What can be made from thick wire. Wire products of various types

Wire jewelry was made by ancient craftsmen. Initially, ancient Russian blacksmiths forged jewelry, chain mail, and weapons, and from the twelfth century they switched to the drawing method. This made it possible to simplify the process of manufacturing thin, even wire, as well as reduce prices for products made from it. The time of wire chain mail has passed, but craftsmen continue to amaze with wire products: hair jewelry, earrings, bracelets, rings, pendants, souvenirs, key rings, three-dimensional objects.

Information for beginners

Although they have been found since ancient times different nations, however, the names of the craftsmen have not survived to this day. Decoration from wrap like new look needlework, went down in history with the name of Alexander Calder. He had a penchant for weaving wire jewelry and souvenirs since childhood, when he made earrings and bracelets for his sister, and gave his parents brass animals for Christmas.

He devoted all his activities to making jewelry, toys, and sculptures. He rarely soldered metal parts and more often used the stitching method. This method allows even novice craftsmen to create jewelry. Used for work different types wires (brass, silver, copper, nickel, titanium, aluminum, zinc).

Thick wire is used for the base of the product, as it holds its shape, and thin wire is used to braid wire decorations. Various stones, beads, seed beads, and glass beads can be added to the weaving. When the wire is wrapped with thread, it is already a type of needlework called ganutel.

What do you need for work?

Often, novice craftsmen make products from wire using mixed techniques, using knowledge from such areas as wire wrap, ganutel, beading, quilling, and isothread. First, a sketch is drawn, then it is disassembled into individual elements, patterns, and only then proceeds to practical production. What will a novice wireworker (that’s what a master working in the wire wrap technique is called) need:

• tool,
• all types of wire,
• decorative beads, seed beads, stones.

Weaving wire jewelry is impossible without round-nose pliers, pliers with a pointed, curved, rectangular, nylon “tip,” wire cutters, a needle file (can be replaced with sandpaper at first), anvil (flaheisen), sperak, hammer, wiggic, drawing board, crossbar.

If you are working with copper wire, you can bend it with your fingers or use pliers or other hard objects. To make a pattern from thick material or a more complex design, you need a wiggeek and a crossbar. The first tool looks like a board with many holes and pegs. Place the pegs in the desired order and wrap them with wire, creating an unusual pattern. A crossbar (a metal cone with a thickness of 9-40 mm) will be needed to create bracelets, rings, and chains. At first, the connecting parts can be made using round nose pliers.

To make your home-made wire jewelry look like store-bought ones, buy sulfur liver. This material is used to pattern copper, bronze, silver, and brass wire products to give them a touch of antiquity.

Main elements: pin and spiral

A pin is a wire with a tip, somewhat similar to a pinning needle. To make it, pinch the wire with round pliers, retreating a third from the edge (as much as is left, this will be the diameter of the ring). Rotate the wire 90 degrees. And they begin to wrap the half of the tip of the pliers, forming a ring. Then, near the base, the excess edge of the wire is bitten off, and the ring is leveled using pliers.

The spiral is a simple circle with a ring. This pattern is great for making wire and bead jewelry. Use pliers to pinch the tip of the wire, making a tight circle around the tip. Next, the resulting ring is pinched between the tips and the spiral is carefully wound. The diameter of the pattern depends on the number of turns. At the last stage, pliers pinch the wire from the resulting spiral, and with the free end of the wire they form a ring, as when making a pin. Excess material is cut off with nippers.

Main elements: spring, rings, balls

The spring is used to braid the wire. Wind the wire of the required length tightly onto the crossbar. It can be used to create some individual elements, or put on a pin, creating a voluminous edging, or from braided pins to make an unusual chain for men.

Rings are used as connecting elements, especially if you weave jewelry from beads and wire. The wire is wound around the crossbar (the diameter of the rings depends on its thickness) with a tight twist, like a spring. Then it is removed and cut in the middle with wire cutters. If the space is large, use pliers or fingers to close the ring.

Balls on the edges of the wire are created by heating on a burner (some craftsmen use a regular gas burner). To obtain them, you need high burner power and “unclean” wire, as well as borax, which creates such droplets perfectly even. You can blacken the wire using liver sulfur and ammonia. The parts are flattened with a hammer, creating new elements.

Wire jewelry: master class for beginners

If you have never tried weaving wire, then you should try your hand at simple examples. To make a bracelet you will need thick and thin copper wire, pliers, wire cutters and a torch (if you are working with a whole coil of wire).

