My Bijou Life

Making memory wire bracelets is one of the easiest and most gratifying projects in jewelry creation. I am going to show you the simple steps to make memory wire bracelets of your own.

What is Memory Wire?

Memory wire is wire that maintains it circular shape despite being stretched out when putting on or removing your bracelet. It comes in a roll like the one below.

You can make single strand memory wire bracelets:

Or you can make them with multiple strands:

I usually max out at 4 loops, but I’ve seen some bracelets that have more.

Supplies Needed

1. Memory wire
2. Beads of your choice

Tools Needed

1. Needle nose pliers
2. Wire cutters

How to Make a Memory Wire Bracelet

For this example, I am making a single strand memory wire bracelet. I am making this bracelet to complement a necklace I recently finished (but haven’t yet blogged about).

1. Cut a circle of wire. You will need some overlap. There are a couple of reasons for this. The first is that you’ll need some extra wire to give yourself room to work. And the second is to insure the bracelet stays on your wrist. (This latter concern does not apply to multiple-strand memory wire bracelets.)

2. Next, collect the beads you want use. These little red flowers are included in the necklace that this bracelet is intended to match.

These beads came from one of the very first bracelets I made. There was nothing wrong with the bracelet, but it wasn’t all that inspired. Time to recycle!

3. If you are going to have a focal, you will add these beads first, then work from both sides of it. (It’s not necessary to have a focal. None of the multi-strand bracelets in the photos above have a focal.)

4. Then begin adding beads on either side of your focal.

5. Not sure exactly what you want? Have a couple of different ideas? Test them out on each of the two sides of your focal and compare.

6. Once you’ve decided, fill in the remaining distance with beads. I am using the square, clear beads and the seed beads from the old bracelet, and some cute, little silver flower beads. I’ve chosen to use two, black blossom beads on the ends. In this case, the blossom beads will cover my wire loop ends, but I also like to leave the wire loop ends exposed and add charms (shown in the examples above).

7. Use the needle nose pliers to make a loop in one end of the bracelet.

8. Push all the beads to the side in which you’ve just ended off the wire. Then use your wire cutters to trim off the excess wire. Be certain to leave enough to make a loop. Making the loop down in the blossom bead is a bit challenging. If it’s your first bracelet, I’d recommend not using blossom beads on the ends.

Voilà

Here is my completed bracelet:

I hope you’ve enjoyed this memory wire bracelet tutorial. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask.