Showing posts with label jewelry making wire. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jewelry making wire. Show all posts

2012/09/03

Basic Techniques about Jewelry Making Wire Wrapping


When you walk at jewelry stores, jewelry shows and check on the fashion jewelry market, you can find many unique jewelry making wire wrapped jewelry designs. That is to say, wire wrapped jewelry pieces are very popular. Do you like wire wrapped jewelry? Do you want to create your own wire wrapped designs? Here are some techniques of wire wrapping for learning.
Memory Wire
Memory Wire

Some of the basic techniques include twisting the jewelry making wire, wrapping a wire bundle, crimping or flattening the wrap, scrolling, and shaping. How to create a loop is the simplest technique. Choose a small jewelry making wire if you are just a beginner. Grip the wire 2/3rd of the length with your round nose pliers. Bend the tip of the wire 90 degrees by moving your pliers away from you. Use your free hand to bend the tip of wire clockwise around the nose of the plier to form a loop. Use side cutters to cut the wire where the loop connects. The last step is using your flat nose pliers to make the loop even. Of course, you can leave the extra wire and wrap it around the other end of wire.
Mixed Color Brass Wire
Mixed Color Brass Wire

Using jewelry making wire to create wire spirals is seemed very difficult to many jewelry makers, especially to the beginners. In fact, they are easy to make, and can be used in many jewelry designs. Practice with a smaller wire size. And then you can use larger size jewelry making wires when you have mastered the skill. Here are the steps about how to make wire spirals.
First, grip the end of the wire with the tip of your round nose pliers. Second, move your pliers away from you till the wire connects to form a small loop. Third, hold the loop with your chain or flat nose pliers. Use your free hand to rotate the rest of the wire around the loop. Reposition your pliers as you work. Rotate the wire until you have the size you desire. Fourth, when you stop the rotating process, make sure there is at least 2cm of wire left. Fifth, grip the tail of wire the tip of your round nose pliers. Make a small loop in the opposite direction. You can attach other component on the loop. Cut off the excess wire. Ok, a beautiful wire spiral is finished.

You need to know more techniques and practices if you want to create delicate wire wrapping designs with jewelry making wires. You can easily find them on the internet, and also can learn them from jewelry making classes. Please keep in mind that the more you practice, the more exact and uniform your wire wrapping designs will be.

2012/07/04

How to Choose Correct Beading Wire


Beading wire is essential jewelry material for jewelry making. But to some jewelry beginners, they have no idea about what kind of beading wire is suitable for their jewelry project as there are different types and each have their special usage. Today, you will find answer here.

Beading wire, beading wire, stringing wire and/or tiger tail—in whatever you call, it is one of the most essential raw materials for making jewelry. There are several types of string materials available. About how to choose the correct beading wire, you have to consider the following elements—the jewelry design, type of beads you will use and the method you will use for jewelry making. Well, you need to know the various types first.

Beading wire is used for stringing beads. This is braided, twisted type of wire that is excellent for all beading projects. It normally has a protective coating on it so it is good choice for heavier beads. And the jewelry tool you need to cut this wire to size is flush cutters. Choose high strand count wire for rough and big beads, which will help for a long lasting effect. This wire is usually coated with plastic or nylon, and comes in various colors.

Tiger tail is a widely beading wire, and less expensive. This wire is best for heavy beads, but please keep in mind that don’t use tiger tail with pearls as they will destroy the pearls. However, tiger tail is not suitable for beading weaving jewelry projects.
Brass Wire
Brass Wire

As a beginner, you must to know that jewelry wire is not beading wire exactly. Jewelry wires are made of single strands of metal. They are available in round, half round, square, twisted shapes. Jewelry wires are used to making wire wrapping project, jump rings, earring hooks and eye pins. So don’t mix up the two different wires.

Well, if you want to create a complex jewelry project, you may need to use several different wires or threads for different jewelry beads. But getting them together is quite easy. Purchase them from online wholesale stores to save time and money is a wise choice, and becoming more and more popular among jewelry designers and retailers. If you have decided to purchase them from online stores, findings a reliable supplier is the most important thing you need to do first, and I would like to recommend my supplier—PandaHall.com, who is a leading China beads, jewelry and gems online wholesaler, to you. May you enjoy your jewelry making. 

2011/07/29

How to Make Wire-wrapping Pieces with Jewelry Making Wire

There is no easier way to make bracelets, rings or necklaces than with jewelry making wire which includes memory wire, tiger tail, brass wire and other beading wires. From shiny precious metal to colorful copper, you are sure to find the right beading wire for each project in huge selection. Here, learn some tips and techniques for making gorgeous wire-wrap jewelry pieces. And let us take memory wire for example this time.

