family jewels – DIY wire wrapped pendants

I love the look of wire wrapped pendants but the prices for these bead-y baubles had me wondering if I might be able to create my own.

Success? I think so. Cheap? Oh, most definitely. Easy? As pie my lovelies!

Here’s how to make your own personalized family pea pods & egg-y nests:

Let’s start with the nests. You’ll need pliers (tweezers will do in a pinch), wire & an egg-bead for each member of your family *my wire cost €0.99/20m at the craft store & the beads are all salvaged from old necklaces

chop off about 150cm of wire & string your beads 10cm in from one end

arrange your beads into a circular shape & wrap a few times with the long end of the wire

loop the wire around itself between the beads to secure it together. Continue wrapping & looping…

once you’ve wrapped & secured about half of the wire grab the 10cm tail & bend it into a ring – this is the loop that will eventually hang it from the necklace chain

wind the rest of the tail around the loop & tuck the pokey end into the back of the nest

wrap & loop any remaining wire around the nest & tuck that pokey end into the back of the nest

using your pliers (or tweezers) gently pull & wrinkle sections of the wire for an ever so slightly more realistic messy-nest look

add the chain & wear your fancy new heirloom…

then go make some more for the rest of the family!

They also look awesome attached to bags, zippers and key chains!

Onto the pea pods…get your pliers (or tweezers), wire and a lurvly green pea-bead for each member of your family *this time I used some plant wire that we had leftover from that time my hubby was going to be a bonsai-master

start the same way as the nest, stringing the beads on 150cm of wire but this time leave a 5cm tail at the end

loop the short end

tuck the pokey bit into the top bead

loop the wire at the other end & bend it back up to the top loop

wrap the wire around the base of the top loop

bend the wire back to the bottom & twist it around that loop

continue wrapping up, down and around your peas…

occasionally weaving through the sides & back to secure the wire

when you’re happy with the size of your pod, trim & tuck the pokey end

string a leather cord through the top loop & wear your adorable new family heirloom

and create some more to gift away

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7 Comments

  1. Thank you for all your wonderful ideas keep them coming . I love anything that’s a minuture and i love making them .

    1. You’re very welcome Marie 😀

  2. Cuuuuuute I gotta make one for my mama 🙂

  3. Very cute and original !

  4. Thank-you so much for the wonderful comments! I was a bit worried that no one would actually be able to recognize pea pods & bird nests out of my no-idea-what-I-was-doing attempts!

    No bravery needed to make ’em… once you get wrapping & twisting that wire, they’re insanely easy to make =O)

  5. Wow! I LOVE these! I may just get brave enough to try it! Thank you for the great tutorial! 🙂

  6. I was lucky enough on my last birthday to get one of the bird’s nest necklaces from my assistant. I love it and wear it all the time. Those pea pods are so cool, too. I’ve never seen them! Thanks for sharing!
    Beth

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