With the holidays quickly approaching, I’m sure you can think of a million and one ways to put these wire names to good use. Personalized craft ornaments? Check. Special gift tags? Check. Holiday dinner place settings? Check and check. The options are endless!
Here’s what you’ll need to personalize your own wire craft ornaments:
- 12 Gauge Aluminum Jewelry Wire
- Baker’s Twine or Yarn
- Eurotool Adhesive Super New Glue
- Pliers with Cutter
Instructions:
1. Write or print out in lowercase cursive the name you’ll be making into craft ornaments. Cut a piece of wire long enough to “write” out name. I used an 18″ piece of wire for Jack’s name. Better to cut too long a piece than too short!
2. Begin by making a loop at the beginning of the name with the wire and then follow the lines to make each letter. Use your pliers to pinch tight corners and hold completed letters in place with tape.
3. Finish off name with a sweet little heart!
3a. Names with “T” or “X”: You’ll need to add a small piece of wire to complete your letter. Wrap a small piece of wire around the existing wire and secure with a drop of glue.
4. Tie a basic knot at the top of the name, closest to the loop and secure with a drop of glue.
5. Continue wrapping the yarn or twine tightly around each letter until the entire name is filled. As you can see in the picture, you’re going to have to unbend some of the tight corners to get the yarn/twine in there. Use the glue to help the yarn/twine stay in place in these tight corners. Just watch out you don’t glue your fingertips!
5a. Names with “T” or “X”: When you get to a letter that has a separate section like “t” or “x,” wrap all the way up to the section and then pull the yarn/twine to the end and wrap downward toward the center. Repeat for the bottom half of the line. Ok, that sounds crazy confusing…just follow what’s in the picture!
6. Finish off with a basic knot tied close to the base of the heart. Add a drop of glue to make sure the yarn/twine is secure and your new personalize craft ornaments are done! Now the fun part begins.
What are you going to use your personalized wire craft ornaments for?!
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Love this idea! Can’t wait to give it a go – and I think I’ll make a large one for my craft room too
I did one for my daughter and everyone loved it! It was my first time working with wire but it was easier than I thought it would be. Thank you so much for the tutorial!
I’m stumped on how to do an “S” for both the beginning of a name and for the middle of a name. Please help! Thanks!!
It’s kinda hard to explain without showing you but if you enter the name in this link, you’ll get a better idea: http://www.dafont.com/learning-curve.font
Love this idea but laughing so much since 2 of my boys are max and jack 🙂
Wow, those are awesome. Going to the store right now for wire. 🙂
may i know ,whats the font u’re using ?
I am using these as nametags for the kids stockings!!! Just make sure that your starting “loop” is large enough to hang onto the stocking holder:)
What ply of baker’s twine did you use? I’m seeing 2-ply, 4-ply…online.
Hi Pamela, thanks for stopping by! Vanessa used this 2-ply baker’s twine: http://www.consumercrafts.com/store/details/catalog/scrapbooking-cord-ribbon-trim/bt107
At the beginning of each post is a supply list – click on the orange text and you’ll be led right to the product used.
Omg! Thanks for replying. I’m hopefully making these for each guest at my nephew’s first birthday…or Christmas if I can’t finish them in time. I found the exact same twine you posted in the orange links at Marshall’s (weird that they sell twine, but then again they carry really random stuff) and was reminded of this craft project. I had to Google and thankfully I found it. Thanks for making my day 🙂
Hi, I am going to give this a shot for my ornament exchange. I am a little stumped on how much twine to buy. Its 2.99 for 150 yds at Joanne’s so I’ll get more and exchange if I need too. I am doing about 15 of them , I was going to get 3 packages. If I have extra my daughter will use, If I need more I’ll get it. Anyway I love this , thank you. I saw you had the ornament just hanging off the tree horizontally . Do you have any suggestions for vertical? thank you
Hi! Just wondering how many yards of twine you ended up using on the “Jack” ornament? I’m thinking of purchasing some twine online. Thanks for your time!
