If you have found yourself in need of making a wire bead link for your jewellery making, then look no further because here we explain exactly how to do this. You will only need basic jewellery making tools and a small amount of hand manipulation for this task.
Wire bead links are a useful component in jewellery making as they serve as decorative connectors for earrings, bracelets, necklaces and more. Once you master this link you will be able to expand your jewellery making greatly.
Many of the jewellery making that will be blogged about on Craft with Mei, will include the use of this wire bead link. This post will serve as a jewellery making basic skill to be used with other tutorials.
I have used sterling silver wire in a 0.6mm diameter and each bead link will require 7cm of wire to be cut. For this tutorial and any time you are learning a new wire skill, I would recommend practicing in a cheaper wire such as copper first.
I find 0.6mm to be the best thickness if you were to make a bracelet as it will hold up in terms of durability. You can use a smaller diameter such as 0.4mm/0.3mm for decorative links that are not required to be strong and 0.7mm if you want a chunkier look.
So let’s get started this is what you will need:
- Sterling silver round wire 0.6mm
- Beads (8mm round, used in this tutorial)
- Nylon jaw pliers
- Round nose pliers
- Chain nose pliers
- Wire cutters
- Ruler
1. To start cut a 7cm piece of 0.6mm sterling silver wire. Straighten it up with your nylon jaw pliers by holding it firmly and pull it down the wire, a couple of times from one end then a couple of times from the opposite end. This will also start to work harden* your wire.
*Work hardening is when you manipulate, flatten, bend, pull or twist the sterling silver and it will get stronger as a result. Note you can only do this to a point where the sterling silver becomes brittle so don’t over do it.
2. Hold the wire with your round nose pliers about 2/5ths of the way down from one end. You can see that I have marked my round nose pliers. This is so I can use the same mark each time I make a loop, so each loop will be the same size.
3. Bend the wire towards you first across the top of the pliers.
4. Then bend the wire back away from you on the pliers to the other side. By doing these two steps this will keep the neck of the loop straight.
5. Bend the wire all the way back around the pliers and back towards you.
6. Put the wire on the other side of the round nose pliers closest to you.
7. Straighten up the two ends so that they are at a right angle as much as possible like below.
8. Holding the loop with your chain nose pliers, use your other hand to wrap the shorter wire end around the neck of the loop two to three times.
9. Cut off the remaining wire end with the cutters and tidy up any wire sticking out, with the chain nose pliers. Add on your first bead.
10. Start making the second loop by using the round nose pliers as before. At the same marked point on the pliers, hold the wire with a gap of the same amount of space to match the other sides wrapped wire.
11. Follow steps 3 – 9 to make another loop.
12. Once you have completed the second loop, straighten up the loops with your chain nose pliers and fingers to face the same way or perpendicular to each other, whichever your design choice.
Hurray! you have now completed a wire bead link.
Now let’s look into connecting the links…
To start making a chain, make another wire bead link and before wrapping the wire around the neck of loop, connect the links together. As shown below, one link loop is being linked into another before the wrapping stage.
Close the loop, add on the bead, make the second loop and remember to add on another link before closing!
You can see how easily a chain is made this way.
To end the chain on a bracelet or necklace you would loop on a clasp to one end and a jump ring to the other. You can also use this wire bead link for earrings by looping on an ear wire to one end and the main body of the earring to the other. This is a very useful jewellery component indeed!
Alternative ideas for this wire bead link would be to use a different wire such as copper or gold. Try different size beads and changing the size of your loops smaller or larger. See what works best for you and if you have any further suggestions please do let everyone know in the comments section.
Feel free to share this post and let me know what you think in the comments, I would love to hear about your results.
Happy wire bead link crafting!
Enjoy this jewellery craft? Enter your email below, to have the latest Craft with Mei posts delivered straight to your inbox!
Leave a Reply