Little miss sunshine

Shine on wearing Linda Jones' glowing golden sunflower jewellery

Linda Jones, MJ Designer

These subtle pink and green semi-precious stones look stunning against the bright gold wire, making these designs really stand out.

Get the wow-factor wearing this statement necklace, featuring a golden flower! The stunning pendant is relatively easy to achieve with wireworking techniques, adding beads for decoration. Team this with a multilayered flower pin, or turn it into a brooch and have fun creating your own different coloured centrepieces!

Necklace

1. Working directly from a spool of 0.8mm gold-plated wire, wrap the wire four times around a 3.5cm mandrel and cut from the spool leaving a 26cm tail. Wind this tightly around the perimeter of the coil. Place the circle onto a steel stake and hammer on both sides, flattening, compressing and work hardening all the coils together.
2. Using round-nosed pliers, create two looped units from 0.8mm wire which have a line of four continuous circles, plus another with three continuous circles. Secure these looped units to the circular hammered frame using 10.5cm lengths of 0.4mm wire. The two four-loop units should sit on each side of the circle and the threeloop unit at the base.
3. Create a wire flower for the centre of the hammered circle. Working directly from a spool of 0.8mm wire, begin zig-zagging the wire up and down, making seven looped zig-zags around 15mm high. Cut the wire from the spool and bring one end around to the other, creating a circular frame. Secure the ends of the wire together to retain the flower shape.
4. Using flat-nosed pliers and your fingers, shape each petal loop by opening up the centres and squeezing the ends. Spend a little time adjusting the frame until you are totally satisfied with the overall shape of the flower. If preferred, you can work harden the petals. Cut 15cm of 0.4mm wire and use this to bind around the centre of the flower.
5. To create the flower centrepiece, thread one 8mm strawberry quartz bead with 0.8mm wire and using the very tips of round-nosed pliers create tiny links at each end. Cut 5cm of 0.4mm wire and thread this through one of the tiny links, adding four 4mm gold beads on each side of the link. Bring the wire and beads around to the top link, threading it back through the link to meet the other end.
6. Twist both wires together to secure, forming a tight beaded frame around the central bead. Push the twisted wire stem into the centre of the flower and secure at the back. Cut another 15cm of 0.4mm wire and use to secure the beaded centre in place, weaving and ‘sewing’ it through the outer perimeter of beads through to the back of the flower frame. Secure the flower at the centre of the hammered circle with 0.4mm wire, binding the petal tips to the outer frame.
7. Suspend lengths of trace chain from the three loops at the base of the circular frame. Create drops using two 4mm gold beads, three 6mm gold bead drops, two malachite chips, one strawberry quartz bead and three gold bugle beads. Attach these to the chains and the loops at the base of the frame, as shown.
8. Cut three 2.5cm lengths and one 3cm length of goldplated trace chain and connect to the four loops on one side of the hammered circular flower unit. The longer length should be attached to the last link. Repeat on the other side. Thread 12 gold bugles with 0.8mm wire, making links at each end. Connect them together with jump rings, attaching six bugle units to each side of the necklace where the four chains taper out.
9. Working directly from a spool of 0.8mm wire, wrap the end around a 2cm cylindrical mandrel to create a coil of six complete circles. Cut the circles from the coil then cut each one in half to create semi-circles of wire. Use the tips of roundnosed pliers to create small links at the ends of the semi-circles, ensuring that the links are at right angles to the curve.
10. Attach the looped semicircle links to the jump rings on each side of the chains of bugle beads to construct the scalloped edging on the necklace chain. Thread 12 strawberry quartz beads with 0.8mm wire, making a flattened spiral head pin at one end and a link at the other. Thread 14, 4mm gold beads and 14 malachite chips with 0.4mm wire, forming wrapped loops for each drop. Connect one each of these beads to the jump rings that connect the bugle bead chain adding just a gold bead and malachite chip to the end jump ring. Create a hook clasp, adding a strawberry quartz bead for the very end of the necklace.

Earrings

1. Thread a gold bugle with 0.8mm wire, using round-nosed pliers to create links at each end. Wrap 0.8mm wire around a 2cm cylindrical mandrel, creating a coil of two complete circles. Cut the circles from the coil, then cut them in half to form semicircles and create links at each end, as for the necklace.
2. Attach a jump ring to each link at the end of the bugle bead and connect two curved units, each curving out in the opposite direction. Thread a strawberry quartz bead with 0.8mm wire, creating a flattened spiral link at one end and a link at the other. Attach the drop to the jump ring at the end of the bugle bead and curved units.
3. Unravel the link end of a ready made gold-plated earwire and straighten it out. Remove the small gold bead and replace with a malachite chip. Using round-nosed pliers, recreate the link at the end of the earwire and connect this to the earring unit. Repeat to make a pair, using the remaining two curved wire units.