Square Knot Gemstones and Beads Earring Jewelry Making Project          Page 3

Step 9:  Remove the wire from your jig.  It should appear as shown at right. 

Step 10:  At this point we need to wrap the wire around itself one time to make this wire shape permanent.  The first step in getting ready to wrap is to grasp the wire with your bent chain nose pliers just below the point where you want to do the wrap and bend the wire about 80 degrees.  When done, your wire should appear as shown at left.  Your goal is that the wire should be very slightly below the initial wrapped loop, in position so that when it is wrapped the two wraps are touching one another.

Step 11:  Grasp both sides of the teardrop shaped wire, just below the bend you just made, with your bent chain nose pliers.  By grasping both sides of the wire component and holding them tightly you are preserving the shape of the component while you push the wire tail around to create the wrap.  While firmly holding the wire, push the wire tail around 180 degrees.  When you are done, the wire component should appear as shown at right. 

Step 12:  Using your flush cutter, cut the excess wire leaving about 1/16" of wire.  Then grasp the wire component with your bent chain nose pliers at the same point you did in Step 11 and using a second pair of chain nose pliers, squeeze and twist the cut 1/16" wire segment so that it lays flat.  This makes the teardrop shape permanent.

Step 13:  In order to be able to connect two of these teardrop wire components into a square knot shape you will need to bend the loop in the teardrop as shown at right.  The orientation of the wire component is very important for this step.  Hold the wire component so that the side where you started the wrap is down and the side where you finished the wrap is up (See the picture above-right.)  Now we are ready to make the rounded bend in the teardrop.  This is best done with Fine Step Jaw Pliers or with a Master Coiler pliers.  Grasp the teardrop shape about 1/8" from the bottom of the teardrop and bend the wire about 60 degrees.  If you don't have Fine Step Jaw pliers or a Master Coiler, you can use round nose pliers, but they won't work quite as well.  Perform these steps to make a second wire component identical to the one shown here then proceed to step 14. 

Step 14:  Now we need to connect the two wire components into the square knot shape.  If you have difficulty in connecting the two wire components, you may need to make the bend in the bottom of the teardrop (made in Step 13) larger.  See the pictures below for the series of steps in connecting the two components.  In the fourth picture, below-right, nylon jaw pliers were used to flatten the two wire components.  Squeezing and flattening the wire component locks in the shape.  Once this step is completed the two pieces of wire will remain in place.  This is your completed Square Knot wire component.  It can be used as a link in a chain for a bracelet or necklace or it can be used as the body for an earring as we will here. 

Please visit the following page where we will assemble the earring.