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.

Blue Lace Agate Dilemma

So - I've had this agate for years. I've looked at it, fondled it, hidden it, wired it, unwired it, played table football with it. Until tonight. Tonight, while watching the BBC production of "The Way We Live Now" (David Suchet is sooo sleazy in this production!) I hit on what I wanted to do.

So I pulled out my sterling wire, my wonderful Grobet pliers and my wire cutters. That's when I realized I couldn't find my flush cuts. They sucked anyway and the ones I REALLY want are these: Lindstrom Sidecutter,Flush Pliers because they REALLY ARE flush cutters. Most pliers squeeze the wire too much while cutting, leaving you with an angled and very sharp edge that you have to then file down. These don't. How do I know this? Cuz my silver smithing instructor had them at the studio. They're marvelous. But I digress - this isn't a post about pliers.

Anyway, I've got the agate nicely framed, but my dilemma is how to get the frame to stay on the agate. It positively won't act like a bezel and I'm beginning to think I need this: Wire Wrapping: The Basics And Beyond because I'm just NOT coming up with a great idea regarding how to keep this stupid frame/bezel, whatever you want to call it, on the agate.

Here are some photos. I'm thinking I need to criss-cross wire across the back, wrap once around each corner of the frame and then end with little wire spiral "prongs" - one in each corner of the stone. The stone is gorgeous, and I'd like not to have anything on the front of it, but I don't think I can get away from it, not with cold connections.

Here are four photos of what I've done so far. Anyone with ideas, please post comments!

My Pliers Have Callouses

I've been wrapping wire for years using just my pliers. I was a purist. I could do anything a little board with pegs could do, right? Ahem. Wrong. Well, okay not totally wrong,but it takes me hours to create the intricate designs I want to make in wire when I can do them in a fraction of the time with this little gizmo: Wig Jig Delphi Clear Acrylic Jewelry Wire Wrapping Tool. I bought one last night. It's on the way.

For four years I've avoided Wigjig. Why? Because while browsing the Etsy community late at night, which is when I do most of my browsing and surfing, I stumbled upon a post by an artisan who had some truly lovely wire designs in her studio. Then I read her post. For some reason it stuck to me like glue, and that might be because I truly AM a purist. She stated: "MY designs are all HANDMADE with PLIERS. Everyone else is using a Wigjig and saying they're making their own wire wrap designs. They're not. They've got a toy to do it. I do it the RIGHT way."

I'm surprised I can still quote it - but I can, so that's how much of an impact her statement had on me. I knew I was skilled enough to create the same types of intricate designs that she was creating, and I AM skilled enough. I've been doing it for four years, my pliers have callouses and it's just plain narrow-minded to believe that because one uses a TOOL that makes life easier they are doing something the wrong way.

You still have to work at using the jig. It takes practice, and I suggest starting with some cheap brass wire first. Tomorrow you'll be able to find some in both my stores: ArgentSol on Artfire and ArgentSol on Etsy. 40 yard spools of - well, I can't remember what gauge right now - but I'll look it up tomorrow prior to listing - brass wire for $6.50. That's a steal. I haven't seen that quantity on the web, outside of my wholesaler (who requires a tax ID number to order) for less than $8.00. Tack shipping onto that (I don't charge shipping on any order up to 13 ounces)and you've got a mighty expensive spool of wire. But I digress.

I've decided to also buy this book: Making Wire Jewelry: 60 Easy Projects in Silver, Copper & Brass because I've been wrapping by the seat of my pants and I want to learn correct techniques. I also want to learn NEW techniques. I have a gorgeous cobalt blue crystal sphere and I want to create a lacy, filagree-look hanging "basket" for it in sterling silver. I'm going to practice with the cheap brass wire, first though. I'll post photos when I'm successful.

Take a look at the two items I posted here. I think you'll find them invaluable, whether you're a hobbyist artisan or a professional artisan.

'Nuff said. I need to get to bed.

My job is playing with beads all day. What's yours?

2 weeks ago I got laid off from my oh-so-corporate job. After 30 years in the corporate world, I was GLAD. I don't want to go back to corporate America. If I am to succeed and have my old age taken care of, I can't rely on the corporate conveyor belt to help me do those things. There is no such thing as job security. We can allow corporate America to break us or we can MAKE ourselves without the dubious "help" of a Fortune 500 company.

So, when I got my walking papers, I walked out to my car, drove home with the sunroof open, Joao Gilberto and Stan Getz blasting out of my speakers, pulled in my driveway, walked in my door and said (to my cats) FREE AT LAST! The universe is being kind to me.

In the space of two weeks I've set up two online bead shops.

ArgentSol on Artfire

and

ArgentSol on Etsy

I've set up this blog.

I've researched and found some remarkable wholesalers and have been bleeding money ever since. I'm doubly lucky in that I had and have help with this endeavor.

I'm triply lucky because I have a fairy god-sister who keeps sending me care packages full of food, beads, lotions, potions, soap, toothpaste, shampoo and everything a girl needs. You see, my goal is to get these businesses up and running and then settle in to start writing again. My fairy god-sister is also my stand-in editor and when I get to the point where I feel some security, I will start writing again. We both believe this (trilogy, at least!) book endeavor will go to publication and be a raging success, but first I must have the income to keep me solvent and keep me at home, away from the grasping talons of corporate American middle-management. SHUDDER.

