Wire can be made interesting crafts(flowers, trees, bracelets, brooches, beads, etc.), which will serve as a wonderful decoration for the interior. Even a preschool child can make the simplest wire products.

For home needlework and crafts with children, copper wire is used, which is very soft and flexible. Candlesticks, vases, brooches, etc. can also be made from this type of wire.

Handicraft helps to develop attention and fine motor skills children, as well as distracting and soothing nervous system. The child receives a lot of positive emotions in the process of creative activity.

Craft wire can be purchased at a craft store or online.

Instruments

For the manufacture of wire products you will need the following tools:

• tongs that have round ends;
• wire cutters;
• copper wire;
• materials for decorative finishing (beads, all kinds of stones for decoration).

It is very popular to make crafts from fluffy wire, which is a flexible wire wrapped in pile. From it you can make a lot of different crafts. Products are beautiful.

You can buy this type of wire through the Internet or in any bookstore. Fluffy wire products can be of two types:

• flat products;
• bulk products.

Chenille (fluffy) wire was invented for cleaning smoking pipes.

Christmas tree

To make a Christmas tree, you need to take a green shaggy wire and twist it in the form of a cone, in the direction of a spiral. It is necessary to gradually reduce the size of the circle.

According to a similar scheme (in the form of a spiral), you can also make a caterpillar, snake, snail and other animals.

This is a great option, for example, for crafts in the kindergarten, because it does not require special skills and time for busy mothers to make.

Spider

Another great wire craft is, for example, a fluffy spider. For its manufacture, it is necessary to twist four single-color and identical wires in the form of an insect and decorate with beads.

Egg

You can make an original Easter egg from wire. To do this, you need to take a wooden blank for easter egg, spread around the perimeter with glue. After that, you must immediately very carefully wind the wire around the egg in one layer so that there are no gaps.

Little children are very fond of making animals and men from fluffy wire, which will later be their favorite toy.

For gluing parts made of shaggy wire, ordinary stationery glue is suitable.

Copper Wire Crafts

In addition to fluffy wire for crafts, copper wire is also used, with which the frame of the product is made, and beads, beads, etc. are strung.

Crafts made of wire and beads are very popular. The manufacture of such crafts takes place in several stages:

• Making the frame of the product from wire (the diameter of the wire must correspond to the diameter of the hole in the bead);
• Beads are strung on the frame of the craft. (Beads must be the same in color and shape. Beads can be typed by hand or with the help of a spinner);
• With the help of wire scraps, all parts of the product are connected.

Beads give any product originality and unusualness. Czech beads are considered the best beads for crafts. With the help of beads and wire, you can make various jewelry, “money tree”, interior flowers, etc.

It is believed that the "money tree" serves as a talisman to attract wealth and well-being in the house. Therefore, it is very popular in the interior of people.

To make a tree, you will need a small pot, beads and a thin flexible wire (for example, made of copper).

It is necessary to cut the wire of the same length and thickness. Then you need to twist the wire parts together, leaving a part for the branches. Beads must be applied to the branches of the tree. lower part fix the money tree with some kind of base, or with the help of a small flower pot.

Candlesticks, vases, brooches, etc. are also made of copper wire.

On the Internet there is a large number of a variety of schemes and photos of wire crafts that will greatly help beginner needlewomen.

In order to make wire crafts, as in any type of needlework, you need to have patience and endurance. Only in this case, the products will reward their creator with beauty and attractiveness, originality and uniqueness.

Every hand-crafted product is invested with the soul of a person.

Photo of wire crafts

Most people first come across crafts as a child, when you need to bring something made with your own hands to a craft lesson. You can learn to embroider, knit, sew, weave from threads, beads, ribbons. What can be done with copper wire? Very successfully soft metal figures of animals, insects, fish, candlesticks and lampshades, flowers, coasters, money trees, Christmas decorations from copper wire, as well as an endless number of women's accessories - bracelets, rings, earrings, necklaces, chains, belts. The simplicity of working with wire and the unusual beauty of the resulting decorative elements deserve to be told about them in more detail.

Wire work technique and tools.