Make rings of the required diameter from thick wire. To do this, find a cylindrical template of the required diameter (pipe). Wrap the skeins with thick wire, connect them in several places with temporary staples (bend the wire to the width of the bracelet rings, cut it, put it on them and pinch the ends).

If you don’t have thick wire, you can buy ready-made cheap bracelet rings, connect them in several places for strength and start braiding. The braiding method involves twisting each bracelet ring from bottom to top and top to bottom using thin copper wire.

The weaving should go one after another; if the wire has moved away, then use pliers to move it closer. If you work with long wire, then during the weaving process it becomes stiff. Therefore, it is heated with a burner (looks like a hair dryer with a flame), and weaving continues. Since copper turns black after heating, the finished product is then treated with citric acid (water is heated, powder is added, the product is boiled for several minutes, then rinsed in an aqueous solution).

You can braid the entire bracelet with wire or attach other wire decorations in the foreground (wire wrap allows connection with stones, beads, flattened wire elements).

Make earrings for the copper bracelet. To make them you will need wire, ready-made clasps for earrings, connecting rings, decorative elements (stones, beads). Please note that the color of the jewelry should be in harmony with the clasps and wire. If so, gilded clasps with an amber stone. If the fasteners are silver, then take light-colored wire.

So, from thick wire you need to make a large and small ring. Make blanks for the second earring in a mirror image at once, placing the parts next to each other. Now, with a thin wire, loosely braid the inner and outer rings. If you want to get a more voluminous look, then braid each ring with a spring (or put a spring on the ring), and then braid the products with thin wire over the spring (in this case the braid will be very even).

Next, attach the clasp to the outer ring. Place the beads and stone on the wire and attach them to the inner ring using a connecting ring. You can make the connecting elements yourself. To make it look antique, copper is blackened and varnished. They are obtained as jewelry from jewelry wire.

How to braid a stone for a pendant

It’s good when there is a bead with a hole where you can stick a wire, but if the decoration is made of stone or coin, then what to do? For such cases, a special braiding method is used. You will need round-nose pliers, thin-nose pliers, side cutters without a chamfer, wire (thickness 0.3 and 0.8 mm), stone (cabochon).

Weaving wire jewelry begins with making a frame. Wrap the cabochon with thick wire. Using thin-nose pliers, lift the wire tails up so that the angle is 90 degrees. Leave about four centimeters and cut off the excess material. From this wire you prepare many connecting rings with a diameter of 4 mm.

Cut off 1.3 meters of thin wire, leaving 50 cm, and begin to wind connecting rings to the frame. First, wrap it around the frame with 4 turns, then wrap the ring to the frame with five turns. Next, without breaking the wire, go to the ring and wrap the adjacent element with three turns, smoothly exiting onto the frame.

This is how you attach all the rings. Periodically apply the frame to the stone if it is convex and shape the position of the rings. Perhaps, when climbing, you will need to increase the rings further. Connect the last ring with the first five turns, and cut the wire from the wrong side. You twist the ends of the thick wire into a spiral (you can make completely different curls), bend the sides of the resulting pattern, forming a rhombus, and wrap it with the thin wire that you left initially.

Wrong side of the pendant

The front side of the wire decoration is ready, now make the back side. To do this, make the same circle from thick wire, but smaller in size. Bend the ends of the wire into a tight ring. You need to make sure that both curls fit tightly to each other. The lower part of the product can be flattened with a hammer. Just tap it slowly, slowly - hit one place, see if it’s level, then move on. Otherwise, notches will form.

Now you connect the outer frame, stone and back into a single whole. Secure several places with temporary wire so that the parts fit tightly and do not move. Thin wire now needs to be wrapped around the outer and inner frame where there are voids (between the connecting rings on the outer part).

The last step is to make a pendant loop from a braided ponytail with curls. To do this, using a steel knitting needle, carefully and slowly bend it so that the curls are located on the connecting rings of the product. Now thread the lace or ribbon. As you can see, decorations from copper wire no worse than jewelry.

Please note that the stone on the jewelry is held in place by external patterns (connecting rings, curls), which are secured to each other with coils. If the wire lies loose, the cabochon will fly out.

Wire hair jewelry

You can easily make bobby pins, hairpins, and combs from wire. The simplest option is to string a bead on a wire, make a flower shape with a curl and attach it to the base. More interesting pattern will come out of flattened wire. Then leave the end for the bead, and slowly flatten the rest of the wire, at the same time giving shape. In this example, you wrap the wire around the bead, then move on to the petals, ending with a spiral curl. Put the bead on, make sure the wires fit snugly together, and solder it to the base.

