Focal Bead Wire Wrapped Ring Tutorial

Have you ever wondered how to make a beautiful wire wrapped ring? Here is our tutorial for making a wire wrapped ring using a single focal bead — this is the perfect way to use up single beads that you have left over from other projects.

You will need:

Focal Bead – Drilled through the Side, Flatter is Easier (1)

22 Gauge Wire (1 foot)

Ring Mandrel with an Open Channel in the Back

Needle nose pliers

Wire cutters

.

Start by cutting 1 foot of your 22 gauge wire. We used sterling silver, but any half hard wire will work great!

.

.

Hold your wire on your ring mandrel about 1/2 size larger than your desired size (the wire wrapping will take up some length). Hold the wire so that about 2/3 of the wire is on one side of the mandrel and about 1/3 of the wire is on the other side.

.

.

Wrap the long end of the wire around the mandrel 2-3 times. Make sure you are holding the wire tight on the mandrel so that the ring stays at the size you want. Cross the ends of the wire around each other once you have wrapped around the mandrel 2-3 times. This will keep your ring more stable and make it easier to wrap the ends.

.

.

Using the open channel on the back of the ring mandrel, wrap whichever piece of the wire is shorter now around the rest of the wire (the 2-3 wraps you just made around the mandrel). Wrap the short piece of wire around the rest of the wires 3-4 times or until it feels snug and secure. This step helps stabilize your ring size, so make sure you are still holding the wires snug where you want them and that you are pulling the short wire tight as you wrap it around the others — needle nose pliers can help you to pull them tight.

.

.

Use wire cutters to cut off the rest of that short wire and needle nose pliers to tap down the excess.

.

.

On the longer piece of wire, add your bead and adjust that wire so that the bead sits even & flat against the ring base. This may require pulling some of the wire up along the side of the bead depending on how tall your bead is (see the right side here in this photo).

.

.

Once the bead is in a good position, wrap that piece of wire around the other wires (the ring base). Use the open channel again to help you do this.

.

.

Keep wrapping 3-4 times (or however many number of wraps you did on the first side), using your needle nose pliers to help you pull the wire wraps tight. Use your wire cutters to cut off the extra wire and then tap the excess down with your needle nose pliers.

.

.

Now your ring is finished — it’s that sweet & simple!!! Come check out our individual bead section at Bead World for lots of options that would make great focal bead wire wrapped rings!

Happy Beading!