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Wire Angel Pendant (Tutorial)

by Rena Klingenberg. © 2003-Present Rena Klingenberg. All Rights Reserved

This wire angel pendant is simple to make – and angels are always popular.

Her body and wings are formed from a single piece of wire.

Her neck, head, and halo are made with three jump rings.

Her simple, uncluttered design is part of her charm.

Supplies:

• Round soft wire, 18 or 20 gauge – 6″ (15.25 cm) long.
• 1 large jump ring for the angel’s head.
  I used an antiqued copper jump ring, size 10 mm.
• 1 tiny jump ring for the angel’s neck.
  I used a copper jump ring, size 5 mm.
• 1 large shiny yellow jump ring for the halo.
  I used a shiny brass jump ring, size 9 mm.
• Chain or cord for wearing your pendant.
• Wire cutter.
• Cup bur, wire rounder, jewelry file, or knife sharpening stone – for smoothing and rounding your wire ends.
• Regular-size black permanent marker (Sharpie) – for marking your wire, and to use as a mandrel.
• Ruler – for measuring and marking your wire.
• Round nose pliers.
• Flat nose pliers.
• Chain nose pliers.
• Rubbing alcohol and a scrap of paper towel – to remove the Sharpie ink from your wire and pliers.
• Optional: Jeweler’s steel block and nylon, rubber, plastic, or rawhide hammer for hammer-hardening the finished pendant.

How to Make a
Wire Angel Pendant:

Cut your piece of wire 6″ (15.25 cm) long:

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

Pull your wire through your fingers to form it into a straight line.

Now we’re going to mark the wire so we’ll know exactly where to make each bend for the angel.

Lay your wire against your ruler, and use your Sharpie to make these four marks on your wire (the blue lines represent where you’ll make your marks):

Now we’re going to make a loop at each end of our wire.

But first, to make sure those loops will be the same size, use your Sharpie pen to make a mark near the tip of one jaw of your round nose pliers:

Now we’re ready to make the first loop.

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

Your wire should be on the mark you just drew on your pliers:

Roll the wire end into a loop:

Now your wire should look like this:

Move to the other end of your wire and make an identical loop, so that both loops face the same direction:

Now your wire should look like this:

Now we’ll use your Sharpie marker as a mandrel to shape the top curves of the angel’s wings:

Place one end of your wire across the Sharpie, with the first wire mark centered across it:

Turn the wire so that the loop points upward.

Place your thumb over the wire mark, and hold the wire in place against the Sharpie:

Use the fingers of your other hand to press the wire ends straight downward, creating a horse-shoe shape in the wire – with your wire mark in the center of the horse-shoe:

Move to the other end of your wire and make an identical horse-shoe bend on the first mark at that end.

Both horseshoes should face the same direction.

Now your wire should look like this:

Hold your wire with the horse-shoes curving upward.

Use your flat nose pliers to grip the wire right beside one of the remaining wire marks:

Now bend the wire into an angle that’s sharper than a 90-degree angle:

Now your wire should look like this.

The wire mark should be on the center of the bend you just made:

Now use your flat nose pliers to grip the wire right beside the last wire mark:

Bend the wire into an angle that’s sharper than a 90-degree angle.

Keep bending the wire until the wings are symmetrically positioned at the top of the angel:

Now your wire should look like this – the angel’s completed gown and wings:

Sprinkle a few drops of rubbing alcohol on a scrap of paper towel to remove your Sharpie ink marks from your wire and pliers:

Optional: Flatten and strengthen your wire work by placing it on a jeweler’s steel block and pounding both sides with a nylon, rubber, plastic, or rawhide hammer.

Caution: Do NOT hammer the spot where the wires cross, or they may break.

Now we’ll add the angel’s neck and head to the pendant.

Get your large jump ring (for the head) and tiny jump ring (for the neck):

If you’re new to using jump rings:
See my quick tutorial on how to open and close them.

Use your flat nose and chain nose pliers to twist open the tiny jump ring.

Then string the large jump ring onto the tiny jump ring:

See the X-shape that’s formed at the top of the angel’s triangular gown, where the tops of the wings start to curve up?

We’re going to fasten the tiny jump ring onto the X, so that both wires will wind up inside the jump ring.

Thread the wire X-shape onto tiny jump ring:

The use your pliers to twist the jump ring shut.

Your angel should now look like this, with the tiny jump ring (her neck) attaching the large jump ring (her head) to the top of her gown:

Now we can attach her halo to her head.

Use your pliers to twist open your large yellow jump ring, and thread it onto the angel’s jump ring head:

Twist the yellow halo jump ring shut:

Your wire angel pendant is finished!

To wear it, simply slide the halo onto a chain or cord: