Cutting and bending steel wire components

A thought on cutting and bending steel wire.

I know things like bending radius and how to calculate cut lengths based on steel property, but this knowledge is applicable only to rebars and not the small wires used for modeling.

A bending jig would be useful for our purpose, but I think it is an over-complication and is beyond me. I rather rely on simpler tools, like a plier and an optional side cutter. I have been doing that but I was not successful with making repeated steel wire components (whether handed or not). They just didn't come up identical.

One experiment had me trying to grip and bend two wires at the same time. There are obvious limitations, and it didn't work well.

I think to be accurate, the wire has to be bent individually (when using a plier) and the bend points must be marked identical, which means it must be precise enough to the nearest half millimetre or so. A steel wire is too small and my eyes too old to mark the bend points accurately. I need something that is easier to measure, mark and see. My proposed solution is to first tape the wire with masking tape, then to measure accurately and mark on the masking tape. I will try that when the opportunity presents.