Triangle Jewelry Wire & Beads Earrings --
A Beginner's Jewelry Making Project -- Page 2

Step 1:  Using your flush cutter, cut a segment of 18 or 20 gauge wire that is 2 1/2 inches long for your triangular wire component and two segments that are 1 1/2 inch long for the spacer bars.  For a beginner, we recommend that you use 20 gauge wire if available and that you cut the wire to leave a flush cut end on the spool of wire.  Either half-hard or soft wire will work for this project, but half-hard wire may be slightly easier to work with.  If you did not have a flush cut end on the wire to start, you will need to cut 1/8 inch of wire off the wire segment leaving a flush cut on that end of that wire.  Please visit here to view our free instructions on how to cut jewelry wire with a flush cutter. 

Step 2:  Using your step jaw pliers, or your round nose pliers if you don't have step jaw pliers, make a "P" loop in the end of each wire segment with the flush cut.  Please visit here to view our free instructions on how to make a "P" loop using step jaw pliers.   Select here to view our instructions on how to make a "P" loop using round nose pliers. 

Step 3:  Grasp the loop in the wire and straighten the wire by pulling it repeatedly through the jaws of your nylon jaw pliers.  Do this for all three wire segments.  Please select here to view our instructions for how to straighten wire. 

Step 4:  Now we are going to make the bottom, triangular wire component.  Position pegs 1 and 2 in your jig as shown at right.  You can print a template for this design by selecting here.  Please set "Scaling" to "None" before printing the page to ensure that it will remain actual size.   (For those of you with printers, it may be helpful to print this template at this point and take notes in the space provided on the template as you continue to read.)  Using the 2 1/2 inch segment of straight wire, place the loop at the end of the wire on peg 1 and then wrap the wire completely around peg 2 as shown at left.  Push the wire until it rests adjacent to the empty hole for peg 3 with no pressure applied.  


These jewelry making instructions continue on the following web page.