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Wire Sculpture Beginner's Tips

Help for Those Interested In Wire Sculpture

Take a Wire Sculpture Trial Run Before You Take the Plunge

If you make and sell beaded jewelry, you may be having a tough go of it. Everyone seems to be taking up beading.

Did you know that beaded jewelry is the fastest-growing craft trend? Whether people bead for profit or just for themselves and for gifts, this is cutting into your market share.

Same size pie; more people taking a piece of it. You’re probably selling fewer pieces and at lower prices. A deadly combination. You need to break away from the crowd.

Introducing Wire Sculpture

Wire Sculpture Beginner's Tips

If you’re like me, you want to take a trial run before making an investment in a new craft.

I used materials I had on hand to follow this pendant design.

The materials were all wrong; but I could see that I could do this. If you don't have the materials to try the wire-wrapped pendant, you just may have what you need to make the wire-wrapped bead on this page.

You need a 2 cm tall foiled heart bead (or shape of your choice), 7 inches of 21 or 22 gauge soft wire and round nose pliers. Make sure the wire is soft enough to curl using only your fingers.

Tools must be used very carefully and sparingly when wire sculpting because they can leave marks that devalue your work.

Slide the bead to the middle of the wire. Bend the bottom wire at a 90 degree angle to secure the bead. Hold the top wire with the round nose pliers as close to the bead as possible.

Wind the wire around the pliers to form a loop to hang the pendant.

Now swirl and curl the wire to your heart’s content. When you are happy with the design, cut off any excess wire, leaving just enough to lock each end around another wire with a loop from front to back.

You always want to hide the ends at the back so they don’t detract from the design.

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