Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Tool Review: Convex-Flat Nose Pliers

Hello everyone!

Today I'd like to talk a little about tools. Well, perhaps not tools *plural*, but A tool. And perhaps not talk- more like gush enthusiastically.

Most jewelry artisans, and wireworkers in particular, have the traditional complement of jewelry-making tools, and of those tools, the many different varieties of pliers take center stage. There are the essentials- the general-purpose chain-nose and the loop-creating round-nose pliers perhaps getting the most use of all, and the nylon-jaw pliers that are indispensable for straightening out kinks and bends in our wire. While perhaps not true pliers, our flush-cutting wire snips are most certainly not optional no matter what you're creating. Still useful, but slightly more specialized are our flat-nosed pliers that are perfect for flattening uniform coils and pressing wire ends flush so they don't stick out and scratch or snag, but also ideal for making sharp, precise bends in wire. Some of us may even have a pair of bent chain-nose pliers, a useful general purpose tool that is particularly handy paired with regular chain-nose pliers for opening and closing jump rings smoothly and easily. Here and there you may find an artisan with a pair or two of bail-making pliers in different sizes (I personally find them to be not much more than a waste of money, but to each his/her own.)

We all know and love these familiar pliers, so I'm not going to spend any more time talking about them. This post is about a specialty type of pliers that (if you're anything like I was) you don't even know you need! These are the pliers I'm speaking of:


...Convex-Flat Nose Pliers!

You're thinking "These just look like the flat-nose pliers I already have." But take a closer look at the tips of these and you'll see what makes them very unique.


Check that out- one side of the pliers is straight and flat, just like your flat-nose pliers. The other side though is what makes these special- instead of being flat, it sports a wide, curved surface down its length.

Now perhaps you've seen these before and they're nothing new to you, but if you're anything like I was the first time I saw a pair, right now you're ooh-ing and ahh-ing and wondering where you can get your own pair (and I'm happy to tell you that you can get a nice sturdy pair for less than $9 on Amazon.)

These are something of a specialty tool- I don't use them as often as my chain-nose, round-nose, and flat-nose pliers- but when the situation arises that I do need them (usually about once per project, although occasionally there'll be a project I'll do where I'll use them extensively), they are well worth the modest price (my sweet husband got me my pair and I'm very grateful because they have become such an essential tool in my little apple box!)


Convex-Flat nose pliers allow for making beautiful, graceful curves in wire. While your round-noses make for great little curls and coils, convex-flats allow you to not only make larger diameter curves, but also smooth out any unsightly but minor kinks in a curve easily and quickly as well.

Convex-flats have a bit of a learning curve when you first get your hands on them. They take a tiny bit of practice before you get a feel for them and realize their full potential. But, they quickly prove themselves to be a valuable addition to your toolbox. They do their best work when you use them in small increments along the length of the wire you're trying to curve. Using them to make small incremental bends along the wire gives you incredible control over the shape of the curve you want to make. 


The convex side of the pliers goes on the inside of the curve you're making, and the flat side goes on the outside of the curve of wire. When using them this way, you'll notice that the wire makes contact with most of the convex side of the pliers but only touches the flat side of the pliers at one point. The bend in the wire in each increment occurs at the outside edge of the curved side of the jaws. It's this configuration that allows for making such a wide variety of shapes and curves, and this is the pliers' main and most obvious use.

However, to get the most out of your convex-flats, you'll want to experiment with working with them positioned the other way around, with the flat side on the inside curve of the wire and the convex side on the outside curve of the wire. This configuration allows for straightening out curves or kinks in your wire; and just like when you're using the pliers to put a curve in some wire, you can use them in small incremental motions down your already curved wire to straighten out a bend that bends too far or a minor kink in the wire you might come across. 


I hear you. "Hey, Jet!" you're saying. "I have flat-nose and nylon-jaw pliers for straightening kinks and curves!" And you're right! Those two tools are great for those purposes. But just think of the wire-straightening ability of the convex-flats as a kind of bonus. There you are, working with your convex-flats and making a curve, and damn! you bent your wire a little too far and now you've gotta straighten it out a bit. Not to worry! You've already got a tool that can fix your little error in your hands! No need to put the pliers down and grab a different pair; you just flip them over confidently like the skilled artisan you are and you take care of that little boo-boo in the blink of an eye. Then, you just flip them back over again and continue working on your curve.


