Making a Jewelry Wire Bail Finding --
A Beginner's Jewelry Making Technique -- Page 8

Alternative Configuration (Continued):

The two bails shown at right look rather large in these pictures.  These two bails are actually 3/32nd inch in diameter.  The pictures are enlarged so that you can see the finished bail better.  Our instructions for making these bails begin below. 

Step 1:  Using your nylon jaw pliers, straighten a segment of 22 or 24 gauge wire that is at least 2 inches long.  The two bails shown at right were made with 24 gauge wire.  One was made with soft wire and one was made with half-hard wire.  It is slightly easier to make this bail finding more consistently using half-hard wire.

Step 2:  Using your flush cutter, cut a segment of the straightened wire 2 inches long. 

Step 3:  Position one regular metal peg in a WigJig Olympus, Olympus Lite or Electra. 

Step 4:  Position your wire so that 3/4" of the wire is on one side of the peg and the remainder, longer portion of the wire, is on the opposite side of the peg.  With the wire positioned in that manner, wrap the wire completely around the peg as shown at right. 

Step 5:  Remove the wire from your jig.  It should appear as shown at right.

Step 6:  Now we need to grasp the loop in our round nose pliers as shown at right.  It is slightly hard to view, but we want to grasp the wire slightly off center on the side of the shorter, 3/4" wire segment.  When you have the wire gripped in this manner, bend the long wire segment until it is perpendicular to the shorter wire segment and points toward the center of the circle of wire. 

These instructions continue on the following webpage.