Making a necklace

You will need the following things:

•        Copper, brass or aluminum wire about 18, 20 or 22 gauge.

•        Copper or brass or aluminum foil about. 10 mm thick.

With these materials you will be able to make a large variety of shapes and pieces with which to make a chain or necklace.

1. Links: Wrap the wire around a pencil or piece of rod. Pull the spiral off the rod and cut down one side with small snips. The links which you have formed can be used to connect other pieces together.

2. Shapes: With tinsnips or scissors almost any shape can be cut from sheet or foil. Try circles, squares, triangles and strips and try others like leaves and stars. Punch holes into these shapes with a nail or sharp point. Some shapes can be twisted.

3. Beads: Thin wire can be wrapped up into a bead like making a ball of wool. You may

push a hole through the centre or add a link to the end of the bead for connection to the

chain.

4. Domes: Discs of foil will easily push into a half sphere. The discs can be made with a punch or cut with snips.

Use an egg cup or something, hollow to push the foil into. The creases will add to the effect.

Punch holes into these for attachment or threading onto the necklace.

5. Tubes: These can be made from foil or from spirals of wire, or can be cut from copper or brass tube. To make a necklace you can thread pieces onto a wire or thread, or link them together to make a chain.

WIRE NECKBAND:

Take a piece of wire about 36 cm long. Make a loop on one endand twist the wire to close it up. This will be one end of the catch.

Thread onto the wire all of the pieces you have made. You might like to add some glass or wooden beads too.

At the other end of the wire form a hook so that when you put the necklace around your neck you can clip it closed. File or emery paper any sharp edges off to make your necklace pleasant to wear.

Necklace using copper and aluminum domes and copper tubes.

CHAIN OR LINKED NECKLACE: Use links to join the shapes together. It is helpful to have a variety of sizes. Larger ones are easier to work with but smaller ones are stronger and will not open out. Close the links by pushing the ends together. If you wish, the larger links can be soldered together with a soldering iron and flux core solder.

Once you have developed these methods you can invent many variations for your chains. Some metal lacquer can be sprayed onto the finished necklace to keep it from tarnishing and going dull.