Recycled Copper Chain Tutorial

I have a load of cut off bits of electrical wire hanging around at the moment that are too short for any use and rather than throw them out I decided to use them in a piece of jewellery I'm working on at the moment (its a secret at the moment so come back to see the finished piece next weekend). So I wanted to share how to make a chain out of the scrap copper.

Depending on the type of wire you have there could be a number of strands of copper inside and they could range in gauge but what I have is six strands of wire about 1.1mm thick.

1: After stripping the rubber off the wires you will be left with long strands of wire like this.

2: I use a skewer that is about 5mm around for this part. I wrap the copper around the skewer until the whole piece of wire is now in a coil shape and remove it from the skewer. Click here to see my tutorial on making a coil.

3: Now simply start at the end of the coil you finished and just where the wire starts to overlap cut the wire and you now have a jump ring. Keep doing this until you have no more left on the coil. Click here to see my tutorial on making Jump Rings.

4: You now need to separate all the Jump Rings you have made into two piles and close all the jump rings in the first pile.

5: Open all of the Jump Rings in the second pile.

6: Now you add one closed ring onto and open ring and close it up. You then add one open ring onto the ring you just closed, add a closed ring and close. Continue this on until you have no rings left or have reached the length you are looking for. You can simply add a clasp to the end by using an open ring on either end to make a simple bracelet.

You now have a simple copper chain that you have made for free using something that is just sitting around in the shed or going in the bin. 

Have you made this? Let me know in the comments below how you got on or if you have any other questions.