Page 5      Caged Jewelry Wire & Beads Necklace Jewelry Making Project

Step 23:  One at a time, grasp one of these spirals and twist it so that the wire increases the size of the spiral.  By eye try to make each spiral the same size. 

Step 24:  Continue to build the spirals using your bent chain nose pliers until the two spirals overlap as shown at left.

Step 25:  Grasp one of the stems of the overlapped spirals with your bent chain nose pliers and hold the other spiral with your finger tips on your opposite hand.  Gently pull the stem so that the spiral opens as shown.

Step 26:  Now we need to open the opposite side of the cage.  Grasp that stem with your bent chain nose pliers and hold the center of the cage with your finger tips.  Gently pull that side of the cage apart.  By eye space the cage so that the spaces are even.

Step 27:  Cut both stems from the cage. 

Step 28:  Make a total of five cages using the previous steps.

Step 29:  Open all five cages by pulling the cage apart at the center with your fingers.  Once opened, the spiral should appear as shown. 

Step 30:  Now we are ready to begin stringing the beads.  For this necklace, we strung from the center of the necklace toward each side.  Begin by cutting a 22 inch segment of Soft Flex or Soft Touch in the size .019 or .024.  Be certain that your cutter is appropriate for cutting Soft Flex.  Many jewelry wire cutters are not hard enough to cut Soft Flex without being ruined.