MOAR BLING

I made a circlet!  It's the first one I've ever made, and my first major wire project, aside from small things like links and bead dangles.  Whee!  I saw something similar online and decided the pattern would make a nifty circlet.  Couldn't find a tutorial anywhere.  So I made my own as I went along. Enjoy.

First, the finished circlet: 

Here's how I did it: 

1. I used 22ga copper wire for this.  The first thing I did was fold over the end so that it's not poke-y, because ow.  Also because it strengthens the loose end. 
2. Then I curled the end into a round loop. 
3. With a marker.  High tech, I know.  I hope you can keep up. (Dear Santa...)
4. The second loop, next to the first. 
5. I bent back the loose end of the wire, similar to how I started, then wrapped the wire around the marker again to loop into the next loop. 
6. Seriously. Bailing pliers. This was my trial run for this design.  I'm getting myself some bailing pliers tomorrow so I can do the next one in, hopefully, half the time, and fewer broken fingernails. 
7. Keep going. Forever. 
8. Each loop is 1/2" in diameter.  The finished circlet, roughly 16" in diameter, took nearly thirty feet of wire, and about 2.5 hours to get to this point. 
9. Finally, I pushed the marker back through each loop to round them all out and make them uniform in size and shape again.  Wire is bendy. 
   
10. Then I made a ton of these little loopy guys. 
11. Clip the loopy guys around two loops, and wrap them tight around, to hold the loops together.  After the wire is wrapped around the loops, press it flat with your pliers. (The pliers you DO actually own, not pictured). 
12. The finished wrap.  This keeps the loops from shifting out of place, stretching (because up until this point, this thing was a giant spring), and getting bent out of shape. It also adds stiffness and stability to the entire piece. 
13. I curled the folded ends back over on themselves, to form little spirals. 
14. And just because, I glued some teeny (2mm?) glass rhinestones to each wrap joint.  
15. The closure is simply that curled loose end from the beginning clipped through the closed round end at the other end of the circlet. 

Is it perfect?  Nope.  But it's sparkly.  And not bad for a first try, I think.  It's also too small for my head, LOL.  Circlet 2.0 will be better. :) 

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