 30th August
and again on 6th September (I've got Coiling Gizmo and
Jig inspiration coming up ...).

Wednesday 6 August 2014

SPREAD THE WORD OF WIRE ...


As you may know,
I've been a wire missionary
for many years!
Through metalwork,
I found wire.
I became intoxicated with
its design versatility and so
I had to spread the 'word of wire'
by becoming a teacher of the craft!











Being creative is my best therapy in life and I'm
so lucky to have recently been given the opportunity
to 'spread the word of wire' even further ... as
BEADS DIRECT, my favourite
online supplier, have asked me to appear on a series
of programmes on CREATE and CRAFT TV














Using their quality materials and products I will be
able to demonstrate techniques and provide design
inspiration, tips and advice.  My first show took place
on July 26th with the amiable presenter, Martyn Parker.














I am following that show with my next, on Tuesday
12th August at 3pm 
(so if you remember, set the 'record' button) or,
watch online if you have such a technological
device!  Following that, you can catch me on further
programmes on Saturday 30th August and
September 6th with more wire magic on display!

I will have gorgeous jewellery giveaways and share
my 15 years of knowledge.  The only drawback (and
perhaps it should be printed under the programme title)
is that wire jewellery making is ... very, very addictive!
But, you guys knew that anyway!

If you missed that first show: "An Introduction to Wire
and Beaded Jewellery",  I demonstrated 4 projects out of
the first  BOOK
that I wrote 10 years ago
(which is still a perfect starter book!). Here's a taste
of the projects:

BEAD CAGES: 

 

































BEADED BANGLES:












WIGGLY CHAIN:


























CHAIN OF HEARTS:
































but I just ran out of time and was unable to show my
'Egyptian Chainmaille' ...

However, I promise to demo that on this next
show coming ... ! And there's plenty more -
such as dragonflies, bouquets and starburst
bead pendants!



















So PLEASE come and join me on 12th August, or on
any of my future programmes and do tell any of your
friends and family to watch - there's inspiration for card
makers and paper crafters too!

Wire is just the perfect medium for embellishing and decorating
... don't you agree?