wire-wrapped tree necklace

25
2/27/13 5:34 PM Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace Page 1 of 25 http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/ Tweet Tweet 0 0 Stum 07/12/2012 Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace I’ve gotten some comments recently about how often I use images of trees in my crafts. I really do love trees. I know you have probably seen the wire-wrapped tree necklaces around (some people call them Tree of Life necklaces) – so perhaps yet another tutorial is overkill… but I made this little beauty for the Birthday Bash giveaway that starts tomorrow at SevenAlive , so I thought I’d show you the how-to, since I was making it anyway! This is going to be photo-heavy, but it’s not because it’s complicated – just difficult to explain, and much easier to show you. If you checked out my Beaded Family Tree from a few weeks ago, this is much the same – just on a smaller (wearable!) scale – it’s 1-1/2 inches from the bail to the bottom of the pendant. What you will need: Search this website… SEARCH ...and welcome! I'm Adrianne. I'm a wife and a mom who has a penchant for all things DIY. I also work full-time, so finding time for those fun projects can be a challenge! Here at Happy Hour Projects, it's my goal to bring you tips and tricks you can do in an hour or less, to simplify your life while making your space beautiful, your treats delicious, and adding a bit of creative fun to your day. Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you visit again soon! Get the Daily Email Home About Adrianne Buttons Happy Hour Friday Link Party Holiday Ideas Places I Party Privacy All Tutorials Clay Projects DIY Beauty Projects Drink Recipes Jewelry Projects Paper Crafts Recipes Sewing Projects Like 1 Share Share

Upload: dwarfalope

Post on 08-Nov-2014

50 views

Category:

Documents


4 download

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 1 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

TweetTweet 0 0 StumbleUpon

07/12/2012

Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

I’ve gotten some comments recently about how often I use images of trees in my crafts. I really

do love trees. I know you have probably seen the wire-wrapped tree necklaces around (some

people call them Tree of Life necklaces) – so perhaps yet another tutorial is overkill… but I made

this little beauty for the Birthday Bash giveaway that starts tomorrow at SevenAlive, so I thought

I’d show you the how-to, since I was making it anyway!

This is going to be photo-heavy, but it’s not because it’s complicated – just difficult to explain,

and much easier to show you. If you checked out my Beaded Family Tree from a few weeks

ago, this is much the same – just on a smaller (wearable!) scale – it’s 1-1/2 inches from the bail

to the bottom of the pendant.

What you will need:

Search this website… SEARCH

...and welcome! I'm Adrianne. I'm a wife and amom who has a penchant for all things DIY. Ialso work full-time, so finding time for those funprojects can be a challenge!

Here at Happy Hour Projects, it's my goal tobring you tips and tricks you can do in an houror less, to simplify your life while making yourspace beautiful, your treats delicious, andadding a bit of creative fun to your day.Thanks so much for stopping by and I hopeyou visit again soon!

Get the Daily Email

Home About Adrianne Buttons Happy Hour Friday Link Party Holiday Ideas Places I Party Privacy

All Tutorials Clay Projects DIY Beauty Projects Drink Recipes Jewelry Projects Paper Crafts Recipes Sewing Projects

Like 1 ShareShare

Page 2: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 2 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Around 30! of 24 gauge wire (I like to use a silver plated wire as a good mix

of economy and quality, but go with whatever you like) to make your tree

Around 5-6! of 18 or 20 gauge wire to form the base of the pendant

Stone chip beads (I used peridot for mine – you can find these at Hobby Lobby)

Ball chain or box chain

Wire tools: round pliers, wire cutters, nylon pliers, file – you can get by without some of these,

but it makes the job much easier

The first step is to prepare your wire. Trim up your 5-6! base wire (depending on what size you

ultimately want your necklace to be), and 6 – 5! tree wires (give or take, these are estimates).

They may be a little bent, so if that’s the case, I like to take my nylon pliers and pull them

through a few times to straighten them out.

Enter your email address:

Subscribe Me

Events & Giveaways

Pick Your Plum

70% Off

Happy Hour Projects

Like

7,693 people like Happy Hour Projects.

Facebook social plugin

Page 4: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 4 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

The easiest way I have found to form the base is to find something that’s already the shape and

size you want, and wrap your wire around that. You can find special tools for this, or you can

just look around for something you might already have, like a pill bottle, or in my case – the cap

to my spray glue, which makes a nice 1-1/4 size circle.

Site Policies

I love it when you love my work! You may useany one photo from a post you enjoy here tobe featured on your site, as long as youprovide a link back to me and notify me eitherin the comments or with a direct email. If youfeature a photo, it may not be accompaniedby the project tutorial, whether in my ownwords as it originally appears or paraphrased. Ido not permit photos of my family to be sharedwithout my express written consent for eachphoto used.

I know that by publishing on the internet,anyone can see what I share, but it's still myintellectual property and it only belongs hereat Happy Hour Projects unless you get priorwritten permission from me for each post.

Thanks for playing fair and respecting mycopyright!