Let's take a closer look at how to make jewelry from wire, beads, and seed beads. On a piece of paper, draw a diagram of the hairpin, starting from the curl and moving to the outer circle, the end of which goes into another spiral, located above the first. It turns out to be a circle with two internal antennae. This element is done continuously. Then, at the point where the two curls touch, use a thin wire to braid them with several turns.

• there are six turns between the beads;
• there are eight turns between the small beads;
• There are ten turns between the large beads.

The distance is determined by the diameter of the decorative material. The weaving begins and ends with small beads, and in the middle there are large beads. The curls are braided only with beads. Next, make a hairpin. Fold the wire in half so that one end is a couple of centimeters longer. Attach it to the hairpin; the hairpin on each edge should be 5-7 centimeters larger. Excess material is cut off. Twist the hairpin from the middle and twist the ends into a spiral.

To make jewelry made of copper wire harmonize with the frame, thread beads into the curls (one piece at one end, braid the other with 3 beads, 5 beads). There is no need to braid the entire hairpin to prevent your hair from getting tangled. Only individual antennae and a distance of 0.6 -1 cm between them, forming a triangle.

Simple ideas for original products

Handicraft stores offer a huge assortment of various decorative elements for making jewelry. Buy a few, it will save your time and enrich your knowledge (now you will know exactly how to make connecting rings, fasteners, clamps). Such DIY prefabricated wire decorations are no different from store-bought ones (except at an affordable price).

Here is an example of how to make ethnic jewelry from square elements, in which there are round voids. From thick wire, bend a square (the corners should be straight) and a smaller circle. Place a square, a circle inside it, and braid the shapes with thin wire. Another option is to put a spring on the wire before connecting each figure, and then braid them. You will get massive decorations.

To match the necklace with earrings and bracelet, repeat the same pattern. In the example with square earrings, the necklace will be a simple one made of beads, and attach a pattern of squares in the middle. Another example of an original wire decoration (master class for a two-color bracelet):

• Divide the wire into equal pieces;
• using sewing wires, connect the light ready-made half-arcs and the dark wire in turn;
• attach fasteners to the edges;
• form the resulting line into a bracelet of several rings.

Bracelets can be made without clasps; they are simply put on your hand. The shape of a snake or arrow is most suitable for such a wire decoration (photo of a hand with bracelets).

Brief conclusions

It is better to train your hand and dexterity on copper wire when making simple hairpins, rings, and barrettes. If you don’t have specialized equipment and tools, don’t despair. Use your imagination. Instead of a burner, use a gas stove to create droplets (and you can’t do without borax, it creates a perfectly flat surface). Replace Wigjik with sleight of hand, pliers and paper diagram. The crossbar can be replaced at the initial stages by knitting needles of different diameters.

To avoid patination of wire jewelry, use non-oxidizing wire. You can coat the decoration with varnish for durability. If you need to create a patina, wash the wire well in a lemon solution. Then place it in warm water, apply a thin layer of sulfur ointment (pharmacies sell it) on your fingers, and wash the material under water. Without removing it from the water, wash off the sulfur with regular dish soap and wipe it dry.

Or you heat the wire over a fire, and then lubricate the warm wire with baby cream and rub until the desired result is achieved, then wash it off with soap. Again, patina is an acquired taste and is created through trial and error. You can do without the antique color. Some people just paint it gold or silver acrylic paint, varnished.

There is no exact information on how to make a wire decoration. Each master finds something of his own, talks about it in his master classes or simply offers his creation. Try your hand at simple products, practice on the finished products of masters: mentally divide the decoration into its component parts and reproduce it in practice.

Even small children can make crafts from wire with their own hands, without turning to parents or teachers for help, since this material is unusually flexible and pliable.

Wire has several varieties, each of which can be used to create original interior decorations or make useful gizmos. Any of these products, made with your own hands, can be presented to your loved ones, and this one will give its new owner a lot of positive emotions.

In this article we will tell you which DIY wire crafts are suitable for beginners and give you some interesting ideas.

How to make crafts from chenille wire with your own hands?

Chenille, or fluffy wire, is without a doubt an ideal material for creating crafts. It can be easily given absolutely any shape, since it bends very well and does not break. Cutting a piece of the required length from this wire is also not difficult - this can be done with the most ordinary scissors.

