Nest Tutorial- How to Make a Bird's Nest Necklace

This Tutorial is for a wire bird's nest necklace.

I had a request to do a tutorial on a necklace, so I decided to chain the nest instead of earrings. It is just as easy to make two and put them on earring hooks. I love this project because eggs in a nest has such a wonderful meaning to a mother. 

So lets get started!

Supplies needed- 

-About 2ft, 26 Gauge wire

-3, 4mm round stones

-18" Chain

-1 Jump ring

-1 Spring clasp

-Wire snips

- 2 pairs chain nose pliers

To start, take your 3 beads (I'm using 4mm Charoite on solid sterling silver) and place them about 1 inch in on your wire.

 Curve your wire and beads to make a circle, and twist it closed. Tuck your end under on the side you want to be the bottom.

 Begin wrapping your wire around the 3 beads. This will form the base of the nest.

 When you have about 6-10 wraps, take your wire and connect your outer ring to your bead ring, by weaving the wire around the outer ring to the inner ring with the beads.

 Once you have 3 or 4 wraps connecting your base to your beads, begin working on the bottom.

Twist the wire round and round in circles. Make sure your circles are all different sizes so that they cover the whole bottom. 

 When it is decently covered weave the wire around the base and the beads like before, making sure to come through the bottom so that it is connected to the top. Do this 3 or 4 times.

 Your nest should then look similar to this.

 Now it is time to make the top of the nest. Kink the wire a bit and begin wrapping it in a circle on top of the base. Do this about 10 times.

 Then begin weaving the nest like before, connecting your top to the rest of your nest.

 Keep weaving around and around sloppily until your nest is full or you have about 3" of wire left.

 Create one last weaving loop, but leave part of this loop up and pinch it together close to the base. This will create your bezel.

 Bring your wire end up and wrap it around your pinched base until secure.

 Snip the loose end and pinch it down with your chain nose pliers.

 It should then look like this.

 Now to put our pendant on a chain! This part is really simple.

 Open the ring of the spring clasp by using your 2 pairs of pliers to grip the ring and turn them away from each other to open it.

 Place your chain on the clasp.

 Turn your pliers towards each other to close the opening.

 Open your jump ring, add your chain and close the same way you did with the spring clasp.
( If your spring clasp ring does not open, you will need a second jump ring to connect it to your chain.)

 And that's it! Your very own bird's nest necklace! You can customize it any way you like!
Birth stones, more eggs, less eggs, different metals...It's all up to you!
Sorry the picture is slightly blurry...I tried to enlarge it a bit...

Next Week's Project-

Basic Bracelet

Enjoy!!

<3 Cassandra

Ring Tutorial- Beaded Wrapped Stone Ring

This tutorial is for a Spiral wrapped Beaded Stone Ring.

This ring is one of my favorites to make. It's pretty, elegant, versatile, and relatively easy to make. 

So lets get started!

Supplies needed- 

-2, 8 to10 inches 20 Gauge wire

-1, 4mm round stone

-6, 2mm or 3mm beads

-A ring mandrel (or some type of rod)

-Wire snips

-Chain nose pliers

To Start, take your lengths of wire and lay them across the number of the size that you need your ring to be. Place the 4mm stone in the center of your top wire.

Wrap both wires around the mandrel once.

Turn the top wires down and the bottom wires up.

Add 3 of your smaller beads to the very top wire and round the wire down.

Repeat with the very bottom wire, adding stones, and round the wire up.

Remove your ring from the mandrel.

Begin wrapping the wire ends around the base of the ring, like so...

Once Wrapped 2 or 3 times, give the wires a snip. Be sure that the snipped wires are on the top of the ring and not near the skin.

Press down your loose ends.

Repeat to the other side.

Once done you can manipulate the wires a bit to lay nicely next to the stone.

Then admire your finished ring!

I usually charge about $10 for these rings. They are wonderful for vending!

I hope you enjoy this tutorial! If there is a project you would like to see a tutorial on, feel free to leave a suggestion in the comments! ^_^

Next Weeks Project-

Tiny Bird's Nest Earrings

Enjoy!

<3 Cassandra

Holy Pop Rocks! It Costs How Much?!?

So as mentioned before, I have taken the giant leap into the amazing world of precious metals. Woot! Home Baby Crafts is now offering recycled, solid, Sterling Silver trees and chains. Since I am new to the precious metals market, I thought I would take some time and peruse through Etsy at some other trees in silver to see what the going rate was... My jaw dropped (If my jaw really could drop all the way to the floor I am sure it would have.) Prices ranged from $95-$260 per tree.... O_O

Now, as a disclaimer, I understand the need to cover cost of materials, time put into the piece, etc. and I am in no way saying that the price an individual puts on their work is not worthy, but I think my mom's husband got it right. I'm selling mall like merchandise at a Wal-Mart price.

You know what though, I am perfectly okay with that. I don't need to make a giant profit off of each piece. I think that I would rather be reasonable so that many people can enjoy my jewelry, rather than only the few that can afford to. As long as I am able to donate each month to my favorite organizations, I'm a happy camper.

Speaking of donations... I have a piece up in a giveaway! If you haven't entered just yet follow this link and enter!

<3 Cassandra

Ring Tutorial- Basic Spiral and Stone Ring

I've decided that every Friday, I would like to try to do a tutorial. I have quite a few friends and family members aspiring to learn some wire-wrap techniques, so I decided to start creating some basic tutorials to help everyone along. 

This tutorial is for this basic spiral ring with a stone in the center.

Supplies needed- 

-8 to10 inches 20 Gauge wire

-1 4mm round stone

-A ring mandrel (or some type of rod)

-Wire snips

-Chain nose pliers

To Start, take your length of wire and lay it across the number of the size that you need your ring to be.

Bending the wire in half around the mandrel wrap each side around once.

Add the stone to the top length. (Sorry the pic is blurry)

Bend the bottom wire up and the top wire down.

Continue in this circling motion around the stone until you are satisfied with the thickness or you start to run low on wire.

Remove ring from mandrel and begin wrapping the wire around the base of the ring, like so...

Once Wrapped 2 or 3 times, give the wire a snip. Be sure that the snipped wire is on the top of the ring and not near the skin.

Repeat on the other side.

Tada! Your ring is done! Now that was easy huh? These rings are wonderful to sell while vending, I usually charge about $5 a piece for these.

Next Week's Project- 

Beaded Wrapped Stone Ring

Have fun! <3 Cassandra