~Adrianne

Page 5: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 5 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

This next bit is hard to explain and it might feel tricky at first, but I promise, it’s not as bad as it

sounds. I’ve found it’s easiest to make the bail of the necklace right now, rather than adding a

jump ring later. this is mainly because you can make it whatever size you want, and with it

being part of the necklace, you don’t have to worry later about soldering your jump ring or it

being strong enough over the long-term.

You’ll take one half of where your wires overlap, and wrap it around your round pliers (if you

have a pair). It doesn’t have to be perfectly round if this is something you’re just making for

yourself and it doesn’t matter to you – don’t buy a special set of pliers just for this project if

you’re not going to be doing a lot of wire wrapping.

Page 6: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 6 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Now, take those little tails, and wrap them around the “neck” of the loop you just made. You’ll

probably have a little extra – I usually do.

Page 7: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 7 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Just trim the excess off, and if you have a jewelry file, you will probably want to file the sharp

edge down too. Straighten your loop so that you’ll be able to run your chain through it. Now

you have a lovely round base to start work on!

Page 8: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 8 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

I usually bend my tree wires in half before I get started, you will be wrapping the centers around

the base of your pendant to create the trunk.

Page 9: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 9 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

I wrap each one about 3 times. If you want a wider-looking trunk, you can wrap it more, like 5

or 6 times or whatever you like the looks of. Do this with all your wires. You can also use more or

fewer wires than 6, if you think it needs to be a little more or less full – I just find 6 is usually a good

number to work with for the 1 – 1/4 inch size round frame I usually make.

Once they are all added, you can begin twisting them together to form your tree trunk.

Page 10: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 10 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

When you get to about the center of the circle, start separating your wires into the individual

branches.

Page 11: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 11 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

I like to keep a few together for a twist or two, to make thicker branches, before separating

them out to bead the leaves. This really makes your tree look more tree-like – but it will cut

down on the number of beads you’ll use. So test it out and see what you like best – whether

more tree or more beads.

Try to be somewhat random with your branch bends, it will look more natural that way. It can

be tough to vary something so small, but just play with it until you like how it looks.

Page 12: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 12 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Now, you can begin beading. I tend to work my way up from the lowest branches, but I don’t

think it makes a difference.

Page 13: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 13 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Add as many beads as you can fit. Then, wrap the end of your branch wire around the outer

wire a few times.

Page 14: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 14 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Then you can just nip off the excess with your wire cutters. You may want to file the edge if it’s

still a little sharp. (Don’t let the photo below throw you, I turned it over to show you better – I

had to set it down to get a photo because I don’t have three hands.)

Page 15: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 15 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Continue on to the next branch, and keep going with the lower branches. These brances were

spaced pretty close together, so they look decently “full”.

Page 16: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 16 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

If/when you run into space between branches that leaves a gap, you can fill it in with extra

beads.

Page 17: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 17 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Instead of nipping off the wire after wrapping it on the outer edge, thread an additional bead

onto it. Position it to the inside of the circle, and then wrap your wire another couple times to

secure it.

Page 18: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 18 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

It’s hard to see, because it does blend in – but that’s the point.

Just keep doing that until you have filled in all your empty branches. One thing you will want to

be careful of is that when you wrap wire, it’s easy to get it too tight – which will distort your

circular frame. So as you work, keep an eye on it and make sure you haven’t pulled any of the

wires too tight. If you do – unwrap and re-wrap them, re-positioning your wires as necessary.

When it’s more filled in, you’ll probably need to use your pliers to thread your wire through and

to get it nice and snug.

Page 19: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 19 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Now, all that’s left to do is string it on your chain!

Page 20: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 20 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

TweetTweet 0 0 StumbleUpon

For this one, I have used a sterling silver ball chain, because it’s a giveaway piece and I like to

make sure it’s as hypo-allergenic as possible. Do you like it? You can enter to win it at Kadie’s

Birthday Bash at SevenAlive tomorrow! I’d love for one of my readers to get this piece. She has

a really nice lineup of sponsored prizes all day – so be sure to check them all out!

I link up to these great parties!

Posted by Adrianne ! 25 Comments

Filed Under: Jewelry, Tutorials !

Comments

You may also like -

Wire-Wrapped SingleBead Necklace

Wire-Wrapped BeadBracelet

Cyber Monday Dealsat Consumer Crafts

Tiny Terrariums forEarth Day

The Most Counterfeit-Proof Currenciesinvestopedia.com

Like 1 73 ShareShare

Page 21: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 21 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Terry says:

07/12/2012 at 12:33 pm

Gorgeous. I don't think I've ever actually seen how to make one. Fabulous tutorial as

always!

REPLY

Liz says:

07/12/2012 at 12:44 pm

Wow, this is really beautiful! Liz

REPLY

Four Marrs and One Venus says:

07/12/2012 at 12:51 pm

Oh WOW! You really are so very Talented lady!! This is so pretty!!

REPLY

Robin says:

07/12/2012 at 1:14 pm

I love trees too, and this necklace is beautiful!

REPLY

Heather says:

07/12/2012 at 1:31 pm

Wow, wow, wow!! I've always loved your jewellery projects, but this one is the best by far!

Hope you'll share it on the All Star Block Party!!

