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Hi this is Megan with Beadaholique.com and I am going to show you how to wrap
rhinestone cup chain onto flat memory wire
and here's a bracelet that I made using this technique
and this one uses the silver color of the flat memory wire
I'm going to use
this color here this link
and I just have the large bracelet nephews memory wire before
you know that it retains its shape so it's
it's a really kinda fun easy way to make a bracelet
doesn't need classed the flap
version is great for wire wrapping because
it's going to hold that object that you up on to it still
because I have a nice flat base for to set up so it wont spin around, it's gonna
hold it in place
so just like any time you use
memory wire, use memory wire cutters to cut it. Don't use your regular
flush cutters. You'll wreck them. It's pretty hard. I'm just gonna show you with a
smaller piece of the memory wire to start with
you're going to need a thinner craft wire
to wrap with and I'm going to use a 26 gauge
It's a really good
thin gauge
sits between nicely
it doesn't add a lot of bulk onto the back and it's easier to handle. It's easier on
your fingers
so to begin I'm going to wrap
near the edge
I'm just going to wrap around a few times in a tight coil
and
the amount of wire that you'll need to work with
is going to vary of course with how long of a bracelet you're going to make
how many times around you're going to have the coil go
and how much cup chain you're going to use. You can always just
wrap-around tightly a coil at the beginning and end and
add a new piece. Though I'd rather work with an easier
to manage length. I'm only working with a couple
feet here
now we're going to place
the cup chain right next to your
wire wraps and try not to have it
overlap too much. It wont sit flat because the wire wraps we'll kind of hold
it up
so just hold it in place
and pull your wire between the first
rhinestone link in the second. It's going to sit in the little bridge
between. You're going to wrap
around that bridge part twice. Make sure that it's pulled nice and tight
pull your cup chain out along
the memory wire and move to
the next bridge between the next two rhinestones
and wrap twice
see it's wrapped twice between each one
and each time it's going to take a diagonal jog over
You want to keep this nice and tight
as you work so that it has a secure hold
on the cup chain. Just move along
go to the next bridge
wrap twice
pull it tight
you're just going to continue that way through as much
of the memory wire cup chain as you want
to make it as wide of a bracelet as you want and if you run out of your
craft wire all you need to do is when you get towards the end
make your wrap in the middle there
over a little bit closer to the edge
go ahead take your wraps very close
and then you're gonna trim the excess
and add a new piece. I'll go ahead and show you that
trim the excess there and make sure that your
pieces at the ends lay flat. Just go back with a pair of
chain nose pliers and make them lay flat. Then you're going to go ahead and
start your new piece of wire and lay it in down right next to the other one there
and you should be able to get
that one around twice as well. What the 26 gauge will fit just between there
You go back and trim that also
and that way you don't have to work with more wire then you're comfortable with at a
time
it's not hard to add more
so you can see here that this is relatively simple when you have one
thickness of wire on a bracelet like this one here
where I have several
three or four times around. A tip I will give you is it can get challenging
once you get
to your second and third loops of the memory wire and I actually
just had a buddy pull it
out like this and hold it away from me while I wrapped and then rotate it with me
you can do it pretty quickly. It didn't take that long and it was
extremely helpful to have the extra set of hands. So if you wanna just go around
once
it's gonna be really easy to do it by yourself. If you want to go around a couple
times
you might wanna enlist some assistance
and then to finished this you just want to
come to the end of your cup chain. I'm going to
end mine here. I wanna come around
wrap the wire a few times
as you did at the beginning. Just make sure it's in a really snug coil
and trim that off
and since you're trimming onto the back side that it's going to be against your
skin
you just wanna go through with some pliers and push them down
and make sure that the edges aren't sharp and then
what you'll do to finish off the flat memory wire
it's a same way that we often finish off round memory wire
all I did was take round nose pliers and
grab the tip and twist to make it rounded
as you can see the cup chain is
really securely held in place. It's not gonna wobble. It's not going to spin around
and this is the advantage of the flat memory wire. It's really handy.
Go to www.beadaholique.com to purchase beading supplies and to get design ideas!