Convex-flat nose pliers are not one of the immediate essentials when first starting out with wireworking. You can make damn near whatever you want with a pair of chain-nose, a pair of round-nose, a pair of flat-nose (and I'd argue even flat-noses aren't immediately essential, although they should eventually end up in every wire artisan's toolbox), a pair of nylon-jaws, and a good quality flush cutter in your collection. But I'd recommend to all wire artisans who work with their wire with any sort of regularity to consider investing in a pair of convex-flats and taking an hour or so with some scrap wire to just play with them and discover all that they can do for your work. They've become one of my most favorite tools; they improve the quality of my work while simultaneously making the work of creating large graceful curves and very round shapes without a mandrel faster and easier. All of that benefit for under nine bucks? I say that's money well spent. :)

And with that, I'll end today, but not without leaving you a bit of kitty-love; this time, my mom's silly cat Vinnie, lounging comfortably in the bathroom sink as though it's a perfectly normal place to curl up and relax :)


'Til Next Time!








Monday, March 30, 2015

Free Tutorial - Beaded Wire Rivoli Bezel

Hello everyone!

I've got another free tutorial for you today- a new way to bezel a rivoli or other relatively low-dome cabochon in wire using beads as support.



I wanted a way to capture a rivoli securely in wire without resorting to the traditional wire-wrapping method of using stacks of wires surrounding a stone with the front and back wires bent to act as 'prongs' to hold the stone in place. It's an effective method but is so played out and boring with the wire ends as curls at the top of the bail... it can be done beautifully but I find it to be just... boring.

Just for fun, here's a rivoli I bezeled in a variation of the 'traditional' style years and years ago. Not my best work! :P
I knew if I was going to come up with a new way to capture a rivoli, it had better be secure. I think I've achieved that here. This method is also relatively versatile- the beads can work in this design in many sizes and the design can be adapted to any size rivoli or low-dome cabochon.


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Note: this tutorial is protected by an International Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence. This means that you are free to post this wherever you like as long as you give proper Attribution (that is, to me, Jet Kosanke, and my website, malfaitluciu.blogspot.com), it may not be used commercially (you're not allowed to make money off it, that is, sell this tutorial to other people for money), and you're free to make changes to it as long as you also share it under these same restrictions (that is, you still give Attribution to me, you don't sell it, and you allow it to be shared freely.) For more information, click the Creative Commons link at the end of the tutorial.

By the way- NonCommercial doesn't mean you can't sell works you make using this tutorial. If you make a necklace, bracelet, or whatever using this tutorial, feel free to sell it- however, you may not mass-produce it, and the Attribution part still applies, that is, you still have to attribute the design to me.

If you're unsure if what you want to do is allowed, just ask me! I'm really pretty laid back about things like this :) I'd rather share my knowledge and discoveries for free so others can learn than charge money for my tutorials. With all that said, on to the good stuff! :)

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Click on any image to view a larger version.

For this tutorial I used:


1 14mm Montana Blue Swarovski rivoli crystal
14 4mm bronze melon beads
20 gauge dead soft bronze colored copper wire
26 gauge dead soft bronze colored copper wire

Step 1

Cut about five or so inches of 26 gauge wire and string some of your small beads on it. You want to string just enough beads on that when shaped into a loop, they just fit around your rivoli with maybe a millimeter or so of wiggle room. You want them to fit as closely around the rivoli as possible without being too small- a hair too big is better than too small. For my rivoli, it took 14 of my melon beads to fit comfortably.

Step 2

When you've determined how many beads you need to fit around your rivoli, pass one end of the wire back through the first bead you strung to form a loop, and pull tightly to snug the beads into a circle.

Step 3

Try to maintain relatively tight tension of the wire running through your beads during this step and the next. Minor gaps between the beads are okay but you don't want any large noticeable spaces between any of the beads. Take one of your wire tails and wrap it around the bit of wire between the bead the tail is coming out of and the bead next to it. Wrap about three times, then snip off the excess and use your chain nose pliers to press down the tail end. If the holes in your beads are large enough to allow for it (like mine are here), try to maneuver the wraps you just made so they're hidden inside one of the beads- not a required step but it helps keep things looking neat.