Wire for the manufacture of jewelry is made from copper, silver, aluminum. It comes in different shades and diameters from 0.2 mm to 1.5 mm. The most popular size for weaving beaded jewelry is up to 0.6 mm, and thicker wire successfully produces braid for beads, curly elements for making chains and openwork details of earrings or bracelets. The thickest wire is used to make bases, frames and frames. For beginners, copper wire is most suitable, which is easy to use and not so expensive. There are many techniques for weaving copper wire (for example, wire wrap, chain mail, French), most craftsmen use, as a rule, mixed or author's techniques.

The set of tools for working with wire is quite standard: ordinary pliers, round-nose pliers with a smooth cone-shaped surface, side cutters, hammer and anvil, a set of special pins. The wire can be purchased at needlework stores, it is advisable to take several coils at once with different size wire. Round-nose pliers are used to create all kinds of bends on the wire, twisting it into spirals and springs.

Copper wire crafts can be done even with children, starting from the age of five, when the baby's fingers got stronger, perseverance developed. Children usually create all kinds of animal figures, trees, flowers with great pleasure.

Master class: jewelry made of copper wire on the hand.

Once upon a time in childhood, it was very common to captivate rings and bracelets on hands made of soft multi-colored wire. Weaved and pigtails, and chains, and plaits. At a more mature age, the desire comes to decorate the hands with something original, even better in ethnic style. After all, deep in the soul, everyone dreams of becoming a creator. Copper wire jewelry, which you can make yourself, is the best for this. Below you can get acquainted with the technology of weaving a men's bracelet and a "Scandinavian" ring, which will suit both men and women.

Armored bracelet "Chain".

most popular homemade decoration no doubt is the bracelet. Such products made of copper wire will always look stylish and beautiful, they can be decorated with beads, stones, or they can be created in the form of chains of original weaving.

In this master class, we will talk about a men's bracelet made of thick copper wire with a diameter of 2 mm. Armored was chosen as the base weaving. Each link is made in the form of a figure eight. Type of processing links - forging. The links are assembled into rings, and the bracelet closes with an original clasp in the form of a double hook. The diameter of the future bracelet should be 1.5 centimeters larger than the volume of the brush.

To understand how many links are needed, we draw a line of the appropriate length on the sheet, on which we will lay out the finished links.

Before starting work on the bracelet, we will prepare the materials and tools that we will need in our work:

• a coil of copper wire (depending on the manufacturer: diameter 2 mm or gauge 12);
• hammer and anvil,
• pliers, round nose pliers and wire cutters;
• weaving nail.

First of all, blanks are cut from the wire for future links - these are pieces of copper 5 cm long. Using round-nose pliers, we make a figure eight from each segment: for this, one end of the wire is wrapped in a ring in one direction, and on the other - in the opposite direction. Repeat this with each piece. As a result, we will get the required number of links.

The next operation is forging. Each link, placed on the anvil, must be gently flattened with a hammer so that the surface of the "eight" becomes flat like foil. We forge every detail. After forging, the wire changes its shape and the ends of the rings can move away from the middle. It is necessary with the help of pliers to close them so that the ends of the rings tightly “lock” the figure eight.

The next stage of work is cutting the connecting links. To do this, the wire must be wound around the nail, tightly pressing the coil to the coil. You should get a spiral with identical rings. To cut the spiral into rings, you need to bite off each turn with wire cutters in the place where the end of the wire is located. The ends of the rings should look in different directions and there should be a gap between them so that you can thread the chain links.

Now let's start collecting. We take two "eights" and thread a connecting ring through their middle, then close its ends and clamp it with pliers. The next "eight" is connected with the previous ring and fixed again. Thus, all links are assembled.

The final touch is the clasp for the bracelet. To make it, you need a piece of wire 7 cm, which is bent in the middle so that two parallel straight lines are obtained. One end of the hook is bent with an inflection, and each of the wires from the other is twisted into a half ring, put into its half of the "eight" and wrapped around them, making several turns. The remaining ends are curled into a snail. The bracelet is ready!

Scandinavian ring.