Brass Wire, DarkRed

Brass Wire, DarkRed


Memory wire is made from stainless steel and is used as a beading medium much like you would use nylon or other various bead stringing media. It is like a spring in the shape of rings, but larger. Generally speaking, this material is very easy to work with because of its size fit for bracelet, ring and necklace size. Making jewelry with memory wire, you will need the following supplies:
Memory Wire (the length depends on the jewelry you want to make)
Jewelry Beads
Wire Cutter
Round-nose Plier
Chain-nose Plier
Please be careful to make sure that the beads won’t be damaged when you use cutter and pliers. Now, let’s start to make a pair of wire-wrapping earrings.

1, Cut off the memory wire according to the length you need by using wire cutter.
2, Pink a bead and put it through the wire. Drop-shaped jewelry beads will be a good choice for wire-wrapping earrings. Please note that the lengths of wires at two sides of beads are not the same. One is short and the other one is long.
3, Cross the two wires at the top of bead, and twine the short wire on the long one. Just a couple of time will be ok. If the short wire is a little long, cut the rest with wire cutter, and finish the end with chain-nose plier.
4, Put the long wire around the round-nose plier to make a loop, and twine it under plier on the twined wire. Keep on twining till the wire cover the top of the bead. Cut off the rest wire with wire cutter and finish the end with chain-nose plier. Be careful, not damage the bead.
5, Attach the wire-wrapping beads and earring hook on a jump ring, and close the jump ring carefully. A wire-wrapping earring is finished. You just need to make the other one follow the same steps.

Brass Wire, Olive

Brass Wire, Olive


This is a basic technique of wrapping bead. You can also wrap beads on bracelet and necklace. And you can choose different wires according to your designs. The jewelry making wire can be purchased easily. However, where to buy the quality wires at low price? If you are not sure, I would suggest you to have a check on PandaHall.com. It is a reputable jewelry beads wholesaler in China. And undoubtedly, you can find whatever you desired there.

2011/04/07

Purchase Quality Jewelry Making Wire from Online Stores

Wire is the fundamental components for jewelry making. You can make necklaces, bracelets and earrings by using jewelry making wire. There is no easier way to make bracelets, rings, or necklaces than with memory wire, tiger tail and other beading wire. From shiny precious metal to colorful copper, you’re sure to find the right beading wire for each project in this huge selection from online stores. Learn some tips and techniques for success.

Memory Wire, Steel, Golden

Memory Wire, Steel, Golden

One of the most often asked questions by wire workers, especially those new to jewelry making wire, is what type of wire do I use for a piece of jewelry? Wire made from copper is widely used for jewelry making as it is easy to be bent and can be shaped into jewelry components. While I feel that the choice of wire is a personal preference for most jewelry makers and much of the decision is also connected to the type of jewelry you are making, there are a few general rules of thumb that you can follow when first starting out. Then as you start to work with wire, feel free to experiment because these rules are often made to be broken.

Tiger Tail, Silver-Gray, 0.3mm in diameter

Tiger Tail, Silver-Gray, 0.3mm in diameter

Jewelry making wire comes in three different forms of hardness: dead soft, half-hard, and full-hard. They come in a variety of shapes such as round, square, and half-found. AWG (The American Wire Gauge) and SWG (The standard Wire Gauge) are the two systems which are used to find the size. 26 and 24 gauge (0.40mm – 0.50mm) – This size is good for beads that have small holes in them such as pearls. 22 and 21 gauge (0.65mm – 0.70mm) –These are both very versatile sizes because they are pretty thick but most beads (like crystals and stone beads) can fit on them. 20 gauge (0.80mm) – This is about the thickest wire which is used for the most part. It is good for making clasps because it’s still pretty easy to work with but is strong as well.

Tiger Tail, Mixed Color

Tiger Tail, Mixed Color

Jewelry making wire has a lot of colors for your selection. If you would like to get as much colors as possible, I would like to recommend you to purchase them from online stores, for there are tens of thousands of beads wholesale online stores. You can get a low price from them, even a special discount. The more you buy, the cheaper they are. When you start to make jewelry, only have quality jewelry making wire is not enough, you still need other jewelry supplies. Many beads wholesale online stores such as PandaHall.com can all kinds of jewelry supplies for you. In other word, it can offer you one-stop shopping.