Step 4

Repeat step 3 with the other wire tail. You're not going to be able to hide these wraps inside a bead, but that's okay, we'll obscure them later. Make about three wraps around the core wire running through the beads, snip the wire end off, and use your chain nose pliers to press the wire end flush with the wraps. You should end up with a bendable but relatively strong ring of beads with one spot of noticeable wraps, as shown below. The rivoli should nest into it comfortably but not super tightly.





Step 5

Set aside your ring of beads for now, and cut about 6 inches of 20 gauge wire from the spool. In the center of this piece of wire we're going to create a circle. It doesnt need to be a perfect circle but you do want to get it as close as you can to perfect, so take some time to really get this loop shaped nicely. This loop needs to be juuust smaller in diameter than the rivoli- we dont want the loop to encircle the crystal, we want the loop to sit on top of the crystal and rest just at the verrry edge of it all the way around. 

You can shape the wire with your fingers and then use your round-nose pliers to even out the curved shape bit by bit, or you can use a round object close in diameter to the rivoli, such as a marker, as a mandrel, or you can try to shape the wire around the rivoli itself (although this is rather fiddly and frustrating). If you do shape the wire around the rivoli itself, keep in mind that once you form the circle around the crystal, you're going to have to adjust the circle to be a little smaller because we need this wire to sit on top of the crystal, not fit around the perimeter of it. I personally use a pair of convex-flat pliers to create this loop (check out this post for a review on convex-flat pliers and why you should consider adding a pair to your toolbox!)

Step 6

Now that our circle is the right size, it's time to bend the tails up. I use my chain-nose pliers for this. Make two bends so that the wire ends stick up parallel to each other straight up out of the wire circle.

Step 7

Grab your steel block and your chasing hammer - we're going to hammer the circle to flatten it out a bit. This is partly for aesthetics and partly to add to the security of the setting later on - flattening the wire slightly will give it a little more surface area to hold the rivoli down. Don't hammer the straight parts, just the circle. Try to keep your hammer strikes firm and even; hammering always distorts the wire somewhat, but we don't want to lose the circular shape or hammer it so much that the circle ends up too wide and no longer sits atop the rivoli. Don't go whacking away at it like a crazy person- just firm, even strikes; only hammer until your circle is evenly flat all around, and the wire is about a millimeter wide.

Step 8

Get your ring of beads and center your rivoli in it, then lay your hammered circle over top of the rivoli to check the fit. Remember the spot on the beaded ring with the visible wire wraps? That's where we're going to put the two straight wires on the wire circle, so it won't be visible. If everything has gone right so far, your wire circle should bridge any gap between the rivoli and the bead ring while still overlapping the edge of the rivoli all the way around.

Step 9

Set aside the wire circle and the ring of beads for now and cut another 6 inches or so of 20 gauge wire. Make another circle with this wire, the same way as the first one, just smaller in diameter than the rivoli so that the circle rests on top of the edges of the crystal.

Step 10

Instead of bending the ends of the wire straight up and parallel like the first circle, this time we're going to use our round nose pliers to shape one end into a somewhat large spiral into the inside of the circle. Keep the spiral up toward the edge of the circle, you don't want it in the middle of the circle. When you've formed your spiral, snip off any excess wire and discard it.

Step 11

Where the second tail of the wire just meets the start of the spiral you made in the last step, snip the tail off and gently shape the wire back into a circle if it's become distorted at all.

Step 12

Get out your steel block and chasing hammer again and evenly and firmly hammer all around the wire shape you've just made. Just like last time, you don't want to hammer too hard or too much, because we want to make sure that we don't distort the wire and have it end up too big to rest on the edges of the rivoli anymore. This hammering is partly for aesthetics (it's nice to have the back of a piece look somewhat neat, don't you think?) but also for strength, because this shape is not closed - the non-spiraled end isn't connected to anything so we want to make sure it's strong and that it will hold its shape under stress.

