Easy Wire Wrapping for "The Undrillables."

Hiya!  A new tutorial for you guys!  Take a look at this big silver pendant, made from a vintage steel leaf.

I lucked into a fabulous stash of these old metal pieces, circa 1960 or thereabouts.

They're from the estate of a metal sculptor - I'm thinking he used them for making wrought iron grapevines.  Cool, eh?  But these things are  2mm thick and hardened steel.  No way was I going to be able to drill a hole!

So how to use them in an upcycled pendant?  Well - here's how!

Start with two 6" pieces of hefty craft wire (I used 18 gauge).  Make a loop in the center of one wire.  Then thread the other wire through the loop.  Like so:

Center the crisscross on the back of the leaf.  Bend the wires up, to surround the leaf in front.  If some of the ends are too long, snip off the extra.

With round-nose pliers, grab the end of a wire and start swirling.

Swirl all four wires right down to the leaf.  Give each a final twist to wrench it tight.  Now they look like random, vinelike tendrils!

You could leave it like this, nice and simple.  But come on - that's crazy talk!  I know you want more.  Use a bit of wire to add a bead strung between two tendrils.  Here I embellished with a beautiful chunk of red coral:

Another idea: tuck something under the tendrils and press them tight to hold it there.  A drop of glue first will make it more secure.  This beautiful flower was crafted by my friend PC, of the delightful Malaysian blog Meijo's JOY.

Now your pendant is done!  The back looks like this:

To hang the pendant, just slip a chain, cord or neckwire in behind the crisscross, and you are the proud owner of a nifty statement necklace!  

"But Mich," I hear you saying.  "I happen to be fresh out of vintage steel leaves."*  No problem!  This swirly wire method will work with all kinds of objects that you can't (or don't want to) drill.  The important thing is that your piece has a pattern of zigs and zags for the wires to settle into.

Here's one I did with a carved shell flower that did not come with a hole, and is too fragile to drill:

I like the tendrils, don't you?  I always love it when embellishment and structure combine.

Well, that's today's interesting upcycle - hope you liked it!  Thanks much for coming to check it out.  See ya soon!

* Psst...I have some of the leaves available for sale in my shop, should you desire.