Beaded Wire Angels

Skill Level: Beginner

Technique: Caging beads on wire, free forming, round wire bundles

Charlene created these wire angels after trying to find the perfect angel pattern to make for her granddaughters. Then, of course, her grandsons wanted angels made for them, too! Enjoy this wire wrapped angel pattern, which you can make into jewelry, ornaments, gift wrap decorations, and more!

Materials

• 20-gauge round dead soft wire, about 48 inches
• One - 8mm pearl or bead
• Eight - 4mm round beads
• Eight - 3mm round beads
• 4 - 2mm round beads

Tools

• Flat nose pliers
• Round nose pliers (fine tips, preferably)
• Medium Bail Making Wubbers
• Flush cutter
• Ruler

Girl Angel Instructions

1. Cut 2 pieces of wire, each 19 inches in length. They don't have to be straightened. Set the remaining 10" piece to the side.
   
   
2. Place the two pieces or wire together. Place the Wubbers bail making plier at the middle of the 2 wires and curve them into a loop.
   Take one of the wire ends, and working the 2 wires as if they were one, wrap the wires around the other wires 3 times. This creates 2 loops: one is a hanger, and one is a halo. You can separate the hanger and the halo at this time, by bending the ornament hanger loop back.
   
   
3. Add the 8mm bead, which will be the head. Bring all the wires to the back of the head, into a bundle.
   
   
4. Now we will wrap around the wire bundle, but instead of trimming the wrap wires, we're going to begin the wraps in the middle of the wire, and keep the tails long.
   Using the 10" piece of wire, put your thumb on the 4" mark and then wrap around the bottom of the bead to secure, wrapping 4 times, and pulling tight. Then spread out the wires.
   
   
5. The tails of the wrap wire are going to become wing-like arms. Using round nose or bail making pliers, make 5 loops for each arm. Trim the excess wire, after the last loop.
   
   
6. Now, all that's left is the skirt! Slide a 4mm bead on one of the bare skirt wires, then make a loop. Continue adding beads and making loops until there are 5 beads added to each skirt wire, in this order: 4mm, 3mm, 4mm, 3mm, 2mm. Finish with a loop and trim. Here's your wire wrapped angel girl!
   
   

Boy Angel Instructions

Materials

• 20-gauge round dead soft wire, about 48 inches (this allows for extra wire)
• One - 8mm pearl or bead
• Six - 4mm round beads
• Six - 6mm round beads
• Four - 2mm round beads

1. Cut 2 pieces of wire, each 19 inches in length. These don't have to be straight wires. Set the remaining wire to the side.
   
   
2. Place the two pieces or wire together. Place the Wubbers bail making plier at the middle of the 2 wires and curve them into a loop.
   Take one of the wire ends, and working the 2 wires as if they were one, wrap the wires around the other wires 3 times. This creates 2 loops: one is a hanger, and one is a halo. You can separate the hanger and the halo at this time, by bending the ornament hanger loop back.
   
   
3. Add the 8mm bead, which will be the head. Bring all the wires to the back of the head, into a bundle.
   
   
4. Here's where it gets different! We're going to wrap around the wire bundle using the bundle's wire itself again. (peek at step 6 to see where this is going.)
   Take 2 of the bundled wires and, working as though they were 1 wire, wrap around the other 2 wires, 2 times to show, pulling tight. Then, just like for the girl angel, take the two wrap wires and make 5 loops on each, to create the arms. Now you have 2 remaining wires. (We didn't use a separate wire to wrap.)
   
5. Begin the body by adding three 4mm beads on each wire. Then take your remaining cut wire and wrap 5 times around the waist. Trim this wire wrap close to the boy angel's waist, and make sure then ends are tucked.
   
6. Separate the 2 leg wires. Now add your beads: a 6mm bead followed by a loop. Keep going until there are three 6mm beads on each side. Then use two 2mm beads to form each foot, and make the last loop and trim. Here's your wired angel boy!
   
   You've finished! Now experiment with variations. Enjoy! Thanks for a great pattern, Charlene!
   

Free Wire Jewelry Patterns

Did you find this pattern through a link from a friend? You can get dozens of free wire jewelry patterns via email. Get patterns like this one straight to your inbox - click here!