One of the decorations that can distinguish a person from the crowd is an unusual ring - after all, our hands are always in sight. Offered step-by-step instruction how to make a copper wire ring in ethnic style.

The tools and materials that will be needed to make it can be found in the husband's garage, in extreme cases, buy at a hardware store.

To make a "Scandinavian ring" you will need:

• wire of several sizes (40 cm - d1.2 mm, 25 cm - d0.7 mm and 60 cm - d0.5 mm);
• used AA battery and adhesive tape;
• vise, pliers, side cutters, hammer and file.

We will need a used battery and adhesive plaster (it is better to take it on a reel) to create a template. With a thread, we measure the volume of the finger on which we will wear the ring, then we wrap the battery with adhesive plaster until the desired size is obtained.

The ring is an assembly of one pigtail, two plaits and four wire rings. Two more pieces of wire will be needed in order to forge the mounting plates.

For a pigtail, you will need three equal pieces of 0.7 mm wire. For example, for ring size 18, the length of the segment will be 6.5-7 cm (about 5 mm will go to allowances). We clamp the wire with one side in a vice and weave a pigtail out of them. The wire must be stretched to make the weaving tight.

For two bundles, you need 8 equal pieces of 0.5 mm wire. We divide them into 4 pieces, fix them in a vise at one end and twist the tourniquet. The wire is also tensed with each twist.

We cut 4 pieces along the length of the 1.2 mm wire template. We cut the wire to assemble the ring along the length of the template. From two pieces of 4 cm we make clips-holders that will fasten our parts into one and hide the sharp wire tips. To do this, on the flat part of the vise, they must be carefully flattened with a hammer to the state of a flat strip.

We assemble the ring: wire-wire-wire-pigtail-wire-wire-wire and fix it vertically in a vise.

The fastening strip is applied at a distance of three to five millimeters from the edge of the ring and is bent inward from both sides. The joint should be approximately in the middle of the ring, excess metal can be cut off with wire cutters. Too sharp ends can be filed. The workpiece is turned over with the other end up and the whole operation is repeated. We align all the protruding parts with wire cutters and process them with a needle file so that they do not scratch.

The workpiece is applied to the template (battery) and attached round shape. The beauty of this decoration is that if it becomes small for you, you can unbend it a little.

Wire jewelry was made by ancient craftsmen. Initially, ancient Russian blacksmiths forged jewelry, chain mail, weapons, and from the twelfth century they switched to the drawing method. This made it possible to simplify the process of manufacturing thin, even wire, as well as to reduce prices for products made from it. The time of wire chain mail has passed, but craftsmen continue to amaze with wire products: hair ornaments, earrings, bracelets, rings, pendants, souvenirs, key rings, bulky items.

Information for beginners

Although they have been found since ancient times different peoples, however, the names of the craftsmen have not survived to this day. Wrap decorations like the new kind needlework, went down in history with the name of Alexander Calder (Calder). He had a penchant for weaving wire jewelry and souvenirs since childhood, when he made earrings and bracelets for his sister, and gave brass animals to his parents for Christmas.

He devoted all his activities to the manufacture of jewelry, toys, sculptures. He rarely soldered metal parts, more often he used the overcasting method. This method allows even beginners to create jewelry. Used for work different types wire (brass, silver, copper, nickel, titanium, aluminum, zinc).

Thick wire is used for the base of the product, as it keeps its shape, and thin wire is braided with wire jewelry. Different stones, beads, beads, glass beads can be added to weaving. When the wire is wrapped with a thread, then this is already a kind of needlework, which is called ganutel.

What do you need to work?

Often novice craftsmen make wire products using mixed techniques, applying knowledge from such areas as wire wrap, ganutel, beading, quilling, isothreading. First, a sketch is drawn, then it is disassembled into individual elements, patterns, and only then proceeds to practical manufacturing. What will a novice wireworker need (this is the name of a master working in the wire wrap technique):

• tool,
• all types of wire,
• decorative beads, beads, stones.

Weaving jewelry from wire is impossible without round nose pliers, pliers with a pointed, curved, rectangular, nylon "tip", nippers, needle files (can be replaced with sandpaper for the first time), anvil (flahuizen), sperak, hammer, wiggic, drawing board, crossbar.

