Turtles and Spirals Brooch or Pendant Tutorial

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Level: Very Advanced
Page count: 39
Number of Steps: 73

Turtles are one of my favorite animals and so I designed this brooch to honor these ancient creatures.
This detailed tutorial teaches you how to make your own turtle and covers several useful and versatile techniques, including:

• Forming a complex wire frame using a jig
• Creating a dome (which we will use as a shell) using beads that in this case will signify the sections of the turtle shell.
• Using wire spirals to secure a bead in position
• Weaving with wire
• Forming your own pin from wire

The main tutorial is for a brooch but there are 2 variations included one is instructions for a pendant variation, which uses a simple hidden bail, the other is for a quicker version of the turtle, which uses spirals instead of weaving the flippers.

The turtle is 2” head to tail and 1 3/4” across.

Please note that this tutorial uses a Wig Jig Olympus

Please read through the tutorial at least once before starting.

Material List:

19 ½” 18 gauge soft round wire (or 18 1/2” for the bail variation)
4” 20 gauge soft or HH round wire (or 12” for the spiral variation)
235” 28 gauge soft or HH round wire (or 230” for the spiral variation)
11 6mm round beads
1 4mm round bead
2 2mm round silver beads
1 flat oval bead approx 25mm x 15mm

Tool List:

Chain nose pliers
Round nose pliers
Wire cutters
Flat nose pliers
Nylon jaw pliers
Wig Jig Olympus
Rawhide mallet
Anvil
File
hammer