Just FYI, you can make your own Bakers Twine and it is much cheaper, actually learned this from this great blog…. Buy either #10 crochet yarn , but I like the regular
Butcher String that you can buy very cheap in a roll…. Use a piece of cardboard and
start winding the string around it, I like to use a 4″ wide piece…..only make one layer
of string with the string close together….Use a permanent marker in any color and
you can either used a straight line or a diaginal line thru the whole layer, I try and
press hard so it goes thru to both sides…. Then unwind let that one dry and make another in different color. Kind of fun to make while watching tv….and a lot cheaper then having to buy different colors…. Love it for tieing on gifts or cards. Happy Crafting with Smiles and Hugs, Ruth
Vanessa, that is a great idea…and not just for Christmas, such personalized ornaments could be used all year round for name tags on gifts…Great idea!!!
Thank you for this tutorial. When I saw a picture of this on pinterest I wasn’t quite sure about the use of it but you showed me how to give it a sense. Thanks as well for explaining how to do the extra-section-letters.
awesomeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Thanks for sharing this! I found it on Pinterest and decided to give it a shot. I made a test one last night with 12 GA wire that I found in the floral section (it’ll probably be cheaper to head to the jewelry section next time) and embroidery floss that I had at home. I couldn’t believe how easy it was to make!
My letters were about an 1″ high and I’ll make the next ones bigger. Love it!
Josie, a wire hanger probably would be too hard to bend and unbend. The wire I got from Consumer Crafts was extremely easy to work with!
Maryellen, I’m sure you could! Just use a thinner wire. I’d love to see what you come up with!
This is a totally awesome personalized craft!!!
its beautifull!! Love it!
Is there a way to make this as a necklace for a child? I can never find anything with my daughter’s name on it and it’s 7 letters.
thanks.
Do you think you could just use a wire hanger instead of the jewelry wire?
@Georgia, this is the wire she used: http://www.consumercrafts.com/store/details/catalog/jewelry-making-and-stringing-wire/1999-1526
How thick is the wire and where can you buy it?
These are amazing!!! You would pay sooooo much for these in a store!
Wow these are wonderful! I wish I’d seen this before I wrapped all of my Christmas presents, these make such wonderful gift tags, I’ve bookmarked this page for next Christmas! 🙂
Nicole, I would just omit the dots found in those letters. For the name “jack” it worked out well enough. The letter “i” might be a bit difficult depending on the name but you’ll just have to play with it. Sorry I’m not more help!
As for covering the wire first, I really had to manipulate the string and glue to cover the corners of the names completely. I’m afraid there might be gaps in the coverage if the wire was covered first and then bent to form the names.
This is really nice! This’ll make a nice tag for the kid’s stuff.
Jess, both names are approximately 6″ long and at the most (“j” and “k”) 2″ wide. Hope that helps!
Any suggestions for how to do a dot on an I or a J?
And why would you not wrap the wire, then shape it?
Thanks for the followup!
What about a little pom pom glued on top of an i or j? I’ve seen holiday ones that even have a little sparkle to them.
I added a heart to the top of my i…
I’ve made these for years out of pipe cleaners and jewelry wire, but just gave them to some of my students. Couldn’t think of a good use for them. I’m going to try it this way for Christmas. My students with unusual names really love something with their name on it.
These are cute! How tall are they? I would LOVE to do this, but I keep sketching out the names and I’m afraid they’re too small! Yours look like the perfect size so I thought I’d aim for however big they are 🙂
These are so cute. c:
Vanessa, these ornaments are just awesome! I love them! If I find a plier somewhere I will definitely try to make some. Thank you for the inspiration!
Oh I love these! I just wish I would have named my kids shorter names! LOL! I am going to be wrapping for a while…;)
Try Bernadette … It was hard … Next time naming my child “J”
Vanessa,
I absolutely love this idea and plan to make one for each of the six kids for Christmas. Thank you so much for the idea and tutorial.
So sweet! I’ve made basic shapes this way but never thought to write a name with it. They make great gift tags!