Wire wrapped jewellery - A dedicated thread - Introduction, Tools, Tips, Tutorials

Hello ladies,

I am a jewelry* artist and I have been looking for a forum to connect with other artists in India, and I think I have finally found the right place!

I make jewelry using ‘wire wrapping’ technique. I have learnt this technique of jewelry making from books, the internet and through experimentation. I picked up jewelry making with wire while I was in the US for a year on an H4 visa, and consequently was super bored at home– I know a lot of ladies will identify with this. I am back in India now and I continue to practice and sell my ‘art’ here.

I have seen some interest on this forum on this form of jewelry making, but I know that information and materials and not easily available in India. While I was starting to learn, I didn’t have any teacher to guide me and so it took me a while to get the right tools, wires, learn the right techniques. Although there is a lot of information on the Internet, sometimes it is too much and too confusing for a beginner.

Since I have done quite a bit of research, reading and experimentation on wire jewelry, I thought I would do my bit and spread the knowledge. That’s why I am starting this thread specifically on wire jewelry, where I hope to cover the tools, kinds of wires, basic techniques, tutorials etc. Hope you all find this thread useful. Do rate the thread if you like it!

(* Yes, I’m fully desi but I like to spell it the American way )

 

Re: Wire wrapped jewellery - A dedicated thread - Introduction, Tools, Tips, Tutorial

I’ll start off by explaining what wire wrapped jewelry means – Very simply, it is the technique of making jewelry by wrapping wires around each other. The main feature of this jewelry is that in this kind of jewelry, wires are not soldered or ‘glued’ together, they are held together by interlocking and wrapping using wires. The great thing about it, is that because of the intricate work involved, wire wrapped jewelry is not mass produced, and is truly a ‘handmade’ art.

There are many techniques used by jewelry artists such as wrapping, weaving, crocheting, twisting, hammering of wires, that are used separately and in combination to create unique and beautiful pieces.

To know what wire wrapped jewelry looks like, you can do a simple image search on google/bing. I have also posted some pictures of my pieces to give you an idea and to get your feedback.

Link:
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/jewellery-making/253517-wire-wrapped-jewelry-wire-knotting.html

I have covered the basic tools for making jewelry on another post :
Link:
http://www.indusladies.com/forums/jewellery-making/179996-jewelry-making-tools-images-names-4.html
I will be expanding on it in the next post.

Please feel free to ask any questions!

 

Re: Wire wrapped jewellery - A dedicated thread - Introduction, Tools, Tips, Tutorial

Before this thread becomes too wordy, here are some pictures of wire wrapped jewelry - these are made by me:

View attachment 206527 View attachment 206528 View attachment 206530

 

Re: Wire wrapped jewellery - A dedicated thread - Introduction, Tools, Tips, Tutorial

TOOLS


The tools you absolutely need to start off with to make wire jewelry are:

- Round nose pliers - Used for making loops, and spirals

- Flush cutters - Used for cutting wire


- Chain nose pliers or needle nose pliers- Most important - Lots of uses in wire work and beading - They are many variations such as 'long chain nose pliers' , 'bent chain nose pliers'



- Nylon jaw pliers - For straightening wire before working with it.


- Flat nose pliers - Not as essential, but useful for holding and shaping wire components



And of course, wire of the required gauges/thickness. (A detailed post on gauges and types of wire will follow.)

Once you have these 5, you can start making wire jewelry! After this you can start collecting the important but non essential tools - such as 'files' to file the ends of your wires, step nose pliers, long nose needle pliers etc.

But apart from these, there is one thing that you absolutely cannot start without : Safety Goggles. Please make sure you wear safety glasses, because wire pieces can fly when you cut wire and could really injure you if you are not careful.

Will do a detailed post on how to use these tools soon!

 

Re: Wire wrapped jewellery - A dedicated thread - Introduction, Tools, Tips, Tutorial

Sure..The next post will cover types and gauges of wire. Stay tuned!

 

Re: Wire wrapped jewellery - A dedicated thread - Introduction, Tools, Tips, Tutorial

WIRES - metals

The biggest challenge for me as a beginner to wire jewelry was figuring out which type of wire to use for my projects. I tried various craft stores and hardware stores and it took me quite a long time to finally decide which type of wire I was most comfortable working with.

I'll first explain the different metals and types of wires and then explain the gauges or thickness or wires in another post.

Jewelry can be made using wires of many metals such as copper, brass, silver, gold, even aluminium. Silver wire is of 2 types:

- Sterling silver - this is 92.5% pure silver - This is a very popular wire for jewelry making, but the silver colour does tarnish (blacken in colour) over time.




- Fine silver - this is 99.9% pure silver - This is also a popular wire, especially for intricate work like crocheting, since it is softer than sterling silver wire and is less prone to tarnishing by oxidation of the metal.

Silver plated wires are also available in craft shops, which , as the name suggests, are wires (maybe copper or other metals) with a coating of silver metal. These also come in 'anti tarnish' finishes - i.e. they do not darken over time.

Gold wires are also available in different carats, but as expected, are expensive.

A cheaper alternative to pure gold wires are 'gold filled' wires, which have layers of gold, but they are not pure gold wires. The gold content is 5% of the total wire.
Another cheaper option is gold plated wires, which have a plating of gold metal over the base metal.

Coloured craft wires - These are wires which have a enamel coating of different colours. These are popular for amateur jewelry making, but the enamel often chips off easily, and therefore these cannot be used for professional jewelry.




In my opinion, for a beginner, the best practice wires would be copper wires. By this, I don't mean that copper is only a practice metal; in fact, beautiful professional jewelry is also made using copper wire, because of its rich earthy colour. However, copper wire is relatively less expensive than sterling silver or gold wire and thus is great for practicing.


Hope this post was useful. The next post will cover the shapes, sizes and hardness of wires.