Most Important Tools

• 1 pair of flat-nose plies without ridges
• 1 pair of needle-nose pliers
• 1 pair of wire cutters
• 1 drawplate (a piece of wood drilled with varying sizes of hole through which wire is pulled to reduced its diameter)
• Tapestry needles
• Dowel rods (to bend the wire around)
• Ruler

Dowel Rods as Mandrels

We're using 1/4" dowel rods to knit around.  You can use Allen wrenches or knitting needles in 3/23", 1/8" or 2/16" in diameter as well.  If you make your own mandrel later, be sure to cut a notch 2/3 the way down it to make room for the wire as your work.

Making Your Own Drawplate

Your drawplate should be made of hardwood, like oak, about 5 " long 2" wide and 1" deep.  Drill holes into it 1/4" apart.  Eyeball the size of the drill bits, you'll be able to tell if it looks too small to be able to pull something through or if its too large to do any good.  The drawplate I currently have is made of soft pine.  It seems to work fine, but I plan on upgrading to a hardwood plate at some point in the future.

Suppliers

You can get everything you need, including copper wire, at your local craft store.  You can also use Rio Grande 1-800-545-6566 www.riogrande.com.  They are an excellent jewelers supplier.  They carry almost everything you could possibly need to create jewelry.

Cut about 16 inches of wire to make your bundle.  1, Wrap the thicker wire around the ruler.  You wrap one time for each stitch you want to make.  So, if you want your chain to be 4 stitches around, wrap the ruler 4 times, 5 for 5 and so on. 2. Slip the wire off the ruler then grab it about 3/8" from the bottom and twist it together so the you don't have any loose ends.  Wrap the ends of the wire around the twist until they feel like they won't come loose.