Iron Necklace

A simple necklace, made of iron wire

Step 1: Material and Tools

you just need a mandrel, snippers, round nose and flat pliers

Step 2: Coil Making

make a coil around the mandrel (can be iron, wood or any material), don't need to be precise

Step 3: Cut Circles

cut a series of almost 2 coils (or one and three quarter coils)

Step 4: Circles on End

with round nose pliers make a circle at both extremities

Step 5: Bend

with flat nose pliers bend the coil twice at half circle lenght

Step 6: Insertion

now let them enter in each other the way you see in the picture

Step 7: Close the Circle

close the circle so that it grasps the bend

Step 8: Catch

when you've added enough pieces, add a ring and a hook for closure

Step 9: Variant

instead of interlocking the pieces, if the end circle is wide enough, you can connect each piece with a small ring.
More info and tutorials at http://www.pennabilli.org/tutorials-en.html

Comments

[bluemoon6]

Do you rub the metal with something like essential oils to keep from rusting??? thanks for sharing ---great way to connect pieces--I have been making jewelry for 20 years and never saw anything like these pieces---

[pennabilli]

Sometimes I use beeswax on iron. If you work with galvanized (zinc coated) iron wire, you don't need to protect it. If you hot forge or just anneal a piece of iron, it forms a uniform black coating which seems to protect it from rusting.
I often use beeswax on silver: first I matt the surface then I blacken it with liver of sulphur and finally I wax it to get a deeper and softer tone of black.

[scoochmaroo]

Just lovely!