Viking weave necklace and bracelet

Similar to French knitting this is a surprisingly easy way to make woven wire cord for bracelets and necklaces!
I was looking for something interesting to make for my better half as a Christmas present and I stumbled across this very old method of wire weaving:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lucet
http://www.waynesthisandthat.com/knittingnancys.html

A quick search gave many tutorials, the following was great:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Ynf5jjpL1U&feature=results_video&playnext=1&list=PLEF355CEE40339342

It would make an excellent valentines gift!

Step 1: Tools and materials

Tools:

• Mandrel
  • Something tubular and sturdy to weave around.
  • I used a 10mm drill bit.
• Pulling board
  • This is a board with sequentially smaller holes drilled through.
  • I used 11mm-7mm holes in a pine off cut.
• Pliers
• Safety glasses
  • Flicking around the pointy end of a length of wire will end in tears (or ocular tears).

Materials:

• Wire
  • The weave in the front picture uses 20Ga.
  • For a first go try copper wire as it's often inexpensive.
  • Silver and gold coated copper provide an excellent combination of looks, bendyness and price.
• Jump rings
  • Can be made with the same wire as the weave
• Clasps

Comments

[spellwing777]

Would a bead cap, instead of the cap here work? I've got a few that are just simple clover shapes here; but they have a really nice stamped texture on them.

[cbm104]

Ah, yes they would work great! It would give the first end a nice finish. I hadn't seen them before, thanks!

[crak-a-bottle]

mother's day present! :D thank you so much!

[nutsandbolts_64]

Woohoo!! 5 stars for this... There's too much awesomeness involved and it's perfect for Valentine's Day :DD

[cbm104]

Cool! glad you enjoyed it :)

[raviolikid]

This looks like an interesting craft! I'll give it a try sometime. Thanks for the good directions!

[cbm104]

Thanks, glad it's useful!