Guest Post--A lesson in wire wrapping

Like I mentioned yesterday, we're having a wonderful guest post today from an old friend of mine!  I'm more into the sewing side of fashion while she's into the accessorizing.  She's brought us an amazing tutorial today to get you started in jewelry making too!  AND....a giveaway!!!  I have these earrings and I love them!  Read on...


Hi Lovely Fans of Small Town Stitcher!

I am so excited to be here! Kelli and I go way back to high school and 4-H! She was the awesome sew chick and I showed market hogs (crazy I know)! We lost touch for a long time but thanks to Facebook have been reunited! Yay! We are so much alike that we even named our daughters Emma who both happen to be six! Whoa! We even lived 30 minutes away from each other for years and didn't know it until I happened to be moving away to the beach :( Boo! But, now she has a place to visit on a pristine beach! Yay!

So, a little about me! My name is Tricia and I am the face behind I Heart Rock n Roll (and my crafty things too). I am Mom to 2 great kids, Christian and Emma, and wife to Noah (or Big Daddy as I like to call him). I was blessed many times over when we moved to the beach (blessing) and got to quit my boring government job (blessing) and started crafting full-time (blessing)...do you see the trend...:)

Please come and visit me on Facebook, my blog, and Etsy store!

Now, for the tutorial I chose the basic earring. Once you master the wire-wrapping technique you can make all sorts of other jewelry so this is the best thing to learn right away! This is my first tutorial so I tried to take tons of pictures!!! Please feel free to contact me, tricia.iheartrocknroll@gmail.com, with any questions, comments, and/or suggestions you may have! I would love to hear from you!

STEP 1

• Gather your tools - you will need round-nose pliers, flat-nose pliers, and cutters (these tools are easily found at all craft stores and even Walmart).
• Gather your headpins, desired earwires, and beads - I used 1-1/2 inch headpins, leverbacks with open loop, and beads (make sure the beads you choose do not exceed half the length of the headpin). 

STEP 2

• Slide your beads on the headpin in the order desired.

STEP 3

• Using the round-nose pliers grab the headpin right above the top bead.

STEP 4

• Push the headpin away from you to a 90 degree angle.



Side view of the 90 degree angle.

STEP 5

• Keeping hold of the headpin slide the round-nose pliers to face  up (see picture) so the nose is stacked vertically. Take the headpin and pull it up, over (in one motion), and down.



Side view of this step - should look like a ?



STEP 6

• Keeping hold of the headpin slide the round-nose pliers to face back in the original position and push the headpin underneath and away from you creating a loop! :)

STEP 7

• Using the flat-nose pliers grab the loop (keeping it flat between the nose), take your other hand grabbing the tail of the headpin and wrap it around the headpin above the beads keeping it close to each revolution until you are flush with the top bead.

STEP 8

• Cut the excess tail as close to the top bead as you can. You will see a little bit of the tail left which is okay! Take the flat-nose pliers and smoosh the tail to lay flush with the wrapping.

STEP 9

• Using the flat-nose pliers open the loop on the earwire, slide your earring on and close! You are done!!!!!! :)

STEP 10

• REPEAT!

LOVE THE GATORS AS MUCH AS WE DO?

Enter to win these cute earrings! All you have to do is:

Mandatory Entries:

• Become a public follower of Small Town Stitcher's Blog (1 entry)
• Become a public follower of I Heart Rock n Roll's Blog (1 entry)
• Heart Small Town Stitcher on Etsy (1 entry)
• Heart I Heart Rock n Roll on Etsy (1 entry)

Bonus Entries:

• Blog, tweet, facebook about this giveaway (up to 3 entries)
• Like I Heart Rock n Roll on Facebook (1 entry)
• Purchase any item from I Heart Rock n Roll (3 entries)

Contest ends Friday at midnight EST! Winner announced Saturday!!!!! Go Gators!

Tricia L.
I Heart Rock n Roll (and my crafty things too)

Come be my friend on Facebook! http://www.facebook.com/tricia.iheartrocknroll.com
Shop with me!http://iheartrocknroll.etsy.com/
Follow me on my blog! http://iheartrocknroll-tricia.blogspot.com/

Need supplies? Check out my new Etsy shop:
http://iheartsupplies.etsy.com
Save 20% during my grand opening sale using GRANDOPENING20 at checkout!