P.S. Can we buy this anywhere?

REPLY

Morena Hockley says:

07/12/2012 at 2:13 pm

I love it!! Thanks for the great tutorial!

REPLY

Sarah Evans says:

07/12/2012 at 2:22 pm

This is totally awesome and it seems so simple too!! Thanks!!

Visiting via the Crafty Blogstalker Hop

Sarah

http://acatlikecuriosity.blogspot.co.uk

REPLY

Jessi W says:

07/12/2012 at 4:09 pm

Page 22: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 22 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Aaaahhh I was looking at this tutorial this morning, it's amazing! I'm so glad you shared it at

The Fun In Functional! I'm no good at making jewelry, but I love this tree and it looks simple

enough, so maybe I'll try my hand at it

REPLY

SweetPepperRose says:

07/12/2012 at 4:27 pm

All I can say is Love It!

JoAnn

REPLY

Melanie says:

07/12/2012 at 5:04 pm

Lovely! Maybe I can win it! haha

REPLY

meet.make.laugh. says:

07/12/2012 at 5:09 pm

This is really beautiful! And I really like your pictures…. they make it easy to follow along.

REPLY

Heidi Fowler says:

07/12/2012 at 7:39 pm

This is so beautiful! You have quite a talent. Please come visit my linky party tomorrow at

OneCreativeMommy.com. I'd love for you to link up this idea and/or anything else you'd

like to share. That necklace is amazing.

REPLY

Dot says:

07/12/2012 at 8:28 pm

Absolutely beautiful!!

REPLY

Earning-My-Cape says:

07/12/2012 at 10:40 pm

Hi! Very pretty and great tutorial! I just pinned this so I can show my oldest daughter. She

loves doing wire crafts and jewelry!

I'd like to invite you to join in A Crafter's Dream Group Giveaway, hosted by My Merry Messy

Life, Little Becky Homecky, and me. Each blogger is offering her/his own giveaway worth

$25 or more. Please stop by and check out the details!

http://earning-my-cape.blogspot.com/2012/07/crafters-dream-join-our-group-

giveaway.html

I hope to see you there!

~Susie~

REPLY

Page 23: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 23 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

Kara at Petals to Picots says:

07/12/2012 at 11:05 pm

Love, love, love!

REPLY

Brooke Arellano says:

07/13/2012 at 3:31 am

This is great! Thank you for the share, I love how you so clearly explained each step. I

sometimes find crafts hard to follow from online instructions, but you made it seem so

simple, can't wait to try! Stopping by from the hop and am now your newest follower:) Hope

you can come check out Crazy Mama Drama !

http://crazy-mama-drama.blogspot.com/

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Crazy-Mama-Drama/259491484156846

REPLY

Hannah Gonzalez says:

07/13/2012 at 12:25 pm

I love this – it's just beautiful! Thanks you for sharing! I am now a follower of Happy hour! I

hope you can come visit me at Eat.Love.Inspire for more fun and creative crafts!

http://www.eatloveinspire.blogspot.com

REPLY

Vanina says:

07/14/2012 at 3:09 am

Wow! This is wonderful, Adrianne! I love it. Can't wait to try it

REPLY

Emily says:

07/17/2012 at 2:11 pm

I have a thing for trees too. I even have a board started on Pinterest. And I'm pinning this to

it.

REPLY

Aunt B says:

07/17/2012 at 10:26 pm

What a smart, pretty project! Thank you for sharing your tutorial. I'm looking forward to trying

this one myself.

REPLY

Jess from Coxs Corner says:

07/18/2012 at 2:13 pm

This is INCREDIBLE! I really like it and I am definitely going to give it a try. I totally just pinned

this yesterday, and then I saw your link at a linky party and I had to come over and let you

know how AMAZING I think this is. You are SO creative. I'm excited to be your newest

follower!

Page 24: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 24 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

REPLY

Full Circle Creations says:

07/18/2012 at 7:46 pm

This looks just lovely. My mom would love this. Thanks for sharing at the All Star Block Party.

Holly

REPLY

Heather says:

07/24/2012 at 10:55 pm

And because I love this so much, it's being featured on the All Star Block Party!

REPLY

Trackbacks

Made In Toys Blog says:

11/18/2012 at 4:10 pm

This Necklace Good…

[...] e my intellectual property, unless otherwise noted (for example, as in the case [...]…

REPLY

Antique Black Pearl Necklaces Blog says:

01/30/2013 at 7:40 pm

Wire Wrapped Crystal Necklaces…

[...] it’s my goal to bring you tips and tricks you can do in an hour or less, to simp [...]…

REPLY

Share Your Thoughts

Name *

Email *

Website

twitter (@username)

POST COMMENT

Confirm you are NOT a spammer

Page 25: Wire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

2/27/13 5:34 PMWire-Wrapped Tree Necklace

Page 25 of 25http://happyhourprojects.com/wire-wrapped-tree-necklace/

© Copyright 2012 ! All Rights Reserved ! Happy Hour Projects ! Built on Genesis ! Custom Design by CEO of Me Designs Hosting by RFE Hosting