You'd never know it, but when I got serious about jewelry-making back in college, I started out by doing wire work! Yes, when I began my journey into jewelry-making, I went out and bought a book and tool set that was all about wire wrapping.

I still have that tool set, and for the most part, they still serve me well. I did splurge on a couple of new tools when I wanted to improve my wire wrapping skills, and when I did, I made sure that I had done my homework so that I knew what I was buying and for what purpose I would use each tool.

There are a few basic kinds of wire wrapping tools that you need to have handy, even if you don't do any serious wire wrapping. I've found that having a complete set of tools is a definite plus when I'm assembling my beaded jewelry, even if the only wire work that I do is making a couple of wrapped loops or eye pins!

		Round-nose pliers: These pliers have tapered jaws that are perfectly round and smooth. Your round-nose pliers are used for making loops in wire. Be careful when using them for other wire wrapping tasks, as the jaws can leave marks and dings in your precious metal wire.
		Chain-nose pliers: These pliers have tapered jaws with rounded outsides and flat insides. They are particularly useful for manipulating wire and other jewelry-making items like jump rings and sometimes crimp beads. (Chain nose pliers are also your best bet for wiggling that beading needle through a tight spot!)
		Flat-nose pliers: These pliers have slightly tapered jaws that are wide and flat on both outside and inside. If you need to get a grip (on your wire) when making spirals and other wire shapes, these are the best tools for the job. Use them with a pair of chain-nose pliers for opening and closing jump rings.
		Flat round-nose pliers: My personal favorite tool for wire wrapping, beading and jewelry-making, these pliers have one jaw that looks like it came from a pair of round-nose pliers and one jaw that looks like it came from a pair of flat-nose pliers. The added bonus with some of these pliers is that they have notches marked along the flat-nose jaw for consistently-sized loops. These are my go-to pliers for jewelry-making and wire wrapping tasks because they don't usually leave any dents in my precious metal wire!
		Wire straighteners: More than anything, I'm always terrified of poking out my eye on a piece of wayward coiled wire. To get those crazy wire curls under control when you're pulling wire off a spool, run it through these nylon-jaws pliers a few times. And if you make a mistake when you're bending and shaping your wire, you can easily smooth out a kink in your wire by pinching and pulling the wire straight with these handy pliers.
		Flush cutters and super flush cutters: Flush cutters are used for cutting wire. If you didn't already know this, you can use flush cutters to cut either flat ends or angled ends on your wire. To cut a flat end, insert the wire into the cutters through the flat side. To get an angled cut on your wire, insert the wire through the concave side of the cutters.

So, go take a look at what you have in your beading or jewelry-making toolbox. I'll bet you have most (if not all) of these tools already! Are you ready to see what these tools are capable of doing? You don't have to wait much longer: download your copy of the Jewelry Studio: Wire Wrapping eBook and you can be learning all about making beautiful wire wrapped jewelry in just minutes. Find out how to take your basic wire work skills (like making wrapped loops and wire spirals) and turn them into beautiful wire wrapped jewelry! It only takes a few minutes to download your eBook onto your desktop or laptop computer, and there's no charge for shipping and no waiting for a delivery. (It's almost-instant gratification!)

Do you have a favorite wire wrapping tool? Share it with us here on the blog!

Bead Happy,

Jennifer

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