Bending the wire - making a loop

For your jewelry making and wire projects always cut the wire so that the flat side of the cut wire remains on the finished piece. This is important so that the finished component won't have any sharp ends to snag or cut. This is accomplished by cutting with the flat side of the flush cutter toward the finished piece.

When bending wire for jewelry making, make sure to consider the finished piece. Often, you will just need to bend the wire to make an angle. This is one of the steps in making many jewelry wire components - making a sharp, crisp bend in the wire. Making a crisp bend in wire is done by grasping the wire firmly in the jaws of chain nose or bent chain nose pliers. Hold the wire so that it is essentially perpendicular to the jaws of the pliers. Then push the wire against the jaws of the pliers. Push by pressing the wire as close to the jaws as possible.

"chain nose pliers" have smooth, flat jaws so that they can hold the jewelry wire while spreading the gripping force across the flat face of the pliers, thereby leaving minimal marks on the wire. Do not use pliers with grooves, unless you want lots of marks!

Making a loop:

 Step 1: Grip the wire firmly with the pliers in your dominant hand. Position the wire in the jaws of the pliers so that only a very small amount of wire sticks out on the opposite side of the pliers. Adjust the wire so that it is perpendicular to the jaws of the pliers. Allowing too little wire to stick out will result in the wire slipping and marking the wire. Allowing too much wire to stick out will result in loops that aren't round. This will require a little practice to get it exactly right.

 Step 2: While maintaining a firm grip on the pliers with your dominant hand, use the thumb on your non-dominant hand to push the wire up an over the round jaw of the pliers.

 Step 3: Relax your grip on the pliers and reposition the wire. Leave open by about 1/16". Reposition the wire to close this small opening.

 Step 4: While gripping the pliers firmly in your dominant hand, use the thumb from your non-dominant hand to push the wire to close the small 1/16" gap. Now remove your completed loop from the pliers.

Hope you enjoyed this guide and maybe learned a bit form it!        :)         thanks!