Jewelry Wire Wrapping Technique
Beading for Beginners Beading Basics
Learn a beginner jewelry wire wrapping technique, used in making wire jewelry and bead jewelry making,
with illustrated step-by-step wire wrapping instructions.
Let's continue with Beading for Beginners Beading Basics...
Jewelry Making Supplies
- 20 gauge (.81 mm) round half hard wire (for practice use brass or copper wire)
- a few beads for practice
Jewelry Making Tools
- one pair round nose pliers
- one pair chain nose pliers
- wire Cutters
Jewelry Wire Wrapping Instructions
Make a wrapped wire bead unit.
1. Gather supplies and tools.
Use a fine point marker and mark the jaws of your
round nose pliers at about 3/8" (4.76 mm) (or other measurement) from their tip. This will help
you to make consistent sized wire loops.
2. Cut a piece of wire about 6" long.
With your dominant hand, pick up the
chain nose pliers. Near the middle of the wire's length grasp the wire between the pliers' jaws.

3. With your thumb, bend the top of the wire at a 90 degree angle over the jaw of the pliers.

4. With your non dominant hand pickup the chain nose pliers and grasp the tip of the
horizontal portion of the wire.
With your dominant hand pickup the round nose pliers, grasp
the horizontal portion of the wire at the bend. Line up the wire and the pliers on the mark
you made on the pliers's jaws. Make sure the pliers's jaws face or open in a north and south direction.

Let's continue our Jewelry Beading for Beginners lesson
Wire Wrapping Technique #2...
5. Tighten your grip on the round nose pliers. Using the chain nose pliers,
bring the tip of the horizontal wire upward to a vertical position.

6. Now bring the tip of the wire over the top jaw of the pliers and
downward. The wire should now be in a vertical position, draping over the pliers' top jaw.

7. Rotate the pliers so that the bottom jaw of the pliers is now on top of the wire loop.

8. Still using the chain nose pliers, bring the tip of the wire upward back to its
starting position. The wire has now made a full loop or circle.

Let's continue our Jewelry Beading for Beginners lesson
Wire Wrapping Technique #2...
9. With the round nose pliers in your dominant hand, grasp the wire loop, ensuring
that the shorter wire is pointing upward. We will use this wire to wrap around the longer wire.

Let's continue our Beading for Beginners Beading Basics lesson!
10. With your non dominant hand pickup the chain nose pliers and grasp the tip of the
shorter wire.

11. Bring the shorter wire over the top of the longer wire and downward. You've made
the first loop.
Now make two more loops by bringing the tip of the shorter wire up, over
and downward twice. You will have made three loops.

12. With the wire cutters, trim any excess wire.

Let's continue our Jewelry Beading for Beginners lesson
Wire Wrapping Technique #2...
13. With the chain nose pliers, tuck the wire end close to the straight wire.

14. A perfectly formed wrapped wire loop.

15. Now, thread a bead onto the straight wire.
Repeat steps 4 to 10 of Method #1 above,
Make a Wrapped Wire Loop Above a Bead.
Now you've made a wrapped wire bead unit. It's ready to be connected to another bead unit.

16. Simply thread the loop of one bead unit into an open loop before you wrap it.

17. Thread a bead onto the straight wire of the second bead unit. Make a wrapped wire loop.
Repeat the steps to make wire wrapped bracelets.

Finally, this Beading for Beginners Wire Wrapping Technique lesson is complete!
How was that beginning jewelry wire wrapping technique lesson? A more little
challenging, but doable, right? Yeah!
Now, use the techinque to
begin making bead bracelets with wire.
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Wire Wrapping Technique Page to Beading Techniques page
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