Patterned Wire Bracelet

Have you ever played around with some of the pretty patterned wire available from most metal suppliers? I finally bought a little to test out. The patterned wire I use in the project was purchased from Rio Grande for only a few dollars. It’s dead soft, so you can bend it with your hands very easily. Though you can use patterned wire to make bangle bracelets, rings, or to add some pizzaz to other metal work, I choose to try out the suggestion in the catalog for making it into a cuff bracelet.

To make this patterned wire bracelet, you’ll need:

6 ¼ inches of patterned wire
jeweler’s file
raw hide hammer
bracelet mandrel
*kiln
pickle
polishing system

1. If you buy a few feet or patterned wire, you’ll need to cut off about 6 ¼ inches. Obviously, if you need it bigger, you’ll need to start with a longer piece. However, the average person usually wears about a 7 inch bracelet, and since this doesn’t go all the way around the writs, 6 ¼ inches should be enough. Be careful to cut at a place that won’t interrupt the design. I used metal cutting shears for this. The wire is so soft, it was very easy to cut.

2. Use a file to round off the two ends of the wire. Make sure it is nice and smooth and won’t cut or poke the wearer.

3. Wrap the wire around a bracelet mandrel and use the raw hide hammer to bang into shape. This will also help harden the metal too.

4. Once you get the shape you like, you have two options in order to harden the wire. At this point, it is still way too soft to wear. You either need to continue banging the metal as in step 3 (a lot!), or as described in Rio’s catalog, you can use a kiln. Though I saw a big difference after doing step 3, since I own I kiln, I opted to harden it in the kiln. If you want to do this, continue to step 5. Otherwise, continue to harden by hand and skip to step 6.

5. To harden in the kiln, set your bracelet (or you might want to do a number of them at the same time to save electricity) in the kiln, and bring the temperature up to 600 degrees F (316 degrees C). Leave the bracelet(s) in there for 30 to 50 minutes, let it air cool, and then put it in a pickle.

6. Now you just need to polish your bracelet(s), and you’re finished.

I think these patterned wires would also look cool if you took about 3 of them and soldered them together before forming them into a cuff bracelet using the instructions above. However, they look good by themselves too and are relatively quick and inexpensive to make. So, not only would these make impressive gifts, but you could sell these and make a nice little profit too.

If you are interested in more metal projects, please take a look at my Topical List and click on the metalsmithing section for a list of all past projects and articles relating to metal.

Here's a printer friendly copy of this file.

Sign up for the weekly Jewelry Making Newsletter and
find out about new additions to this site each week.

Subscribe to the Newsletter
Name	Email

Chat with other jewelry makers in our chat room.

Free Jewelry Making Newsletter!Sign Up