Making Wire Jewelry

There are various techniques involved in making wire jewelry. In this article I will try to explain and enumerate a few of the more common ones.

If you are looking for easy techniques you can start off with 18 gauge copper filled wires which are the softest wires available for making jewelry. They come in various shapes and sizes and colors, thus matching your outfit.

Also another plus point to consider is that they are really cheap and available in any local crafts store or hardware store. Or else you can always fall back on online stores. It is because of their malleability and pliability that copper filled wires are recommended for beginners.

When you have mastered the art of wiring fundamentals with copper wire, you can graduate to tougher wires like gold filled or silver wires that are more durable. Gold is tougher than silver.

The latter is very soft and ductile. That is why sterling silver – an alloy made out of 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper is used in place of pure silver for sterling silver is much harder.

The softest of the lot, as pointed out earlier, is copper.

There are thick wires and there are thinner wires. The latter is ideal for earrings. Thicker wires are used to create jump rings and neckwear.

There is also ultra fine and ultra thin nylon coated wire which you may opt for.

Other wires that you can try out are white gold, rose gold, brass or stainless steel wires.

Wires can be round or circular in shape or square, oval, semicircular. The shape of the necklace will depend on the shape of the wire that has been used. If you want to create a square bracelet you have to use a square wire.

The more you pull the wire through certain tools the harder and tougher it will become.

The choice of the metal used in the wire will depend on the kind of metal used in the jewelry. Same holds true for the size of the wire which should be equal to the diameter of the jewelry about to be made.

The size of the wire is measured in terms of gauge. Gauge is the word used in USA to denote the size of jewelry.

Jewelry making wire also has to be kinked at times, which is rather difficult. But with the advent of technological progress this problem has been done away with.