Paper Beads & Jewelry

I like anything free-form, don’t you?  There is free form embroidery, free form crochet……..it implies freedom to do where your imagination takes you.  I like the word free flowing even better, it suggests spontaneity.  These last few days, I wire wrapped a lot of shells, taking some time off by the beach   I wanted to share with you how I did this and was hoping one video would do it.  Well, I ended up with three videos, I hate leaving a few things out, so here it is.

It is called a 4 wire, wire wrapped because you would be using four wires.  Some of the shells I painted them with glitter some, I left it in it’s natural color.

The materials you need: 28 gauge (small and lightweight like sea urchin), 26 gauge for most shells, 24 gauge for heavier objects.  A round nose pliers for curling the excess wire and a flush cutter.

You can put beads like pearls or paper beads which what I did in some of the shells I wrapped. The second part of the video is making the bail and finishing off the ends.

They are great for pendants and for me a good accompaniment with paper beads.  Why?  Paper beads look a lot like shells, don’t you think?

I had fun taking pictures of them by the beach, and this little guy almost got away from me, I had to fish it out of the water

One of the things I did that came out really nice is the ammonite, I don’t know if I can part with it.

I experimented and crocheted at the base of this turbo shell, and I just love also the lacy effect of the crocheted wire – for crochet, you need to use the 28 gauge wire.