Introduction: Wire Bracelet

About: "Imagination is more important than knowledge" Im a compulsive maker, I make something everyday. I live in Cornwall England right at the bottom of the country as far west as you can go. A few miles away is St.…

Hi, welcome to this instructable on making a wire and bead bracelet, the great thing about this is that it is totaly solder free so its safe to do with younger children as well as yourself, please do take care with any sharp ends of wire tho.

 Materials

1.5 mm silver plated wire ( you can buy some really funky coloured wire if you want to use that)
0.8 mm silver plated wire
An assortment of beads in the colours of your choice

Tools

Round nosed pliers
Wire cutters
Small flat needle file
Piece of card ( for length reference)
Tape measure


Step 1: Measuring and Preparing Your Wire

Here goes, first measure your wrist and draw a line onto a piece of paper or card so that you can just lie the wire on it to see if its long enough as you work. You can also work out what bends you wish to do at this stage or you can just make it up as you go along( which is what i do )
Leave your wire on the roll as you never know how much you will need untill you have finished but do file the start end smooth so that you dont scratch yourself when your wearing it.
Next using the very tip of the round nosed pliers start your first curl, this will be a tight one to neaten off the end, roll it around about 2 times ( see Pic )

Step 2: Making Waves

Now the fun starts, you can be as free as you like with your squiggles, work out how deep you want your piece to be and starting small use the large end of the pliers to form your first bend, As they get larger then you can just bend around your fingers as the wire is quite soft, when you rech the half way mark start to decrease the size and as you reach the end cut the wire ( remember to leave enough to do your tight curl again) and smooth of the end as you did at the begining, then form another tight curl to finish it off.

Step 3: Now the Pretty Part

To start adding your beads first cut a managable lenght of the thinner wire, (poss 12" long but thats not important just use what you feel you can manage)  Wrap it around the start of the bracelet about 1" from the end, do this nice and tight and about 3 turns, then start to add your beads, what beads and colours, size and shape is totally up to you , just wrap the wire and add the beads as you see fit, to strenghten the bracelet ocasionally wire two bends to each other, each time you run out of wire finish as you started with a couple of tight twists and then start again where you left off.

Step 4: Finished

Once you have finished adding all the beads you want check over the bracelet for any sharp ends and lightly file them with the file. Shape the bracelet  by bending the ends in to form an oval shape that fits snuggly onto your wrist .
Thats it.... You've done it, Now wear your bracelet with pride