Karen, great ideas for customizing this design and making these pendants sell!

You’re very welcome, Donna J! And thanks! 🙂

Hi Donna J, thanks for asking! Yes, the “hole” part of the bail (where the cord or chain goes through) has the same curve on the front and back. However, it’s not really essential to have the front and back of the bail symmetrical. Because when you’re wearing the pendant on a cord or chain, it’s pretty hard to see both sides of the bail. What really matters is having a bail size that works with your cord / chain, and having a secure wire-wrap below the bail. As for wire gauge and temper – I usually use 20 gauge round soft or half-hard for these. With the wire from Michaels, you might contact the manufacturer (their info should be on the package) and ask whether the wire is soft, half-hard, or what. Or you might purchase your wire from a jewelry supplier, or from a seller on etsy.com – so you’ll know what kind of wire you’re using. Don’t be too hard on yourself, Donna J – enjoy creating with wire and your skills will develop as you go. 🙂

Donna J, thank you for your lovely feedback on this tutorial. This is a fun and easy project, even if you’re new to making jewelry. I’d love to hear how your pendants turn out – and would love to see them if you’d like to share your work here! 🙂

Kate, thanks for your lovely comment – and I wish you every joy and success with your new jewelry activities! I’ll be interested to hear how it goes for you!

Thanks for this awesome idea and great how-to video!
I’ve been beading for about 10 years now and I am a serious bead-a-holic! I really enjoyed watching someone else’s way of doing things. It answered some questions for me.

I work at a local library–my dream job–and I’m setting up some beading classes. One request for a class was to use big chunky beads so your idea was perfecto!

I am just beginning to sell my jewelry. I will be doing a couple of local displays, shows. I will let you know what sells when I see how it goes. I’m a bit nervous about selling my jewelry with regards to the time involved. I’ll keep you posted on what seemed to move.

Thanks again!

Kate Gesick – Greeley, CO

Thanks for asking, Wendy! It’s a bead I had in my stash for years, and I don’t remember now where it came from. But you can find lots of interesting and unique pendant-size jasper beads with an online search, or a search on Etsy.com – or at a bead show. I hope this helps! 🙂

Thank you, Jane! 🙂
And thanks to all for your lovely comments!

Thank you,
Nicole

Love this! So simple and very beautiful!
I am just getting started and when say getting started I mean I made one ring out of copper that my dogs have already made to scrap.

thank you so much for sharing this. I am now on journey to making wire jewelry and also adding you as a mentor.

Cheryl, I used 20 gauge round copper wire in the video above. It’s just plain, regular copper wire – not coated wire nor Artistic Wire.

On other occasions I’ve made these pendants with 20 gauge round wire in sterling silver, Argentium silver, 14k gf, and brass.

I have not used Artistic Wire for this project; I think it would likely be too soft and not sturdy enough.

And as far as the gauge of your wire – 20 gauge makes a nicely sturdy pendant in this design, but of course the hole size of your pendant bead will also affect the gauge of wire you’re able to use.

I just wanted to let you know how useful I find your tips – and this one was fantastic!

I’m having an Christmas Open House sale on the 1st December, and this will be a great addition – thank you for the tip.

I make many pendants, but I always provide the attachment, whether it be cord, silver, seed beads – this is such a great idea to just provide the finished pendant and let the customer decide on how it’s strung!

On a separate note – I’ve been reading your newsletters for a couple of years now, and I think that you’re fabulous!

All the best!

Yinka

And I’ve had the same experience as all who have found that selling the pendants without cords / chains works best.

You can easily have cords and chains alongside them as an add-on purchase, but most of my customers just want the pendant.

Love hearing about everyone’s experiences with making and selling pendants like these! 🙂

I sell them for $15 – $40 (I use sterling silver wire for the bails and I buy stones wholesale) depending on the stone and how elaborate I get with the bail. But the $15 – $20 ones with a similar bail to Rena’s are the biggest sellers. I too sell them without chains, will sell chains and cords separately if needed. I sell about 2 cords a day. I also make my big fancy necklaces in such a way that the pendant can be taken off to wear separately or I’ll sell them separately. This has also been working well.

Thank you Rena for the forum and all the help!