If you are working with copper wire, you can bend it with your fingers, help with pliers or other hard objects. To make a pattern from a thick material or a more complex pattern, a wiggic and a crossbar are needed. The first tool looks like a board with lots of holes and pegs. Arrange the pegs in the right order and wrap them with wire, creating an unusual pattern. A crossbar (a metal cone with a thickness of 9-40 mm) will be needed to create bracelets, rings, chains. At first, the connecting parts can be made with round-nose pliers.

To make hand-made wire jewelry look like purchased ones, get a sulfuric liver. Copper, bronze, silver-plated, brass wire products are patinated with this material to give light antiquity.

Basic elements: pin and spiral

The pin is a wire with a tip, somewhat similar to a needle for stabbing. To make it, they pinch the wire with round-nose pliers, stepping back a third from the edge (how much is left, this diameter will be at the ring). Rotate the wire 90 degrees. And they begin to wrap the half of the tip of the round-nose pliers, forming a ring. Then, near the base, the excess edge of the wire is bitten off, the ring is leveled with round-nose pliers.

The spiral is a simple circle with a ring. This pattern is great for making jewelry out of wire and beads. Pinch the tip of the wire with round-nose pliers, making a tight circle around the tip. Next, the resulting ring is pinched between the tips and the spiral is carefully wound. The diameter of the pattern depends on the number of turns. At the last stage, the wire from the resulting spiral is pinched with round-nose pliers, and a ring is formed with the free end of the wire, as in the manufacture of a pin. Excess material is cut off with wire cutters.

Main elements: spring, rings, balls

The spring is used to braid the wire. Wind the wire of the desired length tightly onto the crossbar. It can be used to create some separate elements, or put on a pin, creating a voluminous edging, or make an unusual chain for men from braided pins.

Rings are used as connecting elements, especially if you are weaving beads and wire jewelry. The wire is wound on the crossbar (the diameter of the rings depends on its thickness) with a tight twist, like a spring. Then it is removed and cut in the middle with wire cutters. If the space turned out to be large, then close the ring with pliers or fingers.

The balls on the edges of the wire are created by heating on a burner (some craftsmen use a conventional gas burner). To get them, you need a high burner power and “unclean” wire, as well as a drill, which creates such droplets perfectly even. You can blacken the wire with sulfuric liver and ammonia. The parts are flattened with a hammer, creating new elements.

Wire jewelry: a master class for beginners

If you have never tried to weave a wire, then you should try your hand at simple examples. To make a bracelet, you will need thick and thin copper wire, round-nose pliers, wire cutters and a burner (if you are working with a whole wire coil).

From thick wire, make rings of the desired diameter. To do this, find a cylindrical template of the desired diameter (pipe). Wrap the coils with thick wire, connect them in several places with temporary staples (bend the wire across the width of the bracelet rings, cut it off, put it on them and fasten the ends).

If there is no thick wire, you can buy ready-made cheap bracelet rings, connect them in several places for strength and start braiding. The braiding method involves twisting each bracelet ring from bottom to top and top to bottom with thin copper wire.

Weaving should go one after another, if the wire has moved away, then move it with round-nose pliers. If you work with a long wire, then in the process of weaving it becomes stiff. Therefore, it is heated with a burner (looks like a hair dryer with a flame), weaving continues. Since copper turns black after heating, then the finished product is processed citric acid(water is heated, powder is added, the product is boiled for several minutes, then rinsed in an aqueous solution).

You can braid the entire bracelet with wire or attach other wire jewelry in the foreground (wire wrap allows connection with stones, beads, flattened wire elements).

Make earrings for the copper bracelet. For their manufacture, you will need wire, ready-made fasteners for earrings, connecting rings, decorative elements (stones, beads). Please note that the color of the jewelry should be in harmony with the clasps and wire. If then gilded clasps with amber stone. If the fasteners are silver, then take a light-colored wire.

