Cute Beaded Wire Heart Charms

Originally posted as Cute Beaded Wire Heart Charms by Sandy.

One thing I love about wire working is that you can make a beautiful piece with just a few inches of wire.

If you love sparkle, it’s easy to wire on beads and crystals.

• How to choose the right wire for your project
• Steps for shaping graceful curves and loops for your heart charm
• Hammering techniques to harden and add dimension to your piece
• How to wire on beads, crystals or pearl accents
• Two different ways to finish the bottom of your heart
• A way to wire wrap small dangles at the bottom of your heart
• How to form spirals and squiggles to fill the interior of your charm
• Steps for wiring your filler pieces onto the hearts

Need more info about working with wire? Here are some helpful videos:

• What Do Dead Soft, Half Hard and Full Hard Mean? All About Wire Hardness
• How to Give Your Jewelry an Antique Oxidized Look with Liver of Sulfur Patina
• What is Wire Gauge? What Size Wire To Use In Jewelry and Wire Wrapping
• Silver plated vs. silver filled wire

Tools & Materials:

• Bare copper wire, 16 and 26 gauge
• Sterling silver filled wire, 16 and 26 or 28 gauge
• Bail making pliers
• Round nose pliers
• Flat nose pliers
• Chain nose pliers
• Bent chain nose pliers
• Nylon jaw pliers
• Wire cutters
• Bench block
• Leather sandbag
• Chasing hammer
• Hybrid chain/round nose pliers
• File or cup burr

Notes about wire:

• If you want to add a patina to your wire work, do NOT buy wire that has a coating or says non-tarnish.
• You can purchase wire from Amazon, but for the silver filled you’ll likely get better prices from RioGrande.com or FireMountainGems.com

Beads used:

• 1x2mm crystal rondelle, Opaque Turquoise
• 2mm Czech glass pearl, Purple Velvet Rainbow
• 3.4mm drop fringe seed bead, Seafoam Green Matte Picasso

Watch the Cute Beaded Wire Heart Charms video on YouTube.

For more posts like this, please check out Keepsake Crafts .