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Saturday, March 5, 2011

Wire Wrapping Techniques

I've found a video that clearly show how to do a basic wire-wrapped loop for your creations and also provides some good creative inspiration. I've also included a few links for how-to books that you can purchase from Amazon.

Simple Wrapped Loop for Earring, Necklace or Bracelet Component.
In this video, Monica very clearly demonstrates what I've heard some folks find to be rather difficult to do. It's an easy technique, but requires practice. Something she doesn't say is this: Make sure you're using half-hard or dead soft wire. Wire that is already work-hardened is terribly difficult to wrap in any way. This means you may have to buy some wire to create your own eye pins. I'll include a link for that too.



Here's a link for a good basic wire wrapping book:  More Wirewrapping: The Basics and Beyond

This is also a good book with great images:  Wirework: An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Wire Wrapping

And if you need good quality wire in half hard or dead soft you can get it here:  Sterling Silver Wire Half Round Half Hard 22 Gauge 5 Ft   I would actually suggest browsing this individual's items if you're going to be doing more wrapping than just coiling around an eye loop.  She's got good prices on 26 ga wire  which is an excellent gauge to use for wrapping.  28 gauge is great also.  Actually, her price on the 26 ga half hard is better than I've seen anywhere else.  Wonder how she's doing that, since she's only making $2 on this sale.  The price of raw silver closed at just over $35 a troy ounce today and she's offering 1 troy ounce for $37.99.

If you look at this woman's bracelet, it is crafted completely from sterling wire.  She's used chain maille for some of the linkage work. I own this book:  Beaded Chain Mail Jewelry: Timeless Techniques with a Twist (Lark Jewelry Books) and it's an invaluable tool for making Chain Mail (or maille, if you're fancy) jewelry.

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