Here are some tips and ideas for templates for bending wire

• Use a heavier gauge (18 or 20) for bending letters and shapes, it holds much better, and a lighter gauge (24 and up) for beading, accents and scroll designs.
• Use common house hold tools for different shapes. I have used pens and pencils for small circles (like “o”), a small water bottle for a heart (bend the wire around for a circle, pinch one end for the point then push down on the top.), and the top s of your zig 2 way glue for varying size circles.
• Use a heavier gauge (18 or 20) for bending letters and shapes, it holds much better, and a lighter gauge (24 and up) for beading, accents and scroll designs.
• Practice, Practice, Practice!!
• Use the plastic tipped pliers to squeeze sides together. Using your needle nose may damage the finish of the wire, and if the wire is plastic coated, will gouge the plastic.• Download fonts in a pretty large size, print them out and use them as a guide for words.
• Using your fingers to bend the wire will result in fewer kinks, and softer lines. Pliers can make sharper, crisp lines and bends, but make the wire harder to “fix”
• Be creative! Just about anything can be done with wire. Line tags with scrolls, use wire to “staple” pictures, connect journal blocks or titles.
• Make your own shaped clips! Control the sizes and swirls, make circles, squares, curly Ques.

Consider threading wire (instead of fibers) through the hole of a tag.

Using four eyelets and some wire, you can make a quick, lovely and unique frame for your layout. Simply set your eyelets in a square or rectangular shape to accommodate the size of your photo. Run your wire through the eyelets to create your frame. The photo may be just slipped under the wire! Other items can be tucked under the wire as well; tickets and other memorabilia.

The best way I have found to make a wire word is to practice writing it out on a paper before hand. Lay the pen/pencil down on the paper and try to make the word flow without lifting your writing tip off the paper. This forces you to think about how to bend the wire before you start (hopefully eliminating some unwanted kinks) and it gives time to pre-plan where beads might look nice as well as the overall size.