In addition, DIY crafts made from fluffy wire turn out unusually bright and beautiful. Especially among boys and girls younger age It is popular to make figurines of various animals from this material. Animals created from fluffy multi-colored pieces become children's favorite toys and fit perfectly into any interior.

Learn to make crafts from chenille wire The following master class on creating a chameleon will help you:

With a little imagination and imagination, you can make many toys from the same series, for example:

The following universal diagram will also help you make fluffy figures from chenille wire with your own hands:

With its help you can create the most diverse various crafts– little people, bunnies, bears and much more, for example:

DIY copper wire crafts

Copper wire is also very often used to create children's crafts. In most cases, a durable and flexible frame is made from it, onto which beads, glass beads and other decorative elements are mounted. However, some simple crafts can be done using only one wire.

In particular, by folding copper wire as indicated in the following diagrams, you can get original crafts for interior decoration:

DIY crafts made from colored wire

Colored wire is essentially copper, but it is significantly thicker than the usual thin wire due to the layer of colored varnish applied to it. It can be folded in all sorts of ways, but it is rarely used as a frame.

The following crafts and patterns for making them will help you learn how to work with colored wire:

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If you want to diversify your home environment, decorate your child’s room in an interesting way and create something truly original, DIY wire crafts will help solve these problems.

Why wire?

This type of rolled metal can become a universal material for the manufacture of interior items, toys, souvenirs and decorations. The convenience of working with this material is that it can take any shape and at the same time hold it securely.

The range of products made from it is incredibly wide:

• Exquisite and attractive massive jewelry, touched by the hand of a true master, can often cost no less than the vintage jewelry that is so popular today;
• A variety of decor - wall decor (paintings and figures), household items (vases, sculptures) in the interior look harmonious. And depending on the chosen plot, wire objects can add comfort and completeness to the atmosphere;
• Massive furniture and fences. This direction is not recommended for beginners. But with the acquisition of basic skills, you can make high-quality and durable chairs, dish holders, stands for books or wine bottles;
• Original wire crafts for beginners and children to practice to develop artistic skills.

Wire: history of creation

Several thousand years ago, this material was obtained by cutting metal sheets into narrow strips. To get rid of sharp edges, the strips were twisted in a special way or rolled between flat surfaces.

Modern methods of making wire come down to the drawing method. This technique involves threading metal rods through conical shaped holes. This method was used in Persia in the 6th century BC. e. However, the method of metal processing came to the territory of Central Europe in the 10th century AD. e. It was from this period that the industrial production of wire began. It became most widespread among artisans who repaired shoes, equipment and baskets.

The use of steel analogues has become widespread. It was used to weave chain mail, make brushes for combing wool, and used it in the manufacture of horse harnesses and chains, fishing tackle and sewing accessories - needles. At the same time, the drawing method was also mastered to create wire from precious metals.

In the Middle Ages, flexible thread-like wires made of gold and silver were used by needlewomen in France and England for rich embroidery. This lasted until the middle of the 16th century. Gradually, the popularity of art began to decline. And not everyone could afford to engage in such a craft or hobby.

Wire was also made from iron. For a long time the metal was not held in high esteem due to its tendency to corrode, but at the end of the 18th century people still learned to protect such products from rust by tinning and treating them with black varnish.

Wire came to America (first North) from England and Germany. But in 1812, when supplies ceased as a result of a military conflict with Great Britain, the Americans began to develop their own production and build drawing factories. By the middle of the 19th century, thanks to the advent of the steam engine, mass production of wire, fences and wire mesh was launched at full capacity.

The material became available, and since then the mass production of a wide variety of products by artisans began - from the simplest table accessories, jewelry and to furniture. The tradition of working with this material stopped with the advent of plastic. But today he is experiencing a rebirth.

Wire techniques

With the fashion for an eco-conscious lifestyle, people began to remember simple ways make great things without expensive technology. And today we are learning about more and more original methods of creating beautiful and unusual, one-piece, rather than stamped interior items. Among the variety of working with wire, three main methods stand out.

Depending on the type of product chosen, these methods can be combined with other types of needlework:

• Wire wrapping - weaving and twisting. Most often the spiral shape is chosen. Fancy curls, which gave rise to jewelry making techniques, look wonderful with any look;
• Beading - creating interior accessories and beautiful things from beads on wire frame. The schemes are very diverse. Start with simple stringing and forming air loops;
• Ganutel - the art of creating flowers for decoration and stylish accessories(usually wedding) from thin spiral wire and silk threads. Such wire crafts are decorated with beads, beads and pearls.

