Copper & Turquoise Bird's Nest Pendant

This beautiful little nest pendant is very sturdy and has a nice weight. The blue turquoise makes for a lovely robin's egg nest, great for both nature lovers and moms. You can even customize the number eggs to represent the wearer's children or grandchildren. And they're a lot of fun to make! :-)

You’ll need:

Round or oval turquoise beads – 3, about 4-5mm

22 gauge copper square wire (soft) – about 4’

24 or 26 gauge stainless steel round wire – about 2’

Matching jumpring

Chain or cord

Round nosed pliers

Flat or chain nosed pliers

Wire cutters

Drill (optional)

Twist about 3-4 feet of square copper wire with a drill or wire twister. And set aside.

Twisting square wire with a drill:

a) Open the drill jaw (where a bit goes) so the gaps between the sections are about 4mm

b) Set an end of the wire (a good practice length is about a foot) in a side gap and close the jaws, trapping the wire. Make it tight.

c) Hold the other end of the wire with flat pliers with one hand and hold the drill with the other hand

d) Start the drill at a slow speed and gradually increase. Any speed is fine as long as everything seems tight and under control. I like to go just slow enough to see the wire twisting so I can check for spots that are getting overly twisty.

e) Stop when you like the look and remove your twisted, straightened wire.

Note: For long wires you can fix one end to something stationery, or ask someone to hold it for you.

String 3 turquoise beads on about 9” of the 24g round stainless steel wire and form a circle about 2/3 of the way down the wire. Twist the wire gently a couple of times (too tight and you may break the wire) to secure.

Leave ends free and set aside. These are the eggs.

LOOSLY spiral the square twisted wire with flat nose pliers until the spiral is wider than the egg cluster. You must leave gaps in the spiral to pull the binding wire through later.

Making Spirals

Use your round nose pliers to make a tiny round loop at the end of a wire. Then wind the loop into a spiral using flat nosed pliers. To do this, hold the wire in one hand and rotate the loop with pliers in the other hand a quarter turn at a time. 

Affix the egg cluster to the center of the spiral with the 24g round wire ends. Don’t worry about centering or being neat – that comes later. Start using the egg wire ends to bind the twisted spirals together. I usually do this in a haphazard way perpendicular to the twisted spiral wires as shown.

Wind more of the twisted copper square wire up and around the eggs into a loose nest shape. The height and thickness is up to you. Leave gaps. Don’t be neat.

Keep the shape by weaving the 24g round wire around the twisted square wire. There’s really no wrong way to do this as long as you don’t make the wires too tight. Leave gaps for further weaving and the nest shape will emerge.

Bind the nest together with more of the round wire, moving in and out and around through gaps.

When the ends fron the eggs wire gets to be about 1” long, cut more 24g round wire. I cut about 1-2’ at a time.

(The longer you cut pieces, the more likely it is that the wire will get tangled. However, the more short pieces you cut, the more wire ends you will have to deal with.)

You will basically be going back and forth between the copper nest wire and the steel binding wire. This is the sculpting art, so have fun with it :-)

Pull wires as tight as you want now. The nest should be getting fairly dense. Most of the gaps will be filled in.

Cut more more round wire as needed. 

When you are getting to like the look and shape of your nest, look to see how you would like the pendant to hang and where you would like the top. Find a twisted square wire on the top that runs parallel to the nest with a little bit of wiggle room. Work the end of your round nose pliers under this wire. Then pull out a loop of that wire and form into a half circle. It doesn’t need to be very big - 4-6mm will be plenty.

When you're happy with your nest, end your weaving with the round wire ends facing up and cut them short – about 5 – 6mm. Use chain nose pliers to bend the ends over and tuck them securely into the nest wherever you can find little gaps.

Time for the finishing touches.

Compress and shape the nest by gently squeezing it with your pliers, but be careful to avoid the beads. 

Tighten any loose wires by pulling or twisting them wth your round nose pliers so that they are tucked in and secure.

When you like the final shape you are done sculpting your nest!

Attach a jumpring to the loop on the top of your nest. Hold the pendant by the jumpring and make sure it hangs nicely. You can adjust the loop with your chain nose pliers until your pendant hangs nice and straight. 

Optional: I add a jewelry sealer to prevent tarnishing.

Now your nest is ready to go on a cord or chain and wear. Enjoy!!