How To Wire Wrap Beads

I’ve been digging through my bead stash and wondering what to do with these turquoise teardrop beads. I only had a few of them so there wasn’t enough to make a bracelet but with a little bit of wire, I jazzed them up and made them into earring components!

Wire wrapping works well with round beads too, as long as the hole is drilled through the top, not the middle.

I’ve put together a free tutorial below on how to wire wrap beads. You could make just one as a pendant component!

For this project, you’ll need the following:

• Wire – I used 0.6mm gold plated
• 1 or 2 x turquoise teardrop beads – or beads of your choice
• 2 x fish hook earwires
• Round nose pliers
• Flat nose pliers
• Wire cutters

 

 

 

 

 

Step 1

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just a note on the wire before we start – you can use a thicker gauge then 0.6mm but probably best not to use a thinner gauge as it won’t be strong enough to hold the shape well. Cut off around 10 inches of wire using the wire cutters. Thread through the teardrop bead and leave a short tail the other side, crossed over like in the picture above.

Step 2

 

 

 

 

 

 

Twist the wire above the bead a couple of times with your fingers so that the bead becomes secure.

Step 3

 

 

 

 

 

 

Use your round nose pliers to make a loop at the top. I used the short tail end of wire for this part. Wrap it around the base of your pliers twice to form a sturdy loop. Cut off any excess wire from the short tail but leave around 1omm, this will be hidden later by wrapping the longer end of the wire around it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 4

Start wrapping the bead itself by pulling down on the long end of the wire and holding it tight against the bead. Wrap it down and then around sideways a few times until you’re happy with it! Wrap around the top again (under the loop) so that wire from the loop is hidden.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Trim off the wire close to the bead once you’ve finished wrapping. I used the flat nose pliers to turn in any sharp edges of wire against the bead and then pressed it flat (do this on the back of the component for best results).

Step 5

You can connect this component to a necklace to use as pendant or as earring components as I have done for this project! By the way, I made the fish hook earwires in the top picture as I wanted to match up the wire from around the bead. You can find out how to make your own earwires by reading this related post that I wrote a few weeks ago.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I hope you’ve enjoyed this free tutorial on how to wire wrap beads to make them into earring or pendant components. As always, I’d love to hear from you so feel free to get in touch!