How to Add Beads to a Viking Knit
Viking knit jewelry is a visually striking art form that consists of weaving jewelry wire into a tube-shaped mesh of interlocking loops. The wire is weaved or knitted around a dowel before it is pulled and stretched into the a wire mesh tube with a hollow center. Add beads to your viking knit during its construction to create unique and beautiful works of jewelry. Your beaded viking knit wire can be used to make bracelets and necklaces.
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Things You'll Need
- Old credit card
- 2 pieces copper wire, 20-gauge, 12-inch
- Dead-soft copper wire, 26-gauge, 9 yards
- 1/4-inch wooden dowel
- Black felt tipped pen
- Small beads, your choice
- Medium round beads, your choice
- Viking knit hole dowel
- Needle nosed pliers
- 2 copper viking knit end caps
- Round nosed pliers
Instructions
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1
Wrap one of the 12-inch-long 20-gauge copper wires around an old credit card four times. Carefully move the wire off of the card while keeping it in the loops that were made when you wrapped it around the card. Wrap the long free end of the wire around the wire loops, 1/4 of the way down the length of the wire loops, three times to make a bundle with the wire.
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2
Hold the bundle so you can see the top of the loops. Separate the four loops so they are equidistant and bend them at a 90-degree angle to make a wire daisy.
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3
Pick up your dowel and draw a cross to divide the top end into four equal sections with a black felt-tipped pen. Extend the cross arm lines up onto the sides by placing a straight edge ruler onto the side of the dowel. Line up the ruler's edge with the guideline and draw a line all the way down the length of the dowel. Do this for the other three arms of the cross so that the length of the dowel has four straight lines going down its length.
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4
Pick up the wire daisy and set the center of the flower shape against the cross end of the dowel. Align the wire loops or daisy "petals" with the cross. Wrap the "petals" down onto the dowel and align them with the lines you drew. Wrap a piece of tape around the looped wire ends to secure it in place around the circumference of the dowel.
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5
Insert the free end of the dead-soft 26-gauge copper wire from the right through the first wire loop or petal on the dowel. Bend the 26-gauge wire around the wire petal to create a loop around it. String the wire over to the next loop on the right and loop the wire around it in the same manner. Loop the 26-gauge wire around all of the four wire daisy petal loops to make the first row of the knitted wire.
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6
Continue looping the wire by inserting it into the loop above it on the previous row. Make three passes, or three rows, of looped wire around the dowel.
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7
Make the first loop of wire for the fourth row on the dowel. As you pull the wire across to the next loop, string two small beads onto the wire, then insert the wire into the next loop and make a loop with the wire. The beads will sit on the wire that stretches across from loop to loop. Add two small beads or one medium round bead to every stretch of wire. You can also scatter them about the knitted wire in a staggered pattern, skipping every other stretch of wire as you add the beads.
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8
Remove the tape and twist and pull the wooden dowel out of the center of the beaded knit wire. Insert the beaded knit wire through the corresponding sized hole of the knit hole dowel. Pull the knit wire down through the dowel hole to stretch it out to the desired length.
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9
Cut the 26-gauge wire loops that are on the wire daisy off with wire cutters. Grab the cut ends and bend them down into the hollow center of the knit with needle nose pliers.
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10
Slide 12-inches of copper wire through the hollow core of the knit wire. Slide the viking knit first end cap onto the right end of the beaded knit wire. Hold onto the wire with round nosed pliers and bend the wire into a P-shaped loop around the bottom jaw of the pliers. Wrap the remaining wire end around itself five times and then trim with wire cutters. Put on the other end cap onto the left end of the knit wire in the same manner. Add a clasp to the loop on one end and a jump ring to the other to finish the piece of jewelry.
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