BTW, my fairy god-sister is a beading maven. She has her own shop set up. Please click below and visit it. Once you've landed there, please purchase something. It will help keep a starving bead seller in soap ant toothpaste!

Athena Creations

She's just opened her store, so she doesn't have a lot listed, but keep coming back because even though she works full time and is a single mom, she is SUPERWOMAN and spends every bit of her spare time working her poor little fingers to death creating art from natural stone beads. I think her designs have a lovely simple elegance to them and are timeless. She uses exceptionally fine beads and components, so when you buy from Athena Creations you are getting high quality artisan-made jewelry that, if properly cared for, will become family heirlooms and one day wind up on Antiques Roadshow as her great-great granddaughter lovingly pulls out a necklace and earrings set and gently lays it on the table.

The Roadshow jewelry expert's eyes will bug out as far as they can without leaving their sockets and rolling beneath the table, her jaw will hang open and she will look at Miss Great-Great Granddaughter and say: "I have seen only one other piece like this on the Roadshow and it was more than 10 years ago. Do you know what this is?" Great-great Granddaughter will shake her head no and softly announce: "My mom gave them to me - they belonged to her grandmother, I think, or something like that. I'm not really sure." The roadshow expert will grin broadly and proclaim: "Young Lady, what you have here is truly a rare find. Many years ago people did a lot of their shopping from computers. Do you know what a computer is?" Great-great granddaughter will look puzzled, but will nod anyway.

The Roadshow expert will expound: "Computers were high technology back then and there was a thing called the internet. It was the predecessor to the way we buy things now. Back then, many people would open up 'internet shops' where they would sell their wares. There were many many artisans who attempted to make a living this way, but your great-great - was it grandmother? - was one of those who was hugely successful. Her designs were of an elegant simplicity and they were hugely popular, so popular, in fact, that she was able to quit her full-time job and spend the latter half of her life doing the thing she loved most." Great-great granddaughter stifles a yawn.

The Roadshow expert looks smug and says: "Do you know what that was?" Great-great granddaughter tilts her head to the side, looks at the jewelry on the table and says: "um...was it making jewelry?"

The Roadshow expert beamed and smiled so big that the glint from her extra-white teeth eclipsed the perfectly adjusted lighting in the convention center as she exclaimed "Yes, it was! What a truly SMART girl you are! That was her passion, and that set of jewelry made by Athena Creations was the crown jewel of all her collections."

The Roadshow expert tentatively pushed her forefinger along the edge of the necklace until she reached the agate pendant suspended from its ethereally beautiful beaded chain and said: "You must take very good care of this. Wear it, but take care of it. It is worth $125,000 at auction. You should probably tell your mother to add it to her insurance policy for $250,000 at the very least. It is one of a kind, my dear, and is irreplaceable. The world of artisan-crafted jewelry has seen no better since her time."

Great-great granddaughter had to be taken out on a stretcher and driven home in an ambulance where her mother then collapsed to the kitchen floor at the prospect of taking out a $250,000 jewelry rider on their homeowner's insurance policy to insure the "that junky old thing" that her daughter insisted was beautiful and probably had some value.

The moral of this story is: We never know what the future holds, so we MUST do what we love and do it with passion. The End.

Why I have a Bead Blog

Well, I'm a bead seller. :) I sell Swarovski Crystal Elements (beads, rhinestones, buttons, pendants, etc) and prisms. I also have the beading addiction, so I make things.

I was recently laid off from corporate america and surprisingly, I'm thankful for it. I've been bleeding money over the past two weeks, buying stock for my two online stores: www.argentsol.org and www.argentsol.net

I've also been cramming to fill custom earring orders as well as suncatchers that I sell at the local gift shop.

Currently, I'm sitting at a desk with a laptop in front of me. To my left are three bead containers full of Swarovski crystals ranging in color from Lt. peach to Emerald AB. There is a brass gauge that I use for measuring beads and stones, and a cup full of vintage Swarovski crystal beads that still needs to be sorted.

On top of my desk there are 5 strands of lovely rose-pink freshwater pearls - perfect in every way. I almost don't want to sell them. Like most bead addicts, part of the addiction is the ability to fondle the beads whenever we want. Don't ask. Bead addicts will understand.

To my left are some Hill Tribe fine silver beads, another container full of Swarovski beads, beading wire, three jeweler's files, seven pair of jeweler's pliers. Oh - buy good ones. Mine are Grobet, and they cost a bundle of money but they are much MUCH better than the ones you buy at hobby and craft stores.

Directly across from me is a chair. No one can sit in it and I have two cats complaining about that. It's filled with bead containers. On the floor is a container full of lampwork beads. Oops - there's the pair of green millifiori beads I was looking for last night. They're hiding under my note pad.

A little farther to my left, in front of my bookcase and radiator is a lovely oak table with gorgeous curved iron legs and matching chairs. I think it's a dining room table, but it's currently covered in beads, wire, head pins, eye pins, tool caddy, poly bags, and more bins of beads.

