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Spiral Wire Bead Cap (Tutorial)

by Rena Klingenberg.

Dress up your beads with these handmade wire bead caps (modeled here by a 10mm bead).

Once you get into the groove of this project, you can make several of these little goodies very quickly.

Supplies:

• 1 piece of round soft 20-gauge or 22-gauge wire, 6 cm (2.36″) long.
  You can use copper, brass, sterling silver, etc. – or Artistic wire / craft wire.
• A round bead – 8mm, 10mm, or 12mm. I used a 10mm bead.
• Wire cutter.
• Cup bur or jewelry file for smoothing and rounding your wire ends.
• Round nose pliers.
• Chain nose or flat nose pliers.

How to Make
Spiral Wire Bead Caps:

Cut your wire to 6 cm (2.36″) long:

Use a cup bur, jewelry file, or knife sharpening stone to smooth and round both ends of your wire:

Now we’ll start making a flat wire spiral.

Use the tips of your round nose pliers to grasp the tip of one end of your wire:

Start wrapping the wire around the tip of one of your plier jaws:

Keep wrapping the wire around the plier jaw until you’ve made a full circle, or one and a half circles:

Now use your chain nose or flat nose pliers to grasp the beginning of your wire spiral:

. . . and continue wrapping your wire around, creating a bigger and bigger flat spiral:

Keep wrapping till you’ve used the entire piece of wire:

Your wire should look like this (a cinnamon roll!):

Now we’ll make the spiral cone-shaped, so it will fit like a hat on the end of your bead.

Spear the center of your spiral onto the tip of one of your round nose plier jaws:

Use your fingers to gently push down on the layers of your spiral.

Press down evenly on all sides of your spiral, so the bead cap will have a nicely uniform shape:

Your wire bead cap is finished!

You may want to make enough of these to cover both ends of each bead in your jewelry project.

Want to Learn the Basics of
Designing Your Own Wire Jewelry?

In my Design and Make Artistic Jewelry Components video class, you’ll learn how to get great ideas for wire jewelry designs – and then follow my easy system for turning those ideas into successful pieces of jewelry.

By the end of this online video class, you’ll be designing and making your own artistic earwires, clasps, connectors, and pendant bails.

You’ll also learn my tips for making wire jewelry more easily, with more professional looking results.