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How To Make a Solderless Wire Bracelets Frame
"Unclosed" Wire Bracelet Form
It's Important to Know How To Make Bracelets
Whether you make your own jewelry or you're a seasoned jewelry designer, the more techniques and tricks you know about your fine craft, the better off you'll be. Cuffs, bracelets or cuff bracelets are an especially viable and strong selling jewelery item and again, knowing as many techniques about how to make them only works to your good. Knowing a variety of ways of how to make bracelets will hold you in good stead as a jewelry designer for sure.
I was challenged to come up with just such a technique for making bracelets. The structure needed to be a frame type and very strong as the cuff bracelet would be about 1/12" at the widest point. The idea was to make a wide bracelet frame that could be used either for weaving into, crocheting into, wire wrapping or placing beads within the actual frame. The real hitch was that the entire frame needed to be made without soldering! Interesting challenge indeed.
After several only somewhat successful attempts (using all my jewelry making tips and tricks), I finally came up with the following method that has turned out to be far more successful than I would have thought originally:
How to Make the Bracelet Frame for Making Jewelry
To start off with, cut roughly 30" of 14 gauge brass or copper wire. (Since a bracelet measures roughly 7 1/2" depending on your own wrist size, you will need about 15" since the cuff form goes twice around your wrist. Since we will be twisting (doubling) this wire prior to shaping the cuff form, we need to double the amount of wire again to be about 30").
Fold it in half and use a vice and dowel to twist it together tightly as shown in the photo below:
Twisting Wire
Forming the Cuff Bracelet
Next, fold your twisted strand in half (try a soup can and then adjust the size) to form one end of the cuff bracelet frame.
Use the PVC pipe or soup can to start molding the cuff into shape, curving the second end just like you did to the first one.
Continue forming the cuff, adjusting it to your own wrist size and then cut off any excess wire leaving at least an inch of extra wire.
How to Form the Wire Bracelet
Finish Forming the Bracelet
Finish the End Wires
Next, seperate the twisted ends of your wire frame, file and sand the edges smooth.
Finish the Connection
Voila! Solderless Wire Bracelet Frame
To finish making your wire bracelets frames, use your pliers (plastic tipped) to push all four of the end wires together very tightly. Then wind a 26 gauge copper or brass wire around the ends a few times to bind them even more securely. Be careful to only wind a few times to avoid having a visible lump on your frame.
Tip: If you leave your end wires even a bit longer than shown in the photographs, it will help secure those wire ends even more.
Refer to the photo at the top of this article to help you visualize the completed wire bracelet frame. Best of luck in all your wire jewelry making endeavors!
More Great Wire Jewelry Tutorials
Sources for more wire jewelry making tutorials: www.beadifferent.com