On the floor between the table and the chair that my cats want to sit in are 9 bead totes, each containing a dozen sectioned bead holders. They're full.

The antique edwardian bench in front of my fireplace is littered with wire, more beads, planishing hammer, my jeweler's saw and a roll of blades, as well as a lovely indian-red tapestry pillow - and you guessed it. I added beaded fringe to it. snort!

On the floor next to the lovely edwardian bench is a shipping box full of - OMG - how did you know? BEADS! Mostly Swarovski, but some Czech glass and lots of brand new lampwork.

I've pulled my reading chair in front of my sofa so I can sit and watch movies as I fill orders, count beads, 24 to a pack, into poly bags, or, when time permits, get to work on creating finished product to sell at the gift shop.

I'm awaiting an order from Finding King that contains my new torch, a new set of hammers, a jumpring maker because it's just a pain in the butt to coil the wire, go to my bench, sit down, align the coil in my pin, and hold it steady while I saw through the coil. Inevitably the coil slips and I wind up with my floor littered with jump rings and not one of them is the same size as the other. Hence the jump ring maker.

Behind me is a sewing table. Do I sew at it? HAHAHAHAHAH! No. The top has stacking drawer bins for inventory. The drawers of the table are full of tools and beading materials. Underneath it live my 4,000 poly bags, 300 small gold gift boxes, and two cardboard boxes full of beading miscellany that I have yet to sort.

So, now do you know why I have a bead blog? I'm unemployed, I'm an artist, I'm a trained silver smith and it makes no sense for me to go back into corporate america where I'm a seat warmer. I'm going to make my living through my passion: jewelry and the supplies to make it.

So if you're a bead or Swarovski addict, as I am, click on my links, (any link will do because I'll be optimized for adsense here in 48 hours, or so they say, but I'd love for you to look at my shops - I have one on Etsy and one on Artfire. I intend to open my own website soon, as well. Baby steps.

Okay, the kitties are circling me with ravenous intent. I believe this means they are hungry. I'm off to feed the ravening hordes.

Just a Glass Cutter...

Are you a bead addict? Like me, are you addicted to Swarovski, all colors, all shapes, all sizes, styles, ANYTHING Swarovski? Okay, I admit it, my addiction extends to anything sparkly but the first time I saw Swarovski crystal was when I was a vintage jewelry seller on eBay. I'd get box lots in, and in almost every one of them there would be multi-strand necklaces. Some of them, while being spectacular from a distance, weren't all that great up close. I started noticing that all of the signed pieces simply had more sparkle than the unsigned pieces. So I started researching. What I found was that the higher-end costume designers used Swarovski crystal in their creations. The lower-end costume jewelry designers (sometimes from the same design house) would use Czech crystal. Czech crystal is nothing to sneeze at, but it's not Swarovski.

The more I researched, the more entranced I became with Swarovski. Then the unthinkable happened. The sparkle addict met a Swarovski prism dealer. This was 7 years ago. The dealer and I are still fabulous friends, and his sales got rather padded that first year of my Swarovski addiction.

Time passed and I caught the beading bug. I started with cheap beads from China, and beads from vintage necklaces that were broken beyond repair. I figured anyone could bead. Boy was I wrong! I think it took about a year for me to truly establish good techniques. Meanwhile, I was selling some rather poorly crafted jewelry made with cheap components. I don't know; maybe we all start that way.

One day I went searching for better beads. I found a seller who had EVERYTHING. I'd never seen an online store with such SUNSHINE in it! I bought a few things and when my order arrived, there was a little 1" X 1" poly bag with 10 beads of different colors. Samples. And guess what? They were ALL Swarovski. Guess what I did? Yup. That bead seller began to LOVE me.

A few months later I decided to go to my first bead and gem show. I came home with a $400 hole in my bank account. I started creating strictly in Swarovski, Czech glass and hand-made lampwork when I could afford it. I sold a lot to friends and family, but do you know what I liked to do best with my Swarovski beads?

Pour some in my hand and stand in a patch of sunshine. To this day, I love to look at Swarovski in the sunshine.

You're probably asking: "Why did she entitle this post 'Just a Glass Cutter'?" Well, I'll tell you why. Daniel Swarovski was the son of a Bohemian glass cutter. If it hadn't been for that glass cutter, I might not have my addiction. How's THAT for projection?

Daniel Swarovski invented a glass cutting machine that would produce precision-cut crystal glass and he patented it in 1892. 119 years later, Swarovski holds the distinction of being the finest producer of Austrian crystal objects in the world. The trade name and logo has gone through several iterations from a simple Edelweiss flower to S.A.L. and finally to the swan logo with which we addicts are so familiar. As of this writing, the swan logo is being phased out in favor of simply using the name "Swarovski." Well why not? When you're the best, you need not hide behind anything. No abbreviations are necessary, no lovely winged creatures. All you need is your name.

And if it hadn't been for that humble bohemian glass-cutter, I might not have my sparkle addiction. So thank you, Father Swartz (because that was Daniel Swarovski's birth name) for giving us the child who would become the man to change the world of beaded jewelry forever!