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How to Make Wire Valentine Hearts
Free Wire and Jig Pattern
~ Anne Helmenstine, Ph.D.
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You can make heart shapes using wire by hand, using nothing more than your fingers and roundnosed pliers. However, you can get consistent sizes and shapes if you use a jig to form the heart. Here's an easy pattern that can be used with any gauge wire to make heart pendants and eardrops. I've completed a couple of designs to give you ideas of how to use this versatile shape.
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Skill Level
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Easy - Beginner
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Time Required
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Minutes
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| Materials | Comments |
| Jig | You can purchase a jig or make your own. I used WigJig's Cyclops jig. |
| Wire | Anything thinner than 22 gauge will be very fragile. I used 20 gauge sterling silver square wire (full hard) for the larger heart pendant and 22 gauge sterling silver wire (dead soft) for the earring dangle. Pretty much any wire will work, but there are some wire types that are more suitable than others. If you need to convert between gauge and metric wire sizes, a conversion table is available for your convenience. |
| Pliers | You can smooth angular edges with roundnose pliers or enhance angles with smooth flatnose or chainnose pliers. |
| Anvil | Optional. I used a hammer and anvil to flatten and harden the earring dangle, but didn't touch the square wire heart. |
| Hammer | Use a hammer if you need to harden your design. Nylon coated hammers will not mar your wire. Use a steel hammer if you want a distressed appearance. |
| Wire Cutters | I used flush cutters. |
| Files | Optional. Use a file to smooth any sharp edges on your hearts. |
 Here is the peg pattern I used to form my hearts. Experiment with this shape to make your heart larger or smaller or to alter the attachment points at the top. I left my wire on the spool to wrap it around the pegs.
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 For this design, start by wrapping your wire in a loop around the peg that forms the 'v' of the heart. Go around the outside of the pegs that form the heart shape. Wrap around the 'v' peg again. Complete the design by wrapping around the peg above the 'v'. This will form a loop you can use to attach your heart to a chain or to use it as a dangle. Cut the wire.
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 For the square wire heart, I cut the design from the jig and left one loop semi-open so that this heart could be opened and closed to attach removeable dangles. For the earring dangle, I cut the wire right where the loop was completed. I liked the hand-made appearance, so I didn't smooth these hearts with pliers, however, you can use your fingers and roundnose pliers to make perfectly formed hearts. You may wish to flatten your design with a hammer/anvil or by pressing the heart between two hard, flat objects (like two cookie sheets).
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Use your hearts as-is or decorate them with dangles. I added a few pearl and crystal dangles to the pendant heart and ran a silver chain through the top loop. The earring heart has a dangle suspended from the 'v' loop, with the top loop used to attach the heart to the earwire. Have fun!
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