MAKING STAIR RODS AND HOLDERS
This is a pretty easy process, all you’ll need is 1/16" brass rod and 26 ga. brass wire. If you can’t find 26 ga. wire, 24 or 28 will do. You can find the brass rod at train and hobby shops, or in most hardware stores. Look for a red display case from K&S. The wire is usually in the bead section of most craft stores.
Cutting the brass rods: Use a hacksaw to cut the rods about ¼" longer than the width of the stair runner. You’ll need one more rod than you have stairs, because in addition to putting one at the junction of each tread and riser, you need one at the bottom of the stairs. Whether you put that one at floor level or just under the lip of the bottom tread is up to you. Both are common in real houses.
Making the wire holders: If your wire came on a spool, like a spool of thread, unhook the end of the wire from the slot it’s in, and let the wire unwind (it will want to) until you have 10 or so revolutions standing out from the spool. Cut the wire near the spool – you now have a circlet of wire strands in your hand. Don’t let go. Cut the wire ring on opposite sides, so you now have 20 semi-circular pieces. This is just a fast way to cut a number of similar lengths, without having to unwind and measure each piece.
Set all but one aside, and take one piece of the rod you cut earlier. Fold the wire so it makes a nice tight turn in the middle, laying your rod into the turn.
Splay out the ends of the wire, so the rod is held snugly in the loop you’ve formed. Now hold the splayed out ends somewhat firmly in one hand, and turn the rod with the other, forming a spiral down from the rod.
Keep twisting until the twisted stem part is at least ½" long. Slide it off the rod, set it aside and repeat. You’ll need two for each rod.
Once they’re all twisted, find some scissors you don’t care about any more, and trim off the splayed out tails, so the finished "screw eye" is about ½" long. Pretty easy, huh?