So, from a thick wire you need to make a large and small rings. Make blanks for the second earring in mirror image immediately, applying the parts to each other. Now, with a thin wire, freely braid the inner and outer rings. If you want to get a more voluminous look, then braid each ring with a spring (or put a spring on the ring), and then braid the products with a thin wire along the spring (in this case, the braid will be very even).

Next, fasten the clasp to the outer ring. Put the beads and stone on the wire and fasten it to the inner ring using the connecting ring. You can make your own connectors. To give antiquity, copper is blackened and varnished. Obtained as jewelry from jewelry wire.

How to braid a stone for a pendant

It’s good when there is a bead with a hole where you can stick a wire, but if the decoration is made of stone or a coin, then what about? For such cases, a special braiding method is used. You will need round-nose pliers, thin-nosed pliers, side cutters without a chamfer, wire (thickness 0.3 and 0.8 mm), stone (cabochon).

Weaving jewelry from wire begins with the manufacture of the frame. Wrap a cabochon with thick wire. With thin-nosed pliers, lift the wire tails up so that the angle is 90 degrees. Leave four centimeters and cut off excess material. From this wire you prepare a lot of connecting rings with a diameter of 4 mm.

Cut off 1.3 meters of thin wire, leaving 50 cm, start winding connecting rings to the frame. First, wrap the ring around the frame with 4 turns, then wind the ring to the frame with five turns. Further, without breaking the wire, go to the ring and wrap the adjacent element with three turns, smoothly exit to the frame.

So attach all the rings. Periodically apply the frame to the stone, if it is convex, and form the position of the rings. Perhaps, when lifting, it will be necessary to increase the rings more. Connect the last ring to the first five turns, and cut the wire from the wrong side. You twist the ends of the thick wire in a spiral (you can make completely different curls), bend the sides of the resulting pattern, forming a rhombus, wrap it with a thin wire that you left initially.

Wrong side of the pendant

The front side of the wire decoration is ready, now make the wrong side. To do this, make the same circle from thick wire, but smaller. Bend the ends of the wire into a tight ring. It is necessary to make sure that both curls fit snugly against each other. The lower part of the product can be flattened with a hammer. Just knock them slowly, slowly - they hit one place, see if it’s even, then move on. Otherwise, notches will form.

Now you connect the outer frame, stone and the wrong side into a single whole. Secure several places with temporary wire so that the parts sit tightly and do not move. Now you need to wrap the outer and inner frame with thin wire where there are voids (between the connecting rings on the outer part).

The last step is to make a pendant loop from a braided tail with curls. To do this, using a steel knitting needle, carefully, slowly bend so that the curls are found on the connecting rings of the product. Now thread the string or ribbon. As you can see, copper wire jewelry is no worse than jewelry.

Please note that the stone on the decoration is held by external patterns (connecting rings, curls), which are fixed to each other with coils. If the wire is loose, the cabochon will fly out.

Wire hair ornaments

You can easily make invisible hairpins, hairpins, combs from wire. The easiest option is to string a bead on a wire, make a flower shape with a curl and attach it to the base. A more interesting pattern will come from a flattened wire. Then leave the end for the bead, and slowly flatten the rest of the wire, while shaping it. In this example, wrap the wire around the bead, then move on to the petals, ending with a spiral curl. Put on a bead, achieve a snug fit of the wire to each other, solder to the base.

Let's take a closer look at how to make jewelry from wire, beads, beads. On a sheet of paper, draw a diagram of the hairpin, starting from the curl and moving to the outer circle, the end of which goes into another spiral, which is higher above the first. It turns out a circle with two inner antennae. This element is made continuously. Then, at the point of contact of two curls with a thin wire, braid them with several turns.

• six turns between the beads;
• eight turns between small beads;
• between large beads ten turns.

The distance is determined by the diameter of the decorative material. Weaving begins and ends with small beads, and large beads in the middle. Curls are braided only with beads. Next, make a hairpin. Fold the wire in half so that one end is a couple of centimeters longer. Attach it to the hairpin, the hairpin from each edge should be 5-7 centimeters larger. Excess material is cut off. Twist the hairpin from the middle, twist the ends with a spiral.

