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These instructions are written for right-handers. Please reverse if you are left-handed.
Relevant photos are beside or below the text instructions for each step.
Shown in this first set of instructions is a method where each segment of wire for each bead
is cut individually. If you don't plan on adding embellishments like ring caps or bead caps,
there is a faster method you might try (putting five or six beads on the wire at once and looping
the first loop of a bead before cutting any wire). You might save a little on wire this way.
All the other instructions, though, remain the same as for individually cut wire segments.
The techniques below may also be easily used for beaded jewelry.
The photos are greatly magnified, and wire lengths kept a little long to better show the use of tools.
Please follow the wire length recommendations in the written text.
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STEP ONE:
Cut a length of wire that will fit through
your bead, and leave just under half an inch (about 11mm for our friends using the metric system) extra on both sides of the bead.
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STEP TWO:
In your left hand, take hold of the protruding wire on the left-hand side.
Place your fingertips tight against the bead.
Turn your left hand so that the wire is vertical. Don't allow the bead to slide down the wire.
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STEP THREE: (photos for this step are immediately below):
For a sharp bend, place the fingernail of your right index finger where the wire emerges from the top of the bead. Push down with your right thumb to start the bend, then take your fingernail out of the space and continue to press down with your thumb until you've reached 90 degrees (see photo below on the left).
If your fingernail is too short, simply bend the top wire with your thumb until it is at a right angle to the bead.
If you hold the bead nice and tight from underneath with your left hand as you do this, you'll still get a very
nice bend (see photo below on the right).
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STEP FOUR:
Trim the bent wire to about 3/8 inch (9mm) with a straight cut.
Adjust this length slightly longer or shorter if you want larger or smaller loops.18g wire will require an extra eighth inch or so working length.
With some practice, you will get good enough at judging total wire length on step one above to skip this second trimming step entirely.
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Step four above and the next step will require some trial and error to find the loop
size which is most comfortable for you to make with the tools you have.
Try for a loop with about a 3.5mm (4mm for 18g) inner diameter.
Despite the size details given here, please don't drive yourself crazy with rulers and measuring!
Have some fun and wing it a little!
In no time at all you'll get a feeling for wire length and where to hold the wire
with your round nose pliers (step five) to make a loop that pleases you.
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STEP FIVE: (photo for this step immediately below):
With fine round nose pliers, grasp the wire close to, but not all the way at the end of the wire. Notice that the shaft of a round nose plier is in the shape of a narrow cone. This means that the farther down the shaft of your plier you grasp the wire, the larger the resulting inner diameter of your completed loop. Take hold about a little less than halfway down the shaft of the plier.
A little tip here: it's better in the beginning to err on the side of a slightly large loop than a too-small loop. Trying to manipulate your tools in very small places may be a source of frustration until you develop a habit of looping. It's much easier to work your way down to a perfect size. And your hand will stay more relaxed if you give yourself a little breathing room, which usually results in loops that are consistent from bead to bead. When you get to the "rosary construction" page, you'll see why, in rosary making, consistency is important.
Leave about 1/16th of an inch (1.5mm) free at the tip of the wire. This small bit will either slip back into the bead hole or press tight against the bead when your loop is complete.
Note the position of the right hand holding the pliers at the start of the loop. The palm is toward the body.
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STEP 6 (photo immediately below):
This is a side view of the first half of curling the loop.
While holding the wire firmly in the pliers, you'll begin to curl the loop. Rotate your wrist toward you so that the back of your hand comes toward your body and your palm turns outward until you have no more range of this motion in your wrist. You'll be able to complete about three quarters of the loop with this initial turn of the wrist.
While making this first curl, try to push a little bit OUTWARD on the wire even as you're forming the loop toward you. This will preserve the 90 degree bend in the wire, and result in a nice round loop.
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This is a different view of the same step as above.
You will get to a point about 3/4 of the way to a fully
round loop where your wrist will not rotate further.
The back of your hand will now be toward your body.
As you reach this 3/4 point of the curl,
you will release the pliers in order
to reposition your hand to complete the loop.
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With your palm facing you again, take hold of the
wire in the same place and curl until the tip touches
the wire emerging from the bead hole.
If the bead hole is large enough to accept a second
thickness of wire, feed the end back down into the hole.
If not, be sure that the curl you just made rests tightly
against the bead so the bead won't slide.
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STEP 7:
Your first loop complete, now flip the bead over
and hold the loop with your left hand.
Be sure that the bead is tight
against that bottom loop.
At a direction which is
perpendicular to the bottom loop,
press the top wire down 90 degrees to the bead.
As above, you may also use your fingernail
to start the bend.
