Harder than it looks- wire crocheting

I once heard something about wire crocheting- apparently you can make some really cool things with it. So me being me (and I love to experiment) I pulled out my smallest yarn crochet needle and some floral wire.

END RESULT: My fingers were very sore. My poor needle was dying a slow and painful death from erosion. And I had only finished two rows.

I don't think I'm ever going to try that again.

How to make an S hook

     One thing about tiny towns is that you can't find craft supplies... you are therefore forced to make your own. Case in point: S hooks.
     These are perfect for all your jewelry. They can easily be clasped with one hand (think bracelets) and aren't a pain to attach (think lobster claw clasps). Use with jump rings.

 Step One

Use round needlenose pliers to create a loop.

 

Step Two

 Take the wire and carefully twist it around your pliers as shown. Make sure you twist it the correct direction- opposite of the loop you just made.

 

Step Three

Cut the wire halfway down the curve you just created. Use your pliers to pinch the part you just cut- shown here:

 

Congratulations! You have made an S hook.

How to make jump rings

These little fellas are really helpful. They make a perfect hook and eye clasp when used with an S hook. They can also be used to make chains, chain maille, or dangling things. :)

Your materials:

• Wire
  
• Wire cutters
• Crochet or knitting needles (to get exact measurements). Round pens can also be used.

Step One

Wrap the wire in a tight coil around the needle or pencil.

Step Two 

Take the coil off of the needle and cut out individual rings.

To open the jump rings, pinch the ring in a pair of needlenose pliers and gently pull. To shut, gently pinch pliers around the ring.


Tah-dah!!! Alot easier than it looks!

A Necklace and a Hair Thing

More pictures of stuff I made! A butterfly neecklace and an Elvish hair clip.

This is the butterfly necklace. I used floral wire and seed beads to make the butterfly. I used these instructions to make the beaded chains that attach the butterfly to the colored hemp cord. For a clasp I made my own jump ring and S hook.

 

The hair clip! Perfect to go with an Elvish or fairy costume! Now, if only I had one of those... :) The leaves are Czeck glass. Basically I just took some 20 ga and floral wire, twisted some beads in it, and tied it onto the clip.

New Materials!!!

Hooray!!! I have some new materials!!! Thanks to small towns like ours, it can be very difficult to find beads and wire... A friend suggested I look online, so I spent some of my birthday money on the most beautiful beads and a ton of wire.

I've wanted some leaf-shaped beads for making Elvish jewelry. After some reasearching, I discovered these awesome Czech glass beads. They are a bit pricey but very good quality. And pretty. Most sites have a pack of 24 for $4. I found a site called BrightlingsBeads selling them for $2. They have free shipping (no minimum order!) and had a great Labor Day sale.
For the wire, Mom found a website called Our Lady's Rosary Makers (OLRM). We also got a pair of round-needle- nose rosary making pliers from them. Ben fell in love with it and has already finished half a rosary!

Painting

I actually made this quite awhile ago but never posted it. Its an acrylic painting. Not too pleased with how choppy it looks- but if I term it "half Impressionist" its just fine. :)

Fairy Jewelry Set

More wire jewelry! I've simply fallen in love with it... the materials I used for making these shown here are:

1. 20 guage wire found at a garage sale
2. Floral wire from Walmart
   
3. Leftover beads from back when Walmart actually had beads
4. Longnose needlenose pliers (which I raided from Dad's toolbox)
5. Wire cutters (again, raided from Dad's toolbox.Before I found the wire cutters I had used an old pair of scissors.)
   

This a circlet I made for a friend who is going to a Renaissance festival as a fairy:

A bracelet, ear cuff, and ring to go with the circlet:

The bracelet was alot of fun- I twisted wire into two bracelets, overlapped them, and then twisted the wire and beads through it.