If you choose to focus only on basic skills, know that you can make wonderful jewelry with these techniques. The above necklace is made primarily with techniques you will learn in the Basic Wire Skills section. The clasp and one bead are the only elements you won't find in this lesson and they can easily be substituted with techniques you will learn.

A note to you lefties: Sorry, the photos are all right-handed. But, the written directions are for both right and left handed people. I do hope you can make sense of it all........

I urge you to read through the Studio Tour section of my website for an overview of tools, equipment and safety concerns. The studio tour also includes important information such as how to hold your pliers. There is also a Tool List to help you get started.

The wire techniques presented in this section I learned primarily from Lynne Merchant. Numerous books are also available to help you become adept in an endless array of wrapping and bending techniques. Here are a few:

"Wire in Design" by Barbara McGuire
"Making Wire Jewelry" by Clegg and Larom
"All Wired Up" by Mark Lareau

Once you feel confident with fundamental skills, then the real fun begins. Developing design skills and determining your personal style are incredibly intriguing adventures.

On to Single Eye Pins

Printing info:

Click here to download a printer friendly Acrobat PDF file of this intro page. To view and print this, you will need to have Adobe Acrobat installed on your machine. Most machines already have it - so go ahead and click on the download link. If you receive an error message, you can download Acrobat Reader for free at:

http://www.adobe.com/products/acrobat/readstep2.html

Install this on your machine and then you'll have no problem.