To make copper wire jewelry harmonize with the frame, thread beads into curls (one piece at one end, braid the other with 3 beads, 5 beads). It is not necessary to braid the entire hairpin so that the hair does not get tangled. Only separately antennae and between them a distance of 0.6 -1 cm, forming a triangle.

Simple ideas for original products

Handicraft stores offer a huge range of various decorative items for making jewelry. Buy a few, it will save your time, enrich your knowledge (now you will definitely know how to make connecting rings, fasteners, clips). Such prefabricated wire jewelry with their own hands is no different from purchased ones (except at an affordable price).

Here is an example of how to make an ethnic decoration from square elements with round voids. From a thick wire, bend a square (the corners should be straight) and a smaller circle. Put a square, a circle inside it, braid the figures with a thin wire. Another option is to put a spring on the wire before connecting each figure, and then braid them. Get massive decorations.

To match the necklace with earrings and bracelet, repeat the same plot. In the example with square earrings, the necklace will be simple from beads, and in the middle, attach a pattern of squares. Another example of an original wire jewelry (two-tone bracelet master class):

• divide the wire into equal pieces;
• using fasteners, connect in turn the light finished semi-arc blanks and the dark wire;
• attach fasteners to the edges;
• form the resulting line into a bracelet of several rings.

Bracelets can be made without clasps, they are simply put on the hand. The shape of a snake or arrow is most suitable for such a wire decoration (photo of a hand with bracelets).

Brief conclusions

It is better to train your hand and dexterity on copper wire when making simple hairpins, rings, hairpins. If there is no specialized equipment and tools, do not despair. Apply your imagination. Instead of a burner, use a gas stove to create droplets (and you can’t do without borax, it creates a perfectly flat surface). Replace Wigjik with sleight of hand, round nose pliers and paper scheme. The crossbar can be replaced at the initial pores by knitting needles of different diameters.

In order not to patinate wire jewelry, use non-oxidizing wire. You can cover the jewelry with varnish for durability. If you need to create a patina, wash the wire well in a lemon solution. Then you place it in warm water, apply a thin layer of sulfuric ointment on your fingers (pharmacies sell), wash the material under water. Without removing it from the water, wash off the sulfur with ordinary dishwashing detergent, wipe dry.

Or you heat the wire on fire, and then lubricate the warm wire with baby cream and rub it to the desired result, then wash it off with soap. Again, patina is an amateur color, created through trial and error. You can do without the color of antiquity. Someone just paints gold or silver acrylic paint, varnished.

There is no exact information on how to make jewelry from wire. Each master finds something of his own, talks about it in his master classes, or simply offers his creation. Try your hand at simple products, practice on the finished products of masters: mentally divide the decoration into its component parts and reproduce it in practice.

Nothing adorns a women's costume like unusual costume jewelry, chosen with taste and to the point. Meet the Wire Wrap style, wire jewelry. Yes, yes, from wire, however, jewelry: copper, aluminum, brass, silver-plated, gold-plated. Unique hand-made products created in a single copy. Any other jeweler is not able to repeat exactly the author's jewelry, it will be just a copy.

Quite often, the master working in the Wire Wrap technique is asked the same question: “Why was such a metal chosen as copper? Alloy brass? Masterpieces handmade made from the simplest materials finished product something completely different is important: the author's essence of the jewelry, its energy, positive, which helps the owner to walk through life, attracting the attention of others. A direct translation of the Wire Wrap technique means “wire wrapping”, however, the ultimate goal of creating a unique product is rarity, originality.

To make a bracelet, ring, necklace or earrings, the author needs to have such serious skills in working with metal as firing, soldering, blackening, patination, and so on. The creator of the jewelry does not work with a needle, like an embroiderer, not with knitting needles, like a knitter, but with wire cutters, pliers, and a hammer. Serious preparation for the process "gives out to the mountain" such rare products.

In their beauty, Wire Wrap jewelry can easily compete with other representatives of fine jewelry. hand made- products made of beads, felt, stone.

