Hammered Pendant

• Use a heavy gauge wire to create unique hammered pendants. Choose a wire of 18 gauge or lower; the smaller the gauge number, the larger the wire. Create a loop with jewelry pliers at the end of your wire. The loop should be large enough to accommodate a necklace chain. Close the loop, and work-harden the wire by hammering it lightly with a mallet on an anvil or steel block bench. Below the loop, you can shape the wire to create an interesting design. Try organic curves or a simple heart design. Do not overlap the wire if you want a hammered shape; the overlapping wires might break under the stress. Hammer your design with a chasing hammer to flatten and work-harden the pendant. The chasing hammer should have a slightly rounded face, rather than a flat one. This eliminates unwanted ridges when flattening a round wire.
  
  

Golden Dream Catcher

• Weave your own golden dream catcher pendant using two different gauges of gold or gold-filled wire. Create a large circle with 16 or 18 gauge wire, and work-harden the wire with a mallet, so the edges stay together. Wrap thinner, 26 gauge wire in a web pattern around the circle. You add beads and finish with a silver feather dangle. Make a wire-wrapped loop at the top to hang the pendant from a necklace.
  
  

Wire-Wrapped Pendant

• Wire-wrapped pendants are always attractive. Use top-drilled beads for large pendants such as gemstone briolettes, though smaller, side-drilled beads such as pearls also work well.
  For a more inexpensive wire-wrapping option, use gold-filled wire, which is made from an alloy that gets at least 1/20th of its weight from gold. It is usually available in 10, 12 and 14 karat alloys. Dead soft wire is the easiest to work with when hand wrapping stones or beads. When finishing the wire wrapping, don't forget to make the top loop of the pendant large enough to admit the clasp end of your necklace.