Now trim this top wire and make your 3/4 curl.
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STEP 8:
Before repositioning your right hand
to complete the second loop,
STOP and think--
Do you need to link this bead loop
to another?
Do you need to add soldered
chain here?
Do you need to add a
two hole connector without
using jump rings?
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This is the point at which to do those things in order to keep your handling of the loop to a minimum. Each time you grasp the wire or unbend and rebend it, you will leave a mark. Too many tries will weaken the wire.
Because a finished chained rosary looks much nicer (and functions better) when the loops are nice and tight against the beads, keep a little pressure on the finished loop in your left hand while adding elements and completing your second loop.
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STEP 9 (photo for this step immediately below):
You are now ready to close your second loop.
If you have added another linked bead (as in the photo above), or a segment of chain here, you will NOT be able to grasp the wire as far down the shaft of the pliers as you did in the first half of this loop. Push the plier as far in as you can, though (slide the added closed link toward the back of the wire you're attempting to close, to give yourself more room). If your loop is a little on the small side, this is a great place to use your chain nose pliers (chain nose are rounded on the outside and flat on the inside) to reach into the small space.
When you take hold of the wire to close the loop, keep that 1/16th inch of free wire at the tip. In other words, don't grab the very end. This straight portion will "seat" the wire on the bead.
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STEP TEN, THE FINISHING TOUCH!:
Your bead is now securely wire looped. All that's left to do is make a final check of the alignment of the two loops.
What you will be checking for is if the two loops are at right angles to one another, and that the loops are in a level plane.
As before, don't go crazy trying to get exactly 90 degrees! The reason that you make the loops perpendicular
is to keep the finished strand of all the linked beads from twisting on themselves (you'll find an example of this
on the "avoiding and fixing problems" page). If the two loops of each individual bead are reasonably offset
from one another, you'll be fine.
In the photo below, notice how the right-hand loop droops down slightly. You'll want to lift it to make it parallel. This keeps your finished bead strand nicely aligned from bead to bead.
In order to make both of these fixes, take hold of one loop with either flat nose or chain nose pliers. Take hold of the loop on the other side with the inner flat portion of your round nose pliers, or with another flat tool if you have one. While holding one side still, turn the other plier to get your perpendicular, or to lift the loop to get it into parallel. This takes almost no effort at all. The wire will turn or move easily for you.
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The first step in ring capping your
beads is to prepare your rings.
If you are creating rings from
unsoldered chain,open every other
link to release two from the chain. Use
ridged needle nose and bent nose for grip.
Using flat pliers, squeeze closed the link
you opened. You now have the two
"ready" rings for one bead.
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If you are using open jump rings to ring cap your beads,
you will need to close them before using them.
Hold either side of the ring opening with the flat surfaces of two tools
(chain nose pliers, flat nose pliers or the flat joint of round nose pliers).
Move the pliers toward or away from you until the ring ends meet tightly.
DO NOT close a jump ring by pulling or squeezing from side to side.
You will ruin the roundness of the ring by doing so.
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Please visit our "Materials and Sizing" page for information on matching the size of your
jump rings or chain links to your wire and beads for the best fit.
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As in the general instructions for wirelooping, cut your wire to
a length appropriate to your bead.
Thread a ring and then your bead onto the wire.
Hold the wire in your left hand tight against the bead
and make your first bend of the top wire
against the ring rather than the bead.
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When using ring caps, leave a slightly longer "tail" free when you
grasp the wire in your round nose pliers, especially when using
rings of 1mm or larger thicknesses.
Make your first loop. The "tail" of the loop will tuck into the ring cap and
against the bead. You may feel the wire seat itself into the ring.
The ring must be tight against the bead, held firmly by your loop.
Check the "Avoiding and Correcting Problems " page (coming soon)
if your rings are not staying snug against your bead.
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To make the second loop of a ring capped bead, I prefer to
make the wire bend against the bead first, then slip the chain link
or jump ring on and trim the wire.
I get a tighter finished fit this way, rather than bending against the ring
as in the first loop. This is subjective, though. Try it both ways
to see which method you prefer.
Whichever gets you the snuggest result is the way to go.
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Add a closed ring to the bent wire.
Make your 3/4 curl of this second loop. Leave enough of the
loop uncurled to fit additional elements onto the wire.
Before closing, add any elements (chain, connectors, etc.)
which have soldered rings, or another bead on the chain.
Close the loop by grasping the wire with your round nose pliers,
leaving the small, straight "tail" free.
Tuck the tail into the jump ring as you
curl this last 1/4 of the loop.
Seat the wire against the bead.
