Ask the Experts Personalizing Jewelry Q&A

I was at SeaWorld and saw a vendor bending wire into people's names to wear as a necklace. Are there instructions on the method used to twist wire into names? And how do they stay intact and not stretch out of shape after wearing for a time? Thank you for your time.

- Debbie

Once you are comfortable bending wire and making it move in the directions you want, creating letters is the next step. Spell the name out onto a piece of paper, to the size you want the finished letter design to be, then using jewelry-making pliers, form the wire following the pattern.

Or, you can apply the pattern to the face of a jig, placing pegs in the spots where the wire needs to be curved and then follow the pattern of the letters forming the wire around the pegs. 

The wire that is used for most of the wire name jewelry seen at craft fairs is sterling silver or gold-filled. 18-gauge full-hard wire is best for holding its shape with moderate wear because it is stiff enough to hold the shapes you form it into.