How to Make a Wire Jewellery Bracelet

I have been dying to write this post for about 3 days and share my finished bracelet, but have had to be patient as I prepare all the media and photos to go with this post. So, without further delay, here is my first completed jewellery piece since my eldest was born – a wire jewellery bracelet, made from the book “Wire Jewelry Masterclass” by Abby Hook!

It’s not perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it is 100% made by me! A few snatched evenings after the kids went to bed. The occasional afternoon. I managed to find enough time to myself to get this done.

As I mentioned in a previous post, I have been following the “Wire Jewelry Masterclass” book by Abby Hook to teach myself some wire jewellery techniques. For my first project, I chose the “Nebula Multi-Strand Bracelet” as it was the second project in the book. The first project in the book is a pair of earrings. I decided not to make these, as I don’t have my ears pierced. I’m not sure I will understand what the correct weightings should be for earrings.

It turned out to be a great first project as it wasn’t too complicated, and gave me lots of practice in making chain links.

Making the Components

Coiled Wire Cones

For my bracelet, I started off with making the 2 decorative coiled wire cones, which used 30cm of 20-gauge (0.8mm) copper wire per cone. In my case, I didn’t end up using pure copper wire, as I was trying to use up materials I already had. Unfortunately, it turned out that my wire was actually copper coated iron. Since I’m only practising, I figured it would be ok. For the most part it was fine to use the copper coated iron, but I’d say the wire was harder to wrap than pure copper, and likely thicker than I realised.

Wrapping the coiled wire cone was fairly straightforward, but it’s definitely important to keep the wire taut and at 90 degrees to the pliers at all times. Below you’ll find a link to a YouTube playlist containing all the component videos for this bracelet, including the coiled wire cones!

My suggestions if you’re going to give this a go – have an idea of how many strands of wire you need to hide inside the cone, because the width of the base of the cone needs to be wide enough to accommodate them all! And you probably don’t want to make the coil again later! Also, practice, practice, practice to get the coils tight enough and sitting nicely against each other. Mine were still a bit gappy at the end.

Chain Links

I decided to make the chain links next. Partly, because the jade beads that I’d ordered for the project had arrived. And partly, because I figured the sheer quantity that I would need to make for the bracelet would give me lots of wire wrapping practice! Turns out I was right!

I was going for a fairly delicate look in the bracelet, so I chose to use 24-gauge (0.5mm) copper wire. Each chain link uses 5cm of wire and a 4mm jade bead. I was slightly disappointed that my lilac jade beads were round, but my aqua jade beads were faceted. It just teaches me to read the description a bit more carefully! I don’t think it affected the overall look of the bracelet, but I noticed, being a bit of a perfectionist.

I actually found it quite therapeutic making these chain links. If I was trying to make a lot of similar pieces, then I could just spend all my evenings (with a glass of wine or maybe more likely a cup of tea), making these little chain links, along with half finished chain links. Then I’d always have some of these on hand. Actually, that sounds quite appealing… perhaps I’ll do that next and really get to grips with making these little chain links!

Definitely pull the wire taut as you go along. I found it keeps the loops nice and neat. I’ve not quite figured out how to make my loops more circular. Mine were quite hit and miss! If you look carefully, you’ll also notice that I couldn’t quite get all the links the same length. I suspect this takes practice, but also adds to the charm of a handmade bracelet.

I ended up making 24 of these little chain links, to make 3 separate 10cm chains.

T-Bar and Toggle Clasp

I left the clasp until last. At the beginning of this project, I was lacking confidence in making this component. It turns out, it was definitely the hardest part of the whole project.

The book suggests using a 16-gauge (1.2mm) wire, which I thought I had in stock. Well… I didn’t. The wire I had was much thicker than 16-gauge. I really need to learn how to measure wire widths properly or get a tool to help me! I struggled with bending the wire, every step of the way… For the toggle clasp, I only managed to wrap the wire twice around the 2 parallel wires, rather than the five times instructed by the book. Check out my blooper reel on YouTube to see my efforts!

For my “Take 2”, I used 18-gauge (1mm) copper wire. This time I was sure it was 18-gauge as I’d ordered it brand new from Cookson Gold! I gave it another go, and managed the five wraps that the book said I’d be able to manage! Phew!

Aesthetically, I think the thicker wire looks better and I will try again with 16-gauge wire. The thinner wire didn’t quite fit and my clasp is a little loose. I suspect it probably would have worked if I had made the toggle clasp smaller to accommodate the thinner wire. Here are my 2 attempts:

Putting It All Together

Here are all my component pieces:

To put together the final bracelet, I cut two 10cm pieces of 20-gauge (1mm) copper wire. Measuring 2.5cm from one end of the wire, I formed a loop and then threaded on the 3 chains that I had prepared. I closed the loop and then wrapped the wire around 3 times to secure it. Then I added one of the coiled wire cones and positioned it to cover over the chain ends. Remember earlier, when I said you needed to take into account what you need the coil to cover? Well, this is where it comes into play – the loop that you make to hold the 3 chain ends needs to be small enough to fit into the coil!

I threaded on another jade bead, and then formed another loop to hang one of the clasp ends onto. I finished up with making a loop and wrapping the wire 3 times around the end to tidy up. The other end of the bracelet was made the same way.

The Finished Piece

And here it is, my finished bracelet:

If you’d like to see how I built up this bracelet step-by-step, then why not take a wander over to my YouTube video and take a look at the “Multi-Strand Bracelet” playlist on my YouTube channel? I’m adding new videos all the time – I’d love to hear your thoughts! Please do share your comments with me!

An Aside – Costing Up

My final word… just for interest, I decided to cost up the making of this bracelet. I’m not planning to sell it, but I am curious how you should work out your RRP! The total raw materials used in this project included:

• 18cm 16-gauge (1.2mm) copper wire
• 164cm 20-gauge wire (0.8mm) copper wire
• 26x 4mm jade beads

I calculated the total raw material cost to be around £2.30. I’ll try to find a moment to work out what the sterling silver equivalent might be! By my estimation, I spent around 4 hours on the actual making of this bracelet, and so adding on labour cost, I guess I’d be looking at selling this bracelet at around the £35-£50 mark. With practice, I’d make a better quality bracelet and a bit quicker, too. I wonder if this is a reasonable price to charge for a handmade bracelet?

I hope you enjoyed my post as much as I enjoyed getting back into jewellery making! Until next time!