Fun With Wire

Wire working can be intimidating at first, but with the right tools and practice, you can create your own connectors, clasps, and links with ease! Here are a few tips to get you started.

Tools

Wire can be formed using your fingers, but using pliers does make it easier. If you are just getting started, practice with your regular jewelry pliers:

• round-nose or needle-nose pliers are good for making loops and swirls
• bent-nose pliers are helpful when pulling wire around a mandrel or another piece of wire
• square (or flat)-nose pliers can be used for holding wire in place or to make more pronounced angles

As you begin to gain experience and feel you enjoy working with wire, you may wish to invest in nylon jaw pliers that will reduce the dents or imprints on your wire.

A good cutting pliers is essential. If you use memory wire, you MUST have a wire cutter that is reserved exclusively for the memory wire and not used on your precious metal or craft wire. Memory wire is very strong and damaging to “normal” cutting pliers. Again, once you are hooked on wire working, invest in a good cutting pliers – inexpensive ones will not last long and you will become frustrated with your work!

A mandrel is nice to have, but not necessary. Any round object, even a pen, bamboo skewer, or screwdriver can be used as a small mandrel. A mandrel is used to wrap wire around to make a perfectly round loop, or it can be used for a series of loops to make jump rings. Larger mandrels can be used for making rings from wire.

Wire Types

Craft quality wire is available in a wide variety of colors and weights (gauge). It’s probably best to start out learning with craft-quality wire, such as ColourCraft (copper wire with enamel coating), and even once you have practiced and have become proficient at wire working, craft-quality wire does have its advantages! Niobium is more expensive than ColourCraft, but is also available in different colors, and has the distinct characteristic of being non-allergenic to most people who have sensitivity to other wires.

Silver plated, sterling or gold filled wire is an excellent choice for high quality wire working. A new silver wire on the market is Argentium wire, which boasts that it does not tarnish, dent, and is better for the environment. Precious metal wire can be purchased as dead-soft, half-hard, or full-hard and in many shapes (round, square, half-round, etc.,)

• Dead soft – bends easily and will lose shape under low to medium stress. Best for freeform necklace centerpieces where the propensity for being accidentally damaged is low.

• Half-hard – bends fairly easily and will lose shape under high stress. Half-hard wire is widely used for clasps, jump rings, connectors and designs requiring more strength than dead soft, but needing more flexibility than full-hard wire.

• Full-hard – more difficult to bend and will retain shape under almost all stress. Use when intricate detail in bending is not needed and high stress on the piece is likely.

• Memory Wire – used primarily to string beads on for necklaces, bracelets, rings or wine glass charms. Memory wire will not lose its shape, and requires special pliers to cut. Very difficult to loop or bend into shapes.

Wire gauge is measured by number: the smaller the number, the larger or heavier the wire. Thus, an 18g wire is thicker than a 22g wire. 18-20g wire is adequate for clasps, 20-22g wire adequate for jump rings. Very thin wire (26+g) works well for wrapping around other wire to create a new look for your piece or for stringing beads or stones around other wire.

Beginning to Work With Wire

Practice makes perfect! I like to work with craft-quality wire to perfect a shape and then move on to precious metal wire. You may already be adept at making loops from making dangles. Experiment with other shapes, including figure 8, squares, triangles and freeform loops.

Creating swirls within swirls is easy.start with a very tiny loop, and using a flat-nosed or nylon-jawed pliers, hold the loop flat and form the excess wire around the interior loop until you have a swirl the diameter that you desire. Add a small loop at the top of the swirl to attach to an earring or necklace component.

Hardening wire is advisable when making clasps or connectors that will have some stress placed on them. Harden your finished piece carefully, using a jeweler’s anvil and a small hammer. Hammer the piece gently, being cautious not to hammer where two pieces of wire overlap (this will actually weaken the wire). After the wire is slightly flattened, it will be stronger. Over-hardening will break down the wire and weaken it, however.and never re-bend wire that has been hardened.

Working with wire is fun and rewarding. Unleash your creativity by designing asymmetrical and funky work, or create a delicate piece of beauty with balanced connectors and patterns.