Types of wire for artistic work

Before you buy the right wire for your crafts, learn about some of the features of the wire types.

Brass. The most popular material for creating beautiful jewelry. This species makes excellent brooches and hairpins. The material does not fade. That is why it is valued by handicraft lovers. This metal practically does not cause allergies. But be aware that it may sometimes contain small amounts of lead, a heavy metal that is harmful to health.

Copper. Its best use is to create a “tree of life”, bonsai and other plant objects, including beaded flowers. This variety is very easy to work with. It is recommended to start with this when your child shows interest in this exciting form of creativity.

Silver. With its help you can create jewelry premium segment. Framed with such wire, a variety of large semi-precious stones – malachite, obsidian, amethyst and others – look very stylish. You can create a magnificent gift - a luxurious painting. Use this wire, ready-made patterns and beads.

Chenille or overcoat is the name of fluffy wire, which is still little known in our open spaces. This plush fabric-covered caterpillar is a children's favorite. It’s good to make numbers, letters and other interesting things from such furry material. And the whole process will be full of notes of joy and fun. It bends well and cuts well with scissors. Products made from it keep their shape perfectly.

What children enjoy most is creating with chenille Christmas decorations and snowflakes, bouquets, funny animals and a lot of other things. The girls found a non-standard way to use it. They weave wire into the hair, thus creating amazing hairstyles that look like crowns.

There shouldn’t be any problems with where to find simple and not so simple diagrams for creating crafts of any objects made of wire. The possibilities of the World Wide Web are simply endless. And you can get it without much difficulty simple circuits With step by step instructions, in the public domain or buy author’s drawings, and also watch a thematic video.

Probably everyone has tried to make simple wire crafts with their own hands. Remember the improvised rings, bracelets, roses and funny little people that are so easy to twist from copper wire scraps or from thin wire taken from a champagne bottle.

And if you master a few basic elements and get inspired, you can make crafts from copper wire that will become real masterpieces!

Copper wire butterfly

First, you need to learn how to make curls from wire. It is convenient to use special tweezers for this purpose.

Only on the basis of such curls can one make great option wire crafts for children - an elegant butterfly with weightless openwork wings.

Twist the second wing using tweezers.

Glue a large bead in the center.

If you stock up on a whole set of tools, you can do much more complex and incredibly interesting crafts. For example, a piece of strong wire can be turned into a dragonfly.

And if you use beads or seed beads in your work, the dragonfly will gain real charm. Crafts made from beads and wire are very popular; they are convenient to use in interior design, creating jewelry and accessories. And making such crafts is not at all difficult - you just need to imagine how you want to see the end result of your work, and right moment string beads of a suitable shape, color and size onto the wire.

You can use not only small beads, but also fairly large beads. It all depends on the type of product and its size.

Souvenir “Heart” made of copper wire

You can combine wire with other materials. For example, a simple but very cute heart made of copper wire can be fixed on a wooden block.

Twist the wire at the base of the heart.

We lay out the wire a second time. We fix the end of the wire at the bottom of the heart.

We make a hole in a wooden cube, pour a little glue there and insert a wire with a heart there. The result will be a wonderful souvenir, which, by the way, can be conveniently used as a stand for notes, business cards and even photographs.

DIY wire pendants

Instead of beads and beads, you can use buttons and glass pebbles from the hole in the middle. They easily turn into part of an original heart pendant

Or a cute souvenir bird.

A pendant in the shape of a rain cloud will look original.

You can also turn it into a dream catcher.

You can make a very beautiful feather pendant from colored beads and copper wire.

Or a round elegant medallion pendant.

And this luxurious mandala pendant can be hung on the window so that it will delight you with the shine of its beads and catch little sunbeams.

Wire crafts for interior decoration

You can make such pendants part of the decor. For example, a cute octopus will feel very comfortable in your bathroom.

And the bird will good decoration for the wall - on the terrace, kitchen, hallway. Wherever you want to liven up the interior a little.

You can make a Christmas decoration from wire - an angel in a laconic style.

Pendants on wooden planks look interesting. These can be cute figures of people.

An incredibly delicate pendant can be made from dark thin wire for a chandelier.

Or flowers, mugs and hearts.

You can also use pendants on a wooden plank as a mobile toy above your baby’s crib. Wire ballerina Wire chairs Wire cacti

Of course, you can use wire and beads to create fine jewelry and accessories. In this case, you can do without beads if you take bright wire and give it the desired shape. It’s enough just to make a pendant or a beautiful bracelet out of it.