I decided to try out a tool I bought some time ago: the Coiling Gizmo. This is a great and fun way to coil wire, regardless of the colour, length or diameter.

I started by trying it out myself, based on the instructions that came with it, and then looked around for ideas and more information – and to ensure I’m making the best of it!

The idea is that you keep on turning it around and voilà! It’s not extensively laborious and it doesn’t necessarily leave you with arm muscles like The Rock’s! 🙂 It’s literally a matter of turning it again and again… and as always, a bit of practice!

You can buy the version I have – the Econo Gizmo, or a more recent version, the Deluxe Gizmo, which contains a few more bits and pieces. Both will give you great results in no time and the possibilities are endless.

I will be giving a few recommendations at the end of the post but for now, here is my how my experience was.

As said, practice makes perfection and you will see below that my first few attempts show two things: The basics of coiling are effortless; easy-to-make mistakes are also easy to avoid!

When coiling, the wire will acquire the new form easily but if there is a kink you may not be able to remove it. Therefore you want to ensure the wire is smooth before you start, by using a nylon jaw flat nose pliers.

One other thing I found is that there is no need to wrap the wire around the curve in the crank rod ten times… one to two is enough! This way, once you’re finished coiling, you unwrap the wire rather that cut it, making it easier to slide it out the rod.

And yes, you can easily coil thicker wire too!

Here are the first pieces I created using this technique:

Of course there is more to it so once I started researching, I found that coiled wire can be coiled a second time, resulting in lovely pieces that can be used as pendants, earrings, bracelets and necklaces. I have yet to try most of those but if here is one of my attempts (and the best so far) at it:

  Here are a couple of videos I found very useful as they explain the technique in detail:

Artistic Wire Coiling Gizmo – all you need to know about the Econo Gizmo by Artistic Wire.

Professional Deluxe Coiling Gizmo – this video is for you if you’ve purchased the Deluxe Gizmo. Artistic Wire show how to use it in detail.

The official Gizmo website contains a variety of projects with instructions for pieces made out of coiled wire.

In YouTube there can also be found a number of projects and ideas.

Have fun in Gizmo world! I know I did! 🙂