Hexagon Bracelet

Intro: Hexagon Bracelet

Geometric shapes can create the most interesting, intriguing look. While I mostly use triangles and circles in my designs, I thought for this concept it would be great to use hexagons. Designwise, hexagons can be used as building blocks, connecting to each other to make up shapes. For this bracelet, I kept it quite simple, joining at the same side every time, but the possibilities with the shape go so much further. Of course, you could also try a similar look with pentagons, heptagons, octagons, ..., but I think hexagons work best visually.

STEP 1: Materials

- Wire / I used silver plated copper wire of 1 mm and 0,5 mm (e.g. here and here)
- Pliers
- some kind of clasp / I used a magnetic closure

STEP 2: Bending the Shapes

The most important tool for this project is a pair of flat nose pliers. By using the width of the pliers as the length of the sides, it's possible to create a set of hexagons with the same size.

Take the 1 mm wire and, using the flat nose pliers, bend the first corner in approximately the right angle. Place the pliers on the next part, as close to the corner as possible, to make the second bend. Keep repeating this project to get all the six sides.

STEP 3: Ending the Hexagon

Before cutting off the wire, bend the last side a second time. Cut off both wires in the middle of the side and bend the ends to have them align and make up the sixth side.

STEP 4: More Hexagons

Keep repeating the previous few steps until you have enough shapes to make the bracelet.

STEP 5: Starting to Wrap

Take the thinner wire and start by making a few coils around the wire frame. Let the wire begin in one of the corners next to the ends of the wire and continue coiling around the first two sides away from it.

STEP 6: A Second Hexagon

At the third side, a second hexagon comes in. Try to keep the shapes flat next to each other for as much as possible. After the double part, continue wrapping the first hexagon, until you reach the other corner of the sixth side.

STEP 7: More and More Hexagons

Moving on to the second hexagon, wrap the first two sides, starting at the point where you just joined it to the first shape, followed by joining a third hexagon. After joining them, continue with coiling the wire around the last two sides of the second hexagon. Keep repeating this to add the next hexagons, except for the final two.

STEP 8: About the Closure

I personally think magnetic closures are great. They look amazing and can really bring a piece of jewellery together. I usually prefer working with a regular lobster clasp, simply because they feel a bit sturdier and don't constantly stick to my pliers.

The main thing to consider when deciding what type of closure to use is the overall look you want to create. For a more elegant bracelet that's close to the wrist, I'd definitely recommend using a magnetic closure. If you decide to go for a bit of a looser bracelet, a lobster clasp could work just as fine.

STEP 9: Adding the Closure I

Take one of the halfs of the closure and add it to one of the remaining hexagons. Wrap toward the part where the ends join and place the closure exactly above this joint. Let the wire go past the closure and continue wrapping on the other side. I started halfway the sides as shown to be able to properly join it to the bracelet.

STEP 10: Adding the Closure II

Start wrapping at one of the sides where you stopped during last step and follow the sides to get to the part where you can join this hexagon to the bracelet. At the end, be sure to flatten the remaining bit of wire so it doesn't stick out anymore.

STEP 11: Adding the Closure III

Add the other side of the closure to the last hexagon and move it to the side opposite of the one with the ends. Join it to the bracelet first as shown and end the bracelet by wrapping the final hexagon to complete the look

STEP 12: The Final Result

Comments

[dbess]

Nice.. will make a great gift for my wife..

[RobertK255]

Wel executed design, I like this. Thank you!

[emilyvanleemput]

Thanks!

[inchman]

This is a great and simple piece. I love it. I do have a few questions before I start it. First, what are you doing with the ends of the small wire? Are you just wrapping them under the next hexagon joint? Second, how do you know how long the small wire needs to be? I mean you need to pass the entire length around each time, so you don't want it to be way longer than needed, right?

Thanks again for a great project. I am excited about trying it!

[emilyvanleemput]

I'm glad you like it! When working with thinner wire and wrapping it around a thicker base wire like this, what I usually do is this:
-cut it off, flat side of your pliers facing your bracelet. When cutting wire, you get two different ends, one is straight and the other is sharp. Cutting like this means the straight end will be on the side of your work
- take a pair of flat nose pliers and clamp the wire down to have it sit against the thicker wire.

To prevent the wire from getting loose again (which hasn't happened to me to be honest, but better safe than sorry), always try to cut the wire in a way that the end, when clamped down, is on the inside of one of the hexagons.

For the length of the wire, the first few shapes might be a bit experimental. I never measure my wrapping wire, simply because I have made quite a few wire wrapping projects before and can make a pretty good estimation (most of the time). Per wrapped part, so five sides of the hexagon, I used a bit more than 1 round of the coils my wire comes in.

Hope that was helpful, be sure to ask if anything is still unclear!

[GraftonHearts]

Hi, lovely bracelet, Thanks for sharing.

[emilyvanleemput]

Thanks!

[Alaskan Bev]

-Beautiful results and excellent tutorial and photos. I like the wire wrap look, although I may try one with mixed colors of embroidery thread just for the fun of it. Thanks for this attractive, easily understandable instructable!

[emilyvanleemput]

Thank you! Using coloured embroidery thread sounds like a great idea, I'd love to see how that turns out if you try it!