Wire Wrapping a Top Drilled Bead Pendant [Book Excerpt]

Top drilled drop shape beads and briolette beads make eye catching additions to your handmade wire jewelry creations. Unfortunately, top drilled drop beads can also be challenging to wire wrap, especially for beginners. 

There are a variety of techniques and which one is best for you to use will depend on the size of the drop, the size of the drill hole, what wire you are using, how you plan to use the drop and also how experienced you are with wire wrapping. 

This post will share a technique I often use to wrap top drilled drop beads. I think it is especially easy for beginning wire wrappers. It is an excerpt from my new book Wire Wrap Jewelry Making for Beginners that is available now for purchase on Amazon and some other retailers such as ParaWire.

The following images are copyrighted material and are for your personal use learning the technique and as a preview of my new book. Clicking on the photo may enlarge it on some screens.

Text © 2022 Callisto Media Photograph © 2022 Evi Abeler

Text © 2022 Callisto Media

Text © 2022 Callisto Media

Here’s a couple of additional tips to using this technique to wire wrap drop beads.

To make drops that can attach to earring wires, you may need the loop with the opening facing forward so you can slide it onto an earring wire. Make the loop following the instructions above and gently twist the loop 1/4 turn when you are done. I find this is easiest to do when the loop is on the pliers. It keeps the two wires aligned. Twist gently and grasp the wire above the bead to avoid cracking the tip off.