The Coiling Gizmo

Thanks for visiting Craft Critique! If you've come here from a search engine or from a direct link, you might be missing out on more content! Please visit CraftCritique.com. And for more amazing content such as projects, artist interviews and more, sign up for our Monthly Newsletter.

Reported by: Sara McKenzie

Let me introduce The Coiling Gizmo, simple device which allows you make tight, even coils of wire. Even though the name is a little too cute (IMHO), it's actually pretty descriptive, because it is a "gizmo"- I can certainly think of no better name.

The tool can be used by holding it in your hand, or by clamping the bracket frame to your work bench, or even screwing it onto a base of wood. All of the work that I will show here was done holding the frame in my hand. This version retails for a mere $15 on the creator's website, but it also is available on Articus Studio Design, A Bead Store, and JoAnn's all for less than that.

This version is the Econo-Winder, which is a completely manual tool consisting of three parts:

1. a small cranking rod (or mandrel, if you know jewelry parlance);
2. a large cranking rod; and
3. a bracket frame, to hold the cranking rods.

You can make your coils with craft wire (colored copper wire), or if you wish, you can invest in sterling silver or even gold wire for "real" jewelry once you get proficient with the Gizmo. The two sizes of craft wire I've tried are 20 gauge and 24 gauge (in wire, the larger the gauge, the smaller the diameter; so 24 gauge is finer than 20 gauge).

You start by winding a short tail of your wire around the "eye" of the smaller cranking rod. The free end of the rod is inserted through both holes of the frame. Hold the frame in one hand, with your thumb pressing the wire against the side of the frame. Your other hand will turn the crank, which makes the wire wrap around the rod, creating the coil. Apply a bit of tension to the wire as you are cranking so that the coils remain even.

The length of your coil depends on what you want to do with it. You can use it as-is, as a single coil, or you can release it from the rod and coil the coil, and make a bead from it. For the latter, you need to make a longer first coil than you might think....

Once you have the length you want, you snip the end of the wire and then snip it to release it from the eye, where you first started coiling.

To make a double-coil bead, take the coil that you just created and insert a piece of wire through the center. Attach the free end of the wire to the eye of the large cranking rod, put the rod into the large holes in the frame, and make about six turns to get the wire started. Then, gently apply pressure to the end of the coil with the hand that is holding the frame, as you continue to wind the crank with the other hand. The coil will start to wrap around the rod, creating a coiled-coil.

Finish coiling the coil, then wrap the remaining wire another 6 times around the rod, and then cut the wire to release your new coiled-coil. You can shape this into a bicone bead shape by gently untwisting the coil at it's center, and making it a bit tighter at the ends. You can do this with your fingers.

Here is a pair of earrings I made using a single coil, then dangling some beads in the center. I used 20 gauge silver wire for the coil, and inserted another piece of 20 gauge through the center.

This pair of earrings uses a double-coil bead. I used orange 20 gauge wire for the first coil, and then 20 gauge copper wire in the center, to create the coiled-coil. I finished the design by inserting another piece of 20 gauge orange wire through the entire bead, and making a spiral design on the bottom, and eye at the top.

Pros:

• The price is certainly right (as long as you don't buy it from the creator's website!). It's cheap enough that you won't feel guilty if you buy it but don't use it all the time.
• It really is simple to use, and works well repeatedly, if you follow the few simple guidelines.
• You can also use it to make your own nicely-shaped jump rings for other projects.

Cons:

• The photos in the instructions are small and dark. I had to go to the internet to find another source- which was easy enough. In fact, the Coiling Gizmo website has a link to a great video by another beader, Auntie's Beads.
• The creator's website has very few projects listed. You have to go elsewhere to find them. (They are out there to be found.)

Other jewelry uses for the coils include wrapping them around beads, making bracelets, and even necklaces. Sharilyn Miller has a cool book called "Bead on a Wire" which gives lots of lovely ideas for using coils in jewelry.

But I think these would also make really fun embellishments for cards and scrapbooking- you could pull the ends of the coil to spread them out and make springy, 3-D wire trinkets to decorate your paper crafts. And what about wrapping some coils around candles and dangling beads off of them?

Have you tried it? I'd love to hear your thoughts on other ways to use the Gizmo and it's coils, and even see your creations!