2-1123 November How-To Holiday! Gifts: Wire Wrapped Ring and BONUS Beaded Charms! VIDEO

Hello! Jewelry has always been a great love of mine. Maybe I'm part crow... shiny things just attract my mind and bring me great joy. From hand-tied friendship bracelets and little beaded safety pins to fully strung beautiful jewelry sets, I make a little bit of all of it. Kitschy jewelry made from kid's toys and charms made from pretty beads or found things find their way into every journal and most of the gifts I send to friends or family. These wire wrapped rings are one of those fast, cheap to gather materials for and stunning gifts that appeal to me because they look SO impressive and are such simple little treats to make.

Need a little something something for a surprise guest? A fun and funky ring to go with a new outfit? Just feel like using up some of the pretty shiny leftovers from another project? Go bananas... and look for the "charms post" coming soon... you could even make matching earrings in minutes!

You will need:

• 20 guage jewelry wire or craft wire
• Wire cutters or nippers, needle nose or flat nose pliers (available on Amazon)
• an 8mm bead (or other drilled shiny thing) with a hole large enough to accept the wire
• a ring mandrel is great though is not required. you can fold and tape a piece of cardboard tube or use a chapstick tube as a ring form
• about 20-30 minutes of your time

Begin by watching my video - it's informatively long? LOL  

1. Cut a 20" length of craft wire and loosely fold it in half
2. "String" your bead or button or other item onto the wire and slide it down into position at the half-way point
3. Wrapping carefully around your mandrel, cardboard or tube bring the wires around from either side with your bead or shiny bobble in the center. Cross the wires on the back without twisting them over each other and bring them around to the front, gently angling the wire around the object in the center. (For the purposes of THIS tutorial I do not wrap again, and you can should you choose to make a wider band for your ring. To wrap again repeat instructions above.)
4. To secure your bead/bobble/found object in the band and "finish" your ring make sure your wires have passed the center point on either side of your center focal point and angle them gently UP on one side of the focal point and DOWN on the other as shown in the video. Then go around the bead so that the one that started pointing DOWN now points UP and vice versa, the UP wire points DOWN. This forms 2 wire wraps around the gem. You can do this another time should you choose as in the images above.
5. Using a fingertip or pliers gently tuck the wire you bent UPWARDS down through the hole formed by your ring and pull it tightly around the 2 or 3 wires you wrapped around to form the band. This should be tight enough to hold the focal point in place and bring the wires together but should not require great tugging or pulling to achieve. Fold the same wire UPWARDS and around to tuck down through the hole formed by your ring again making sure to keep it very close beside the first wrap and equally tight. One more time, fold the wire UPWARDS and around to tuck down through the hole formed by your ring being careful to keep the wire neatly aligned by your other two wraps. 
6. Using the wire cutter or nippers trim your wrapped wire very close to the ring band - be careful here, you don't want to accidentally nick the wire and make it sharp or cut the work you've done!
7. Using the flat nose or round nose pliers gently tighten your wraps around the band and pay attention to tucking your cut end down so that it is not dangerous or sharp. You can check this with a finger and crimp again with your plier if necessary.
8. Turn the ring in your hand so that the wire you bent DOWN in step 4 is now pointing UPWARDS, then follow the instructions in steps 5-7 to complete your ring. (remember to double check for sharp points on those wires... they tend to sneak up on you the first few times you make a ring!)

Yeah. It's THAT stinkin' easy! 

And depending on how bananas you went with supplies might only have cost you $25 at JoAnn or on Amazon to make a ton of really fun pretty little gifts! (As well as prepare for a really amazing jewelry and charm making journey you didn't know you were going to want to make until you begin it!) Watch for my "packaging tips" post because with just a ribbon and a greeting card or piece of pretty paper you can turn this gorgeous little thing into the perfect gift!

NOTE: The Charms portion of this fun is free to those who watch the video... I'll only say that the parts for those are also inexpensive, can be bought in kits and you use all of the same tools as for the rings. (shopping list would include: headpins, eye pins and jump rings along with earring findings if you're planning to turn them into earrings.)

Please... post on Instagram and tag me @12SquaredCreations or #12SquaredCreationsPatreon so I can see what you did! I can't wait to see your very first ring! Or the 20 you'll make afterwards because it's SO addicting and fun! LOL They start to stack up like candy!