Step 13

Pick up your rivoli again and lay the spiral shape on the back of it to test the fit and ensure that it still sits just on the edges of the crystal. Also, use your fingers to gently press the shape against the back of the crystal - because rivolis have pointed backs and not flat backs, we want to press this wire shape so that it fits snugly against the pointed back of the crystal.

Step 14

Set the rivoli and the spiraled piece of wire aside for now and pick up the first circle shape we made and the ring of beads. Using a short piece of 26 gauge wire (I just pull a piece from my container of scrap wire - this wire is only going to be used temporarily so it doesn't matter if it's kinked or ugly or a different color or whatever), bind the wire circle shape to the ring of beads, wrapping the scrap wire between two beads and around the wire circle once or twice. Try not to attach the wire circle in such a way that it is directly in the center of the ring of beads, but instead just a little above the center (because eventually the rivoli will be in the very center of the beads and we want to allow some room for it). Don't worry about making this part pretty- it's a purely temporary functional step that you'll be undoing later.

Step 15

Repeat step 14 in a couple more places around the ring of beads. Remember earlier in step 8 when we mentioned putting the two straight parallel parts of the wire circle in front of the visible wraps on the beaded ring? Keep that in mind while adding the temporary scrap wire supports in this step.

Step 16

From here on, we'll be working with the rivoli and the back circle of wire in place. It can get a little fiddly, but the temporary wires we put in place in the previous steps will help a lot here. Place the rivoli face down into the beaded ring so it's resting on the first circle of wire, and then center the second circle of wire onto the back of the rivoli and hold it in place with your thumb.

Step 17

At this point you'll need to decide where you're going to use the 26 gauge wire to 'anchor' all the pieces of the whole assembly together; preferably at points that are symmetrical on each side. Where exactly you place your anchor wires will depend on the number (and therefore size) of the beads you're using and the size of the rivoli or low-dome cab you're using. Refer to the photo above- for this project, I placed anchors in five places, one directly at the bottom halfway between the 14 beads, then two more anchors on either side that mirror each other, for an overall even appearance.


To place an anchor, first cut a piece of 26 gauge wire about 4 inches long or so. Using your thumb and fingers to hold the rivoli and the back circle of wire in place, slip the wire underneath the front circle of wire and behind the ring of beads at the spot where you've decided to place your first anchor.

Step 18

Flip the whole assembly over and slip the end of the 26 gauge wire you just added in the last step underneath the back circle of wire and pull it through so that about half of the wire is on the front of the assembly and half is on the back.

Step 19

Still holding everything in place with your thumb and fingers, begin wrapping the 26 gauge wire around the back circle of wire to secure it. I find that 5 wraps is sufficient. After 5 wraps, snip the leftover wire and use your chain-nose pliers to press the cut end flat against the circle of wire.

Step 20

Flip the assembly over and locate the other end of the 26 gauge wire you wrapped in the last step. Pull it up snugly from the back, over the front circle of wire, and around to the back, loosely aligning it between the two beads where you've decided to place your anchor.

Step 21

Still holding everything together with your thumb and fingers, flip the assembly back over to the back. Take the end of the 26 gauge wire and guide it underneath the back circle of wire next to the wraps you made in step 19. Pull the wire through gently but firmly all the way through, making sure that the wire nestles itself in between the two beads you've decided to place your anchor between.

Step 22

Wrap the 26 gauge wire around the back circle of wire five times, this time in the opposite direction of the first five wraps you made in step 19. Snip the excess wire and use your chain-nose pliers to press the cut end flat against the circle of wire.

Step 23

Continue adding anchors in this manner in the locations you've decided will look best. Ideally, try to place the back circle of wire in such a way that the point where the cut end of it meets the curled end of it ends up at an anchor point. Add an anchor wire here as before, but when making the wraps with the 26 gauge wire, try to wrap it so that at least some of the wraps capture both ends of the circle of wire. It's not the end of the world if you don't do this part or if your placement of anchors doesn't allow for this. Your anchors will still securely hold the rivoli- this will just add a little bit of extra security.

As you add anchors, remove the temporary scrap wires as you go when appropriate. As anchors are added, these temporary wires will become less necessary and manipulating the entire assembly will become less fiddly.

