Spiral wine glass charms

This afternoon I got out beads and silver wire, and made a bunch of wine glass charms. My friend Kathy gave me a few of these, and they're so easy to make. Silver wire won't rust, so I just leave the charms on my glasses.

I really like the beautiful glass lampwork beads for these charms. They're a good size, come in interesting shapes, and are distinctive enough to stand on their own.

These spiral tags are really easy to make. You will need a pair of needle nose pliers with fine tips best are the type made for jewelry making, as they have smooth tips that won't mark the wire, but I've uesd both types. You'll also need something round to wrap the wire around, which should be a bit bigger in diameter than the stem of your wine glasses. A  smooth-barreled pen, the stem of a screwdriver, or a jewelry-making mandrel will all work. 

First, cut a 4.5 in. length of wire.

Make a tiny loop in one end of the wire, using the needle nose pliers. For fun, vary the loop: single, double, even a tiny spiral. You can even buy silver wire already cut in various lengths; some come with a ball end which looks really pretty..

String the bead and let it drop against the loop.

Hold the pen in your right hand, and push the bead right up against the pen with the wire running underneath. Wrap the wire around the pen barrel, angling the wire so you create a spiral with a small gap between the wires. You'll want at least 3 full wraps.

Remove the spiral from the pen barrel. Trim the end if needed, and make a loop in the end of the wire. Note how much you trimmed off. If you trimmed 1/2 inch, for the next charm, cut the wire 4 in. long. If the spiral ended up too short, you'll want to start with a longer piece of wire. And also remember that glasses will need different diameter charms. My red wine glasses have more robust stems than my delicate white wine glasses. You'll want to experiment: make a charm and try it out on your own glasses, then adjust the measurements as necessary.

To use the charm: slip the gap that's closest to the bead over the stem of the glass, and carefully twist the spiral until it's wrapped around the stem of the glass. Be careful not to bend the wire; you're just incorporating the glass stem into the spiral, which is easy if you use a delicate touch. The bead should rest on the foot of the wine glass, right at the base of the stem.