Learning to Wire Wrap Handmade Beads

I've been playing with making fabric beads, embellishing them, and am learning to wire wrap them. I finally got some wire the right size that's easy to work with (Anezus jewelry wire silver 22gauge). I had some copper jewelry wire, but it's so thin and flexible that it won't hold the twists, etc. I also had some thin red wire, I don't know from what, that works great, but breaks easily. I mixed some of that in, but the silver wire is the main one, except on the gold bead.

I looked at several online sources for tutorials, but didn't find what I was looking for, so I'm basically teaching myself by trial and error. I did pick up a few tips. Thank you to those teachers, who so graciously share their knowledge and experience with those of us trying to learn a particular art or craft.

The first bead on top was one of the first fabric beads I tried to make a couple of years ago, and I used gel medium on the whole thing, making it a hard bead. The rest are made from various strips of cotton, satin ribbon, and ribbon with wire edges (gold) stitched together.

Top Row: I was learning to make a loop with a plastic bead on the first bead, and I played with wrapping silver wire around it, trying to learn to control the wire. It was also the first bead I tried to wrap. The second bead I stitched some one, then wrapped it in silver wire. The third bead is made from a wire ribbon, and I used the thin red wire to wrap it. It doesn't jump out at you, but it's there. I love red and gold together.

Bottom Row: The first bead has a kind of wire cage-like design combining the silver and copper wires. The middle bead is a pink satin ribbon rolled, stitched together, and wrapped in silver. The last bead has a thin strip of colored fabric cotton wrapped around the bead and stitched, then silver wire wrapped around the middle, then stitched on the ends and wrapped with gray perle cotton thread. It's a little fatter than the others.

These are by no means perfect, or even pretty maybe, but they were fun to make, I'm learning a new technique with the wire, and I have at least a dozen more fabric beads rolled up and waiting to be practiced on with embellishments! I do not lack for ways to entertain myself!

Only thing is, now I want to order more wire in different colors and more perle cotton thread in bright colors!

I'm also working on a couple of pages in the Plaster and Wire journal I made this past week, but no photos yet! Getting used to the feel of the thicker gesso/marble dust textured pages! I had meant to do more to them today, but got caught up in other things. Now I need a nap!

The virus is just now getting to our county, and for the first time, it has hit people that we actually know, which makes it much more real. I guess we will be staying in for a while longer and praying for it to stop spreading. Scary! Especially for us old folks!

Stay safe, well, and cool wherever you are, and may we all have a blessed and creative week!