Step 24

After adding your last anchor and snipping the last wire, take a moment to run your fingers along the wraps to feel for any wire ends that are sticking out too far and may scratch skin or catch on clothing, and if you find any, snip them shorter with your flush cutters and press them down more snugly with your chain-nose pliers.

Step 25

Flip your pendant back over. Cut about a 2 inch piece of 26 gauge wire, secure it at the back of the bottom of the two parallel pieces of wire sticking up from the top of the pendant, and neatly wrap the 26 gauge wire around the two straight wires for 6 or 7 coils, or until the wraps reach the same height as the beads. Snip the excess 26 gauge wire in the back of the pendant and press the cut end flat against the parallel wires with your chain- or flat-nose pliers.

Step 26

Snip the two parallel wires evenly about an inch above the wraps you did in the last step.

Step 27

With the tip of your round-nose pliers, grasp the ends of the parallel wires and create a small loop in the ends of both wires evenly from back to front.

Step 28

Still using your round-nose pliers, create another, larger loop further down the parallel wires from front to back, creating a small looped bail for a chain or ribbon. The small loops made in step 27 should touch the wraps made in step 25.

And with that, your pendant/component is complete! Use your fingers to press and adjust the beads around the rivoli if necessary, in case any are sticking out a little further than others; just gently manipulate them until they're evenly spaced and the component is nice and round. 



I hope you enjoyed this tutorial, and if you have any questions, feel free to ask in the comments :)



If you create something using this tutorial, I'd love to see it! Email me photos of your work (with a link to your blog if you have one) to malfaitluciu@gmail.com - I'd like to create a gallery page on my blog featuring your creations made using this tutorial (or any of my tutorials) with a link back to your blog, too :) Don't be shy, let me show off your work! :)




Creative Commons License
Beaded Wire Rivoli Bezel Tutorial by Jet Kosanke is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License






For now, I'll leave you with my kitty Trinity, who insists on sitting on any square or rectangular object she finds.



'Til next time!

Saturday, March 28, 2015

Free Mini Tutorial - Wire Clasp Hook


Hello there!

Today while working on the anklet from this post, I came to the point when it was time to make the clasp. I decided on a simple hook and eye clasp. Because I really tend to mostly only make earrings, I really don't have much practice making clasps.

This became apparent in my first two attempts at making one:


The one on the left has an unsightly seam where the two ends of the wire meet at the wrapped part, and the one on the right, while heading in the right direction, has a badly misshapen loop and the wrap didn't catch the second wire end.

Since this piece is a commissioned piece (and for a dear friend, at that), these ugly clasps just would not do. So, I worked at it, trying different ideas, until I came upon what I think is a pretty successful design.

To save others from all the trial and error I went through coming up with a nice looking hook for a clasp, I documented the making of one so I can share it with all of you! (My apologies for some of the low photo quality - I don't have the best light in here, but I think the photos still illustrate the ideas I'm trying to put across).

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Note: this tutorial is protected by an International Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike licence. This means that you are free to post this wherever you like as long as you give proper Attribution (that is, to me, Jet Kosanke, and my website, malfaitluciu.blogspot.com), it may not be used commercially (you're not allowed to make money off it, that is, sell this tutorial to other people for money), and you're free to make changes to it as long as you also share it under these same restrictions (that is, you still give Attribution to me, you don't sell it, and you allow it to be shared freely.) For more information, click the Creative Commons link at the end of the tutorial.

By the way- NonCommercial doesn't mean you can't sell works you make using this tutorial. If you make a necklace, bracelet, or whatever using this tutorial, feel free to sell it- however, you may not mass-produce it, and the Attribution part still applies, that is, you still have to attribute the design to me.

If you're unsure if what you want to do is allowed, just ask me! I'm really pretty laid back about things like this :) I'd rather share my knowledge and discoveries for free so others can learn than charge money for my tutorials. With all that said, on to the good stuff! :)

❦  ❦  

Click on any image to view a larger version.

This mini tutorial uses 20 gauge dead soft wire.

Step 1


First, decide how long you want your hook to be. Take that measurement (in inches), multiply it by 4, and then add 2 inches - this will be the length of 20 gauge wire you'll need to cut. For example: I wanted my hook to be an inch long, so 1 inch x 4 = 4 inches, 4 inches + 2 inches = 6 inches total.