It all started with the idea of ​​the sculptor, artist, engraver and handicraftsman American Alexander Calder (1898 - 1976), who hails from the city of Lawnton (Lownton), Pennsylvania (USA). During his life, the author created one thousand eight hundred Wire Wrap decorations, inserting pieces of ceramics, wood, glass, and leather into copper and brass wire. At first, Alexander gave jewelry to his friends and family. Much later, he became a famous sculptor, creating his unique Cirque Calder collection from wire and fabric, which now adorns the halls of the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.

His Wire Wrap jewelry was worn by many celebrities with pleasure, and with his mobile sculptures, "mobiles" that easily change poses when shown to the audience, he entered the history of art forever.

Wire Wrap design is a real find for daring fashionistas, because no other piece of jewelry gives such scope for imagination and self-expression. unusual shapes jewelry, their bulkiness emphasize courage, sometimes a challenge to society, outrageous. Metal wire in contact with the skin has a beneficial effect: since ancient times, the properties of copper have been known to increase immunity by acting on the endocrine glands. Humanity has been informed about the benefits of gold and silver for a very long time: these precious metals prevent blockage of veins and increase blood microcirculation, have bactericidal and anti-inflammatory properties. That is why wire jewelry is not only beautiful, but also healing.

Hand-made products in the Wire Wrap style is not just a tribute to a capricious fashion that quickly changes its vector. Jewelry made of metal wire, created by the founder of a new trend in the art of creating style Alexander Calder for his beloved wife Louise, today costs millions of dollars at auctions, adorn expensive private collections.

The article was prepared by Zhanna Pyatirikova.

Wire pendants with stones

Wire is a strong and malleable material that can take any shape. The unique properties of thin metal threads were successfully used by ancient jewelers, who weaved filigree patterns, creating jewelry of amazing beauty. The material holds its shape well, has a noble luster, isn't it a paradise for the modern jewelry industry? Modern masters can, as if by magic, turn a coil of ordinary wire into spectacular and stylish accessories. Do you want to learn how to make exclusive wire jewelry with your own hands? Then we offer to master the simple ABC of craftsmanship, and learn how to create real miracles using the example of master classes.

Basics for beginners

The names of the ancient jewelers who successfully embodied the fantasy in wire jewelry are unknown to contemporaries. The art form “wire wrap”, which means “wire wrapping”, went down in history under the name of the craftsman Alexander Calder. The master from an early age learned to weave original products. He made the first crafts as a gift to relatives and friends, and later an unusual hobby turned into a lifelong business. Original, original, openwork works inspired many to accomplish creative feats.

Alexander Calder and his work

The main principle of such needlework is to use a thick wire for the base and a thinner and more flexible braid for products.

Wire wrap pendant

In weaving, you can add beads, stones, all kinds of decor. By the way, if the wire is braided on top with a thin thread, then such needlework is called ganutel. To learn how to create beautiful wire accessories, you need to know a few simple secrets:

• Selection of tools. The job requires a small arsenal of tools. Beginners will need round-nose pliers, several types of pliers with sharp, nylon, rectangular tips, a wick or sandpaper. To create complex weaves of patterns, experienced craftsmen use anvils, a spur and a hammer, crossbars and a drawing board in their work.
• So that in the end, home-made jewelry made of wire had, as they say, a “shop gloss”, sulfuric liver can be used to cover. With this material, products made of copper, aluminum, brass, bronze wire are patinated to create a noble effect of antiquity.
• It is enough to master the creation of several elements to make an author's masterpiece. The simplest elements include a spring, balls and rings.

Wire Tools

To make a spring, it is enough to wind a piece of wire around the crossbar. Such an element can be used for braiding or as an independent decorative detail. To make a ball, you will need a burner or gas burner. To make the droplets perfectly even, you need a drill. By the way, you can create new interesting elements from a ball with a hammer and anvil. Rings are connecting parts, indispensable in the creation of beads or bracelets. It is enough to wind the wire on the crossbar, “bite off” the excess and remove the perfectly even ring. The diameter of the ring depends on the thickness of the crossbar. Having obtained the necessary knowledge, having prepared necessary tools and materials, you can begin the creative process.

