The Coiling Gizmo

My friend Heidi first introduced me to this funny tool about five years ago. I don’t use it often, but every time I do, I think, “I gotta break this puppy out more!”

The Coiling Gizmo, as its name suggests, is a simple device for making perfect coils of thin wire, which in turn make cool beads. I like to use 24-26 gauge wires, and usually, the colorful ones that come in those sets of little spools.

The Gizmo is easy to use. You just clamp it to a table, feed in some wire, and start cranking. You just guide the wire along so your coil is nice and smooth.

Then, you can pull your finished coil off the spindle, and feed a second piece of wire though it. (I actually like these smooth coils as simple choker elements. They look nice on a silk cord. But, I digress.)

The next step is to take that wire you’ve just strung through your coil, and feed it into the Gizmo. Crank a few times, and then feed in your original coil. Now you have a cool double-coil!

Depending on the amount of pressure you apply, you can make beads that are densely coiled, or lighter and airier.

If you’re feeling particularly frisky, and you started with a long enough coil, then you can repeat this process again and end up with a freaky triple-coil like this.

You can even pre-string your wire with seed beads before you coil it.

You may notice that the size of the coiling spindle keeps changing in my photos. That’s because the set comes with two different sizes. And I hacked mine a bit, and made a third spindle out of a piece of 18-gauge hardened wire, so I’d have one that’s even smaller for very delicate coils.

The Gizmo was invented, like so many cool things, right here in Oregon. LeRoy Goertz was a high school history teacher at a school for delinquent boys. One day, a student of his did a demonstration of how to work with glass and a torch. LeRoy decided that this was what he really wanted to do with his life. A year later, he left teaching to become a studio artist, and his especial love of bronze sculpting led him to invent the Coiling Gizmo.

Depending on the wire you choose, and the spindle you wind it on, you can make anything from very small, delicate beads to larger-scale pendants. Definitely visit CoilingGizmo.com, where there are lots of great photos of way better jewelry than I’ve made here, and a few tutorials as well.