Necklace Hanger

I started making these years ago, but this is the first time I made one with square wire as the base instead of round. This one also turned out better than some of my earlier attempts. I bought the square wire at Rings and Things (it is hard to find non-round base metal wire).

And here is another shot one from the side to show the hooks off a little better.

Tool wise I used my chain nose pliers to make the right angle bends in the wire, my round nose pliers to shape the hooks and start the spirals, and I used my nylon jaw pliers to finish the spirals.

Have Pin Vise...

I've been using the pin vise I bought back in December from Rings and Things, and it's quite the handy tool. I'm working on a few things at once with it.

This is one of the projects I'm working on, a purple and copper necklace. I used 22 gauge copper wire for the pendant and rings, all cut from the same length of twisted wires. I used two lengths of the purple wire and one of the copper color. For the twisting I had my nylon jaw pliers on one end, and the pin vise on the other. Once the wire was twisted I used my round nose pliers to shape the little rings and the pendant.

The next work in progress is inspired by one of the stories from Catherynne Valente's Omikuji Project, The Apple Tree at the End of the World.

I also used 22 gauge copper wire for this, twisting three strands together with the pin vise for the smaller branches. Where the smaller branches form the limb, I hand twisted them together. I twisted the smaller branches together first, then added the apples and the leaves. One apple is 8mm while the other is 6, I figured that would help give the finished tree some perspective.

I still have yet to make more branches, and once I have the tree all assembled I'll work on shaping the branches and limbs more.

The third pin vise project has no pictures. Tonight and last night I've been doing some work with 20 gauge copper wire for earrings. Using two strands (one gold color, one copper) twisted together I've made some loops, which I'll hang some beads in the center of. It was a little tricky to get the 20g wire into the vise, but still possible.

For the twisting, I found that the nylon jaw pliers work well with the pin vise. I first secured the ends into the vise. Then I slid the pliers down the wires to make sure they were even against each other. The next step was to clamp down on the ends in the jaws of the pliers. I also found that it helps to bend the wires over the far side of the pliers jaws, in a nice right angle. When I first was twisting wires together, they slid around in the pliers. Bending them helped keep them in place.

Purple Stoneware and Silver Necklace

One of the necklaces I made as a gift, which was given today, so I'm posting pictures. This one started with the purple stoneware beads, and it took awhile for me to decide what to do with them. While looking through my recent purchases, I realized that they looked nice with the silver-plated chain I bought. From there I decided to do some wrapped loops to have some Swarovski crystals with them.

The necklace is 18 inches long, counting the clasp.

Materials:
Stoneware beads
Swarovski 6mm faceted clear rounds
Silver plated twist link chain
Teal jump rings
Silver Plated lobster clasp
Craft wire - probably 22 gauge (Yes, this wire was a gift, and the only labeling the package says is "blue craft wire".)

Green Wire Coil Necklace

Here is the necklace I made earlier this week. I'm happy with how the necklace turned out, and the pictures as well. The family room was nice and sunny, and I set the necklace out of the direct sun for the better photos. When it was in the sun, the shadows from the coil covered up the center of the pendant.

The image of the whole necklace is to the left, click on it for a larger version. The pictures are taken on my bead board, the numbers are for inches, with smaller "hash" lines for half inches.


Here is a picture of the necklace chain (again click the image for a larger version). I had fun making the various little segments then connecting them with the jump rings. Because the necklace is lighter weight, and I'm using 20 gauge wire, I did simple loops at the end of the segments instead of wrapped loops.

For the end of the necklace I used a silver plated clasp, and also put together an extender chain out of the jump rings. This way the necklace length can vary a bit. Whenever I make a little chain extender, I like to have something on the end, so that the clasp doesn't slide if goes around the rings instead of hooking onto one. With the ring size and the clasp, this probably won't happen with this necklace, but it still adds a nice touch. For the end of the chain I coiled my copper wire, strung a 6mm Czech glass bead, and looped the end.

Materials:
For the coil pendant and the beaded segments in the chain I used 20 gauge copper wire. I bought it from my local bead store, and it has an anti-tarnish finish on it. The seed beads I used are Toho brand, which I purchased online from Artbeads.com, I like that brand of beads, they are nice and even sized. When I made a similar necklace to this with random seed beads it took forever to string the beads on the wire. Because the size 8 beads just fit, any random smaller bead that gets stuck I have to set aside and grab another bead. But I didn't have that issue with the Toho beads. The bigger teal/blue beads on the chain are also Toho, but size 6. I also included some 6mm Czech glass rounds on the chain. The rings are from my local bead store, size D20EC 20 gauge with an AR of 4.0. I also used a few Swarovski Elements, bicone Erinite color 4 and 6mm.

To make the coil I used my coiling gizmo, which is sold various places. I strung the beads on the wire, then used the gizmo to make the coil, which I then shaped into the pendant. If anyone does want to try making something like this, be very careful when coiling beaded wire. As the wire turns the beads will slide slightly apart from each other. The first time I made one of these (this being the second), I put to much tension on the beads to keep them coiling, and one broke, the pieces flying away from the wire. Though the beads do need to be pushed a bit towards the coiling gizmo, otherwise only the wire will go around the shaft leaving bare spots.

Tools:
The coiling gizmo, chain nosed pliers (times 2 - for the jump rings), round nose pliers, flush cutters, nylon jaw pliers. I do make my wire spirals by hand, starting the turn with my round nose pliers, then pinching the half turn closed with chain nosed. I do a few turns with the chain nose, then switch over to the nylon jaw pliers.

Yes, I had help with the picture taking process. Toby, one of our cats, followed me into the family room and was sitting on the furniture while I was taking pictures. Here he is taking a closer look at the necklace.