Use of improvised tools for working with wire

Master classes on creating jewelry

Unusual jewelry made of copper wire, bronze or brass, can acquire the most different forms. For example, you can make original jewelry for hair, rings and bracelets, openwork necklaces or pendants. Beginners should not worry about the lack of practice and experience in creative work, simple and detailed wizard the class will help in creating the author's collection of luxurious jewelry.

Turquoise copper wire earrings

Hair ornaments

In anticipation proms such a master class is especially relevant, because many girls are in a creative search for their image. I want to be the brightest, most beautiful, exclusive. There is a sure way to create an unusual look by decorating stylish hairstyle hairpin hand made in the form of a flower with an elegant curl. The algorithm of work is the following:

1. On a piece of paper we will draw a sketch of the future product, schematically marking the location of the beads and the pattern on it.
2. We start work with a coil, smoothly moving to the outer circle of the product. Place the end in a spiral that is slightly higher. The result should be a round element with antennae. We work continuously with round-nose pliers to make the product neat.
3. We twist the place where two curls touched with a few more tight turns, weave in the beads, and then braid the base of the hairpin with a thin wire.

Stylish decoration for hair

To make it clearer for beginner craftswomen, we offer an auxiliary scheme:

• six curls between beads;
• ten curls between large elements;
• eight curls between smaller elements.

simple hairstyle with spectacular decoration

To make the hairpin gentle and have a finished look, we string small beads at the beginning of weaving, and large beads can be woven into the middle.

Similarly, you can make not only a hairpin. There is original way decorate hairpins - just braid with a thin metal thread, adding a few beads or beads to the weave.

Delicate hair ornaments based on hairpins

Luxurious pendant

Copper wire has high ductility, it can be easily cut, heated, soldered. Thanks to their unique properties, budget and beautiful in appearance, the material has become a favorite in needlework. What can be done from copper wire with your own hands? Yes, everything that fantasy tells you - bracelets, rings, pendants and much more. Luxurious wire pendant master class:

1. Prepare tools and materials. You will need a coil of copper wire with a cross section of 0.1 mm to 1 mm, pearl beads, wire cutters, round nose pliers and a drill.
2. The main part of the product consists of two segments of 16 cm long and 1 mm thick. We make turns with a thin copper thread 0.1 mm around thicker segments, then bend the two braided parts into a ring. We bend the remaining tips with a snail.
3. We wind a thin one on a segment with a thickness of 0.3 mm, the length of the base is 12 cm. We pass its end between the wicker parts, fix it. We make a small kink, wrap it around the frame several times.
4. In the upper part we make the same kink, and the remaining part is wound on the base. We make a snail from a wire 1 mm thick, we wind it to one and the other kink.
5. On the upper part a thin wire thread is attached, pearls are strung on it, the ends of the wires braid the workpiece, and we bite off the excess with wire cutters. So add all the prepared beads.

Copper wire pendant with pearls

In order for the product to have an elegant glossy sheen, we polish the surface of the pendant with a drill, and then rinse it under warm water. Luxurious, intricate, in the spirit of oriental jewelry of the Magnificent Age, the pendant is ready to decorate any lady's outfit.

sweet heart

There are many workshops on making stylish wire jewelry, on the example of which you can learn how to create magnificent author's collections. But a few simple tips will help beginners to do the job at a decent level:

• In order not to patinate the wire, non-oxidizing materials should be used. For durability, you can varnish the surface.
• After heating the wire on the fire, rub it with baby cream while still warm, and then wash it off with soap and water. Patina - the effect, as they say, on the fan. Many craftsmen prefer to cover the jewelry with gold, silver or bronze paint, and varnish it on top for shine.
• Be sure to draw a diagram and sketch of jewelry before starting work. Working with wire is thin and filigree, it requires attention and perseverance. When you see a wire decoration that you want to repeat with your own hands, mentally divide it into components, so it will be easier to work.

Each master has his own fantasy, creative ideas and vision of the future masterpiece. All kinds of decor, such as beads, beads, stones and even buttons, are ideally combined with wire. For beginners, for practice, you can use ready-made master classes, and in the process of weaving, supplement the idea with your details.

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