Beaded Bangles
The design of this bangle has been adapted from the basic wire bangle I previously showed how to make. The steps are almost identical. The only difference with adding beads to the design is that you’ll need to make your wraps in different places, you’ll need beads that will fit over your wire (of course), and you’ll need a pair of snap ring pliers.
Here are the supplies/equipment you’ll need:
Here is where the instructions start to differ. The number of beads you wish to add and location of where you want them to be on the bracelet will determine the location of the rest of the wraps on the bangle. To keep things simple, I’m going to add my beads to the middle of this bracelet. However, you can get a different look by adding them in other places or adding more than one grouping of beads.
Once you’ve gotten to this point, you need to decided how much wire will be covered up by your beads. Do this by lining up the beads into the grouping you want. Ideally, you should do this on a bead board so that you can get a measurement without all the beads rolling around. For the piece I’m making, I have one 8mm and two 6mm clear Czech beads, two rondel gold-filled beads, and two small 2mm gold-filled beads. When I lined these up on my bead board, they measured approx. one inch. Add about ½ inch to the measurement of your beads. Since mine were 1 inch, I knew I would need about 1 ½ inch space in the middle of my bracelet for these beads.
Find the center of the bracelet and mark it with non-permanent marker. Now divide the measurement of the beads in half. (Mine was ¾ inches.) Measure this amount from the middle towards the end that you’ve already wrapped. You will want to do your first wrap about here.
Now pull the middle wire of the bracelet up way from the other wires and slide your beads onto it. Bend the wire back down and put all the wires back together again as they were using a clamp.
It looks kind of weird at this point, but just bare with me. Now, you’re going to add the wrap on the other side of the beads approx. ¼ inch away from the beads. Continue to add wraps where you want them and finish the clasp as described in steps 10 and 11 of the basic bangle instructions. Now you’ll have a bracelet that looks a lot like the basic bangle with beads in the middle.
Before you shape the bracelet, there is one more step that really makes the look of this bangle. Using the snap ring pliers, from the back of the bracelet, insert the nose of the pliers in between the middle of the four wire that fit together. Squeeze the handle of the pliers together, and this will force the wires apart. The middle wire that has the beads on it will no seem to be raised some. Just push this wire down with your fingers so that it fits into the diamond shape you just created using the snap nosed pliers.
To shape your bracelet, follow the instructions from step 12 of the basic bangle instructions. Here’s what the finished bracelet I made looks like.
I think the beads really add a lot to this bangle, so I hope you get a chance to give it a try. The technique I just explained can also be varied. You can add more beads or spread them out and create more than one diamond. Below is the same bangle using 6mm pink Czech beads and gold-filled 2mm beads. I just created three sections of beads instead of one and then made three diamond shapes using the snap ring pliers.
All graphics created by Tammy Powley.