Step 2


Next, fold your wire roughly in half - it doesn't need to be perfectly exactly half. You want to use your pliers to squeeze the wire at the bent point together as tightly and closely as you can - flat nose pliers work very well for this. Don't rush this step; squeeze the wire firmly but slowly, otherwise the wire will just flip flat in your pliers and you'll risk leaving ugly tool marks on the wire.

Step 3


Starting from the fold made in step 2, measure the wire to twice the length you want your hook to be (I wanted a 1 inch hook in this tutorial so I measured two inches from the fold). At that point you measured to, bend just one of the two ends of the wire out to the side at a 90 degree angle.

Step 4


Next, snip off the other end of the wire at the point where you bent the wire in the previous step.

Step 5


Using your round nose pliers, make a loop in the wire left sticking out at a 90 degree angle, leaving the 'tail' sticking out more or less straight out to the side.

Step 6


Grab a short piece of scrap wire (masking or painter's tape will also work, but I prefer to use scrap wire) and use it to bind the two straight parts of the wire tightly together - you want them to be bound tightly next to each other but not overlapping or twisting on top of each other. Bind them about a quarter to a half an inch below the loop.

Step 7


Now, using your round nose pliers to maintain the shape of the loop, slowly and gently bend the tail of the wire around the two pieces of wire you bound together in the last step. TAKE YOUR TIME HERE. Use your chain nose pliers to gently coax the tail around the wires if you can't do it with your fingers. Don't try to bend it in one fluid motion - make many small, gradual bends in order to ensure your wrap will be sufficiently tight around the base wires.

Step 8

After making half a wrap, use either your chain nose or flat nose pliers (I prefer my flat nose pliers for this) to SLOWLY, GENTLY, FIRMLY press the wrap you've made so far securely around the base wires.

Step 9


Repeat steps 7 and 8 for two or three more wraps; always with your round nose pliers inside the loop while coaxing the tail wire around the base wires, then using flat or chain nose pliers to firmly but carefully press each wrap snug against the core wires. I CANNOT STRESS enough how important it is to take your time and work in small controlled increments while making your wraps. Because we are working with 20 gauge wire, rushing this part will nearly always leave you with unsightly tool marks and uneven wraps. Just relax, focus, and breathe- appreciate the process instead of rushing for the finish line and you'll do great! :)

Step 10



After two or three wraps (I decided on two for this one), snip off the excess 20 gauge wire and use either your chain nose or flat nose pliers to gently but firmly press the cut end down against the rest of the wires so it doesn't stick out and scratch skin or catch on clothing (you can use a small metal file here if you like). Remove the temporary binding wire.

Step 11


Now comes the fun part :) Break out your steel block and your chasing hammer and hammer evenly down the entire length of the wire. You're not aiming to make it very flat; instead you're just trying to work-harden the wire to strengthen it because clasps of course need to be strong and hold their shape. Try to hammer as evenly as possible- hammering will distort the shape of the wire somewhat, but we want this wire to stay as straight as possible. You don't need to bang the hell out of it, either; just firm, even strikes.

Step 12


At the very tip of the wires where we made the sharp fold at the beginning, use the tips of your round nose pliers to make a little upward curl.

Step 13


Now it's time to make the main bend in the hook. I used a jump ring mandrel here, but if you don't have one of those, it's easy to improvise with a pen or pencil or other thin round object you have lying around the house. Bend the hook so that the tip of the hook just meets the wrapped wires at the loop.



And that's it! You now have a simple, classic hook-style clasp. This design can of course be modified in many ways; you can make it shorter, make the curve in the hook bigger, whatever you come up with.



If you create something using this tutorial, I'd love to see it! Email me photos of your work (with a link to your blog if you have one) to malfaitluciu@gmail.com - I'd like to create a gallery page on my blog featuring your creations made using this tutorial (or any of my tutorials) with a link back to your blog, too :) Don't be shy, let me show off your work! :)





Creative Commons License





I hope this mini tutorial ends up being helpful for someone! For now I'll leave you with sweet Neo, all sprawled out on my butt :D 'Til next time!