If you came straight here without reading Basic Jewelry Making and you feel lost just go back and find out what’s missing!
Let's get started! First, slide a bead onto a head pin, eye pin or ball pin. Grasp the wire with your round nose pliers at the top of the bead and bend the wire over at just about a 45 degree angle (to a 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock position). Then move the round nose pliers so they grasp the wire just above the bend (one of the plier jaws will be tucked into the bend of the wire). If the wire is flexible enough, use your thumb and forefinger to wrap the wire all the way back around the pliers so it makes a complete loop. You may need your flat nose or a pair of needle nose pliers if the wire is not flexible. Basically, at this point you should have a straight wire extending from the bead about a1/4” or so with the loop above that.
Notice that the further away from the point of the round nose pliers you grasp the wire the larger your loop will be. When I first started making loops like this I liked to do them very small so that they were tight around the object connected to. But then I realized that not only did they not dangle freely, they would get stuck in awkward positions. For crystals this was bad because if they don’t swing they aren’t catching the light and sparkling. So, before you decide where on the round nose pliers to place the wire before creating the loop, think about what the loop is going to connect to and how big you want the loop to be!
