Braided Wire And

Bead Bangle

Judy Larson

Beads are added to braided wire in

this bangle with a wire wrapped

closure.

Materials:

50-57” of 20 gauge round wire (see Step 1)

An assortment of round beads-8mm are used in

this tutorial

Tools:

Round, flat and bent nose pliers

Flush cutter

5/16” and ¼”mandrels

Optional: Wire twister

Directions:

Step 1: Straighten and cut one wire (Small-24”; Medium-25½”; Large-27”) long. Straighten and cut another

wire (Small-26”; Medium-28”; Large 30”) long.

Step 2: Find the center of the

longer wire. Place the 5/16”

mandrel on the wire at that point

and wrap the wire around it as

shown. Using bent nose pliers,

pinch the wires together close to

the mandrel, creating an eye.

Step 3: Open the eye up slightly. Leaving a 1” tail, wrap the eye with the

other wire. The first wrap or two will have to be pushed together and

back down to the bend in the eye.

Step 4: Reshape the eye around the ¼” mandrel, pushing the two ends of

the wrapped wires close together and making

sure that the wrap wire is pulled to the outside.

At this point you may also need to wrap the

short wrap wire around the eye a time or two.

Hint: Check out the Double Wrap Bangle

tutorial for instructions for a larger eye.

Step 5: Holding the two wrapped wire tails close together, use the

wrapping wire to create a “neck” below the eye, wrapping 4 to 5 times to

show.

Step 6: Trim the short eye wrap

tail so that there will be just

enough wire to tuck down between the two wires at the base of the eye.

Note: The back side of the bangle is the side this wire is bent towards. If

your neck wrap wire is on top and not on the bottom as shown, do not

worry. Just make sure that from now on you work from the outside or

front of the bangle.

To the left is an optional style of eye in which the neck is wrapped but

not the eye portion.

Step 7: Thread a bead on the center

wire. Bend the center wire down.

Note: This is the only time you will

bend the center wire down.

Step 8: Pull the top wire over the top of the bead and

down parallel to the bead wire.

Step 9: Pull the bottom wire over the bottom of the bead and up

under the bead wire and over the top wire.

Step 10: Slide a bead on the

center wire. Pull the top wire

over the top of the bead and

down parallel to the bead

wire. Pull the bottom wire

over the bottom of the bead

and up under the bead wire

and over the top wire.

Continue in this manner until the bangle length is appx. 7” from the end

of the eye to the end of the last bead for a size small, 7 ¼” -7 3/8” for size

medium, and 7 ½”-7 ¾” for size large.

Step 11: Make sure that the ends of

the two longest wires are even.

Holding the wires wrapped around the

bead in place, tightly twist the two

longest wires together for the hook.

Step 12: 1¼” from the bead, bend the hook wire down to the right of

the bead. The hook wire will be longer than you need. Trim it off so

that the cut end just sweeps across the top of the last bead. DO NOT

CUT THIS WIRE TOO SHORT!! It is better to cut a bit long and trim

slightly to get it to fit than to have it too short.

Step 13: Wrap the remaining wire up

around the front and around to the back

again as close to the bead as possible.

Continue to wrap until you have 4 to 5

wraps to show, ending on the back. Trim

the wrap wire off on the back of the bangle.

Use flat nose pliers to flatten and secure the

wraps.

Step 14: Using flat nose pliers, bend the hook wire 45 degrees up to the outside of the bangle. Using round

nose pliers, bend the hook shape as shown.

Step 15: Hook the bangle ends and shape the bangle into a circle or an oval.

Hint: It may help to wrap the bangle

around a large cylindrical object like

a pill bottle or soda bottle.