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| Making Beaded Wine Charms |
Every Christmas Holiday season I receive lots of orders for my beaded wine charms. These are one of my favorite - and actually easiest items to create. The possibilities are endless for themes, colors and materials. These charms are great for dinner parties and entertaining - helping your guests keep up with their glass - and making nice conversation pieces. They also make great hostess gifts!
This tutorial will show how I make my beaded wine charms.
Materials:
- Beads of your choice
- Charms
- Wire hoops (I use 25mm earring wire hoops)
- Small jump rings to attach the charm to the hoop - or headpins for converting a bead into a charm with its own loop using a wrapped loop technique.
- Round nose and needle nose pliers
Instructions:
1. Choose your wire hoop. This tutorial uses a 25mm gold-plated wire hoop.
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| 25mm Gold Plated Wire Hoop |
2. Place beads and charm onto wire hoop. For these charms I made my own charm using beads and a headpin which I wire-wrapped to form a loop for sliding onto the charm. You can also use ready made charms - available in a wide variety of materials and themes.
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Wire Hoop with Beads and Charm
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3. Form a closure for the hoop so that the beads and charm does not fall off. The wire hoop has one end with a loop and one straight end. Working on the straight end, use your round nose pliers to bend the end up to make a 90 degree angle.
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| Wire Hoop with 90 Degree Angle Closure |
4. Some people stop with step 3 but I prefer to finish the closure by using my round nose pliers to bend the tip of the hoop backwards to form a u-shaped closure. To do this, grasp the tip of the bent up portion of the hoop end and bend it backwards over the top of the pliers tip.
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| Wire Hoop Finished with U-Shaped Closure |
5. Voila! You now have a perfectly finished wine glass charm.
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| Finished Wine Charm |
6. Make as many as you want for a set - four, six, eight or more!
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| Set of Six Beaded Wine Charms |
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