How to Create Headpins with Jewelry Wire

Headpins are widely used in jewelry making, such as bracelet making, necklace making, earring making and so on. As a experienced jewelry makers, I am sure you are family with how to choose and use these jewelry findings. But to the beginners of jewelry making, there is a necessary to have a tutorial to teach how to choose and use headpins.

Iron Headpins

From the shape of headpins, we know that a head pin is a straight piece of wire cut to different lengths and is available in a variety of gauges and tensions. The heads are always produced in flat and round ball shaped. Jewelry makers use the head on the headpin to stop gems, crystals or beads from falling off the end of a piece of wire. Jewelry headpins come in a huge variety of sizes (1.6cm to 7cm) and metals (brass, iron, alloy, stainless steel, sterling silver) but they usually comprise a flattened end, loop, or ball at one end of a short piece of wire. They are always used to string jewelry beads to make them as beads pendants for necklaces, bracelets, earrings or anklets.

Brass Ball Headpins

Well, to many jewelry makers, the thing is a lot of times you want just one or two headpins, and maybe your local jewelry supply store is far away, or you can’t wait for supplies to arrive from your online supplier. It is time to make your own headpins by yourself with jewelry wires. You have two options to make wire-wrapped loops on head pins. First, you can make a basic loop which opens like a jump ring. Second, you can make a wrapped loop which is permanent. Well, you need to consider the diameter (weight) of jewelry wire to determine which kind of headpins you need to make. For example, if your jewelry wire is lightweight, you’d better to make a wire wrapped loop at the end of your headpins, or else, the loop will open easily. What is more, sometimes a wire wrapped headpins can also add an essential decorative element to a simple design.

If you are an experienced jewelry maker, I am sure you have the ability to create a “complicated wire wrapped head” at the end of your “headpins, such as a wire wrapped flower. And there is no need to worry if you are just a beginner. As the saying goes that practice makes perfect. Once you have good experiences in creating wire wrapped jewelry, you have the ability to create complicated, delicate wire wrapped headpins. 

How to Make Headpin Charms with Headpins

I am sure most of people know what headpins are, no matter you like to create jewelry or not. As essential jewelry finding for jewelry making, headpins are widely used in create headpin charms for bracelets, necklaces and earrings. These pins are available in different colors and sizes, you can easily find what you need for your projects.

Iron Headpins

What is a headpin charm? It is any dangly sort of drop constructed on a headpin. Most people start making headpin charms for earrings, but they are also great for charm bracelets because you can wire wrap to securely attach them. If you were to use a jump ring or split ring on your charm bracelets, there is always the risk of the ring pulling apart unless you solder the ring. And we also said that making stringing bracelets or necklaces is the easiest way to start your jewelry making, so you can string a bracelet and just attach a headpin charm on the extended chain of bracelet.

Brass Ball Headpins

Using headpin to make a headpin charm is a “techie thing”. The essential step is making a loop. Let us take a 6mm bicone crystal bead and a headpin about 4cm for example. Put the bead on the pin, then grip the pin about 3mm past the end of the bead with round nose pliers. While firmly holding the bead at the bottom of the pin with one hand, gently twist your other wrist to bend the pin 90 degrees to form a right angle. With the round nose pliers still on the headpin at the point of the bend, use your fingers to wrap the tail of the headpin around the round nose pliers to form a full loop. Bring the wire tail all the way around the nose of the plier to create a nice, round loop. In order to let this loop look more beautiful, you can continue coiling the pin tail around the base until the bottom coil is flush against the top of the bead. Snip the excess pin tail with your flush cutters. A simple bead headpin charm is finished. Just attach it to extended chain of your bracelet, which will add more beauty for your stringing bracelet. And it is not just a simple stringing bracelet any more.

It is also very suitable for beginners of jewelry making to get start, although it needs to use a simple wire wrap technique. Practice makes perfect--he more you practice, the better you will do. So you will need more headpins for both practice and jewelry projects. Purchase them from online wholesale stores can save a lot of money and time if you purchase them with other jewelry materials together.