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As in the general instructions for wire looping, adjust your loops to be perpendicular to one another,
and to lie in the same horizontal plane as the bead hole.
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Bead caps are a beautiful element to add to any rosary. With them, you may drive your design toward the feminine, the masculine; toward an antique look or a modern one. They also provide protection of
semi precious stones which are lower on the Mohs hardness scale.
To double cap the Ave beads, you will need 106 caps. Add twelve
more to double cap the Paters, for a total of 118.
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The first step in wire looping with bead caps is to account
for the depth of the bead caps on both sides of the bead
when cutting your wire segment.
Thread a cap, then a bead, then a second cap onto your
wire. Cut the wire, leaving slightly less than half an inch (approximately 11mm) of extra wire on either side of the capped bead. As you gain experience in using caps and making loops with the wire gauge you prefer, you'll find a length of this "extra" wire you're most comfortable using.
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If working while holding two caps at once feels awkward to you,
allow the bottom cap to slide off the wire before proceeding.
While holding the fingertips of your left hand firmly against the
bottom cap (or bottom of the bead), make a 90 degree bend
of the top wire with your right thumb.
You will be bending the wire against the top bead cap.
Trim the bent wire to about 3/8 inch (9mm) with a straight cut.
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If the cap has a small hole which will
not accomodate a second thickness of wire,
leave less of a "tail" when grasping the top wire
to begin your curl than you would with a plain bead.
This will give you a loop that is circular almost the whole
way around. The bottom of the loop will hold
the cap tight against the bead.
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If the cap is shallow with a hole which will
accomodate a second thickness of wire,
leave a "tail" as you would for a plain bead
when grasping the wire to curl,
leave a scant 1/16th of an inch (just over 1mm).
You will seat this straight portion back into the hole.
If the cap is deep with a hole which will accomodate
a second thickness of wire, leave a longer tail,
which you will feed back down into the cap when
closing your loop.
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Make your 3/4 curl.
Reposition your right hand to close the loop.
The photo on the right shows a cap with wire fed back
into the hole. If, with the last 1/4 of your loop almost complete,
you need to tease the end of the wire in the bead cap,
it often helps to position the end of the wire just inside the
hole with the tip of your needle nose or chain nose pliers. Then,
to maintain the roundness of the loop while feeding the end in,
slide the pliers into the upper portion of your loop and rotate your
wrist toward you to seat the wire into the cap, as shown.
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Flip the bead over.
If you'd chosen earlier to work with only one cap at a time,
thread a cap onto the top wire now.
While holding the finished bottom loop in your left fingers,
bend the top wire against the top cap 90 degrees
(perpendicular) to the bottom loop.
Make your second 3/4 curl, add any elements as above,
and close your loop.
Adjust your loops for alignment as explained
in the general instructions for wire looping.
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If you have chosen to make a rosary using two-hole jewelry connectors in place of chain
between the decades and the Paters and center medal, getting them to lie flat is tricky indeed.
And if there is a "back" and a "front" to your connector, eliminating twist is very
important to the finished look of your piece.
One trick which might help is in how you align the loops of the first and last beads of each decade,
and the loops of the Pater beads.
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There are two ways
to attach two-hole connectors.
One is with jump rings,
as shown in the photo
on the left.
The second is by adding
them directly into your
bead loops.*
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Whichever attachment method you choose, there is a small
adjustment to make in your finished bead loops.
For the first and last bead only of every decade, make a wire loop
on either side of your bead as per the instructions above.
However, when making the final alignment of the two loops, turn them
so that they are parallel to one another rather than perpendicular.
In the photograph above, you will see that both loops of the last Hail Mary bead of this decade
lie in the same plane as the loop of the embossed connector. A jump ring makes the
vertical link. On the other side of the Hail Mary bead, the loop of the ninth bead of the decade
is in the perpendicular plane.
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Do the same with the loops of your
Our Father (Pater) beads.
Hold each loop with the flat surface of a tool.
Turn one loop while holding the other steady
until the two loops are parallel to one another
and in the same horizontal plane as
the bead hole.**
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*For rosary making, it's usually better to attach two-hole connectors with small jump rings or split rings.
Connectors are stiff. Threading them directly into your wire loops often causes them to "catch" in
loop, and that's distracting when using a rosary. Small, heavy jump rings allow the connectors
to roll freely, and the result is closer to the flexibility of chain.
**All the loops of the first and last beads of a decade, all the loops of the Pater beads and all the loops
of the jewelry connectors will lie in the same plane. See the photo above.
More about using two hole connectors on our "Make a Rosary" page (coming soon).
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Beloved, let us love one another, because love is from God;
everyone who loves is born of God and knows God.
John 4:7
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