Famous Jewelry Collections: THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

Thursday, March 15, 2012

THE BEADING GEM'S JOURNAL

How to Make Triangle or Triangular Jewelry Tutorials

Posted: 15 Mar 2012 04:00 AM PDT

I've on a long quest looking for wire work mandrels which usually involves hunting through the house (see links below). But the triangle shape had always eluded me until I remembered a certain kind of chocolate.

Yes, this is a doubly pleasurable project because you can certainly justify eating the chocolate for a truly noble cause - making jewelry! Well, at least that's what I tell myself!

Toblerone chocolate comes in 2 triangular box sizes so it's up to you which size you prefer. The smaller one which I used will be fine as large earrings. It's probably better if you left the chocolate inside as the box will be a firmer mandrel. But I will never know for sure because the chocolate was already gone by the time I got to using the box! This is a chocoholic household!

Be sure to "crease" the 20G wire firmly around the edges to get crisp corners. If you don't like the slightly bowed sides like I had, straighten the wire beforehand using nylon jawed pliers.

To make a wrapped loop bail at the top, first use your chain nose pliers to bend one of the wire ends.

Wrap the other end around the upright stem and trim the wire.

Complete the wrapped loop for the bail but leave the wire end uncut.

I like to hold the loop using my nylon jawed pliers while wrapping it as it reduces tool marks.

Grab the tip and start scrolling the wire end.

Switch to the nylon jawed pliers to complete the scrolling as this again cuts down tool marks. Tuck down the scrolled element in front of the wrapped loop/bail.

Hammering the wire flat is optional. But you should work harden the pendant form with nylon hammers to maintain the shape.

Once you get the basic shape, you can embellish the triangles in any way you like. Here, I just wired in groups of beads using 28G wire. This is a great project to use up leftover beads!

What if you don't like either size of Toblerone chocolate boxes? Then perhaps you should consider buying this inexpensive multi-sized and multi-shaped plastic mandrels set as I recently did. The kit includes triangle, oval, round and square tools. Each has a removable handle.

The stepped sizing means that any wrapped shape can be easily removed. You can make some pretty small triangular wire shapes as you can see from the picture below with a quarter.

On a diet or tight budget? You can remove all chocolate temptation or the need to buy more tools by simply using the measuring the wire approach shown in Mod Mim's paper bead pyramid earrings tutorial. It is her take on an expensive Anthropologie design. You should also take a look at her blog header image - really clever!

If you're not a wire worker, then use those extra long bugle beads or long metal cylinders! Check out Sophie Okulick's DIY geometric necklace tutorial.