I need beads! Rant and ? about wire

Laura,
I use sterling silver and goldfilled wire. This wire is more expensive than
plated wire, but infinately worth the price in it's workability. Half Hard.
20 or 18 gauge for making heavier clasps, etc, 22 gauge for most other work
and 24 or 26 for freshwater pearls.

KathyH
"laura" wrote in message
...
Okay, this is driving me nuts. I have eight boxes of beads here, but yet
I
"don't have any" beads. What I should say is that I don't have any beads
which are inspiring me. I need to order some beads. I'm broke, but so
what? Guess it's time to break out the old Visa! Bead now, pay later...

A question for you all. I've been using end pins and eye pins that are
precut, but I've recently bought some wire. I'm finding that some of the
wire I purchased is a bit too stiff for some of the things I want to do
with
it.

What gauge and kind of wire do you use for various projects?

Laura

Copper has lots of nice properties, but if you're practicing for working
with sterling, brass is what you want because it feels much more like it.

I don't know, but I wonder if copper feels like fine silver. That would be
useful, if practicing so you can work fine silver to add to a PMC piece.


Tina


"vj" wrote in message
...
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson"
:

]And I too recommend you use only SS and Gold filled wire, no plated wire
for
]jewelry. But get yourself some different gauges of brass. It looks good
]enough. But mostly, it works up while similarly to sterling. So you can
]practice, practice, practice. It'll make nice custume stuff.

second to the SS wire.
but i've found i love using copper wire to practice with - and i can
get it in my "Orchard Supply Hardware" store in any gauge i need.


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
The Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.
Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.

Tina,
How do you hammer wire in, say a wrapped bracelet? I can see where one
could hammer findings, etc, but what about in use for earrings and
necklaces,etc?
KathyH"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
news:1058657206.230198@prawn...
Seems to me that 22 ga is pretty common for eye pins. I occassionally use
half hard, but usually I use dead soft and harden it by putting it on my
anvil and hitting it with a slab of steel. 18 ga is a good place to start
for a clasp.

And I too recommend you use only SS and Gold filled wire, no plated wire
for
jewelry. But get yourself some different gauges of brass. It looks good
enough. But mostly, it works up while similarly to sterling. So you can
practice, practice, practice. It'll make nice custume stuff.

I couldn't find brass locally in the gauges I wanted, so I ordered mine
from
Rio.

Tina


"laura" wrote in message
...
Okay, this is driving me nuts. I have eight boxes of beads here, but
yet
I
"don't have any" beads. What I should say is that I don't have any
beads
which are inspiring me. I need to order some beads. I'm broke, but so
what? Guess it's time to break out the old Visa! Bead now, pay
later...

A question for you all. I've been using end pins and eye pins that are
precut, but I've recently bought some wire. I'm finding that some of
the
wire I purchased is a bit too stiff for some of the things I want to do
with
it.

What gauge and kind of wire do you use for various projects?

Laura

"Dr. Sooz" wrote in message
...
Okay, this is driving me nuts. I have eight boxes of beads here, but yet
I
"don't have any" beads. What I should say is that I don't have any beads
which are inspiring me.

Yup, Laura -- because that really isn't a lot of beads. But I believe you
can
have a whole room full and still need MORE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yeah, I hear ya I have an ongoing occupation of my kitchen area, and it
keeps expanding. I keep threatening to move the whole mess upstairs but so
far I haven't found a suitable work table to put up there. I keep thinking
I'll have better focus if I have a dedicated workspace for this... but who
am I kidding? LOL!

Laura

"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
news:1058657206.230198@prawn...
Seems to me that 22 ga is pretty common for eye pins. I occassionally use
half hard, but usually I use dead soft and harden it by putting it on my
anvil and hitting it with a slab of steel. 18 ga is a good place to start
for a clasp.

And I too recommend you use only SS and Gold filled wire, no plated wire
for
jewelry. But get yourself some different gauges of brass. It looks good
enough. But mostly, it works up while similarly to sterling. So you can
practice, practice, practice. It'll make nice custume stuff.

Thanks. I bought 20 gauge, which is what they had at the craft store. It's
just a base metal and I figured I'd use it for practice, but it's pretty
difficult to work with.

Of the sterling silver and goldfilled, I would assume the gold is the
softer? Does it make sense to use a thicker gauge of the softer material?
Or should I just get used to a different feel for each?

Laura

20 ga is a good place to start. You'll decide as you go along which way you
want to adjust.

I don't like bracelets, so I make them as seldom as possible. If you were
making a bracelet you'd want a larger wire (lower number gauge) in half
hard. And if you were using a very thin wire you might want to work with
half hard to give it more body. But you can always harden wire. It's much
harder to get it soft again. I have some half hard, but mostly I just use
dead soft. The third kind, hard wire I've never used.

Yes, heavier gauges of wire would require more work with, and skill in, the
use of tools.

And there are somethings I'd like to try with fine silver because that's
softest.

I find sterling and gold filled to be very similar to work with, as is
brass. Whereas copper is significantly softer.

Tina


"laura" wrote in message
...

"Christina Peterson" wrote in message
news:1058657206.230198@prawn...
Seems to me that 22 ga is pretty common for eye pins. I occassionally
use
half hard, but usually I use dead soft and harden it by putting it on my
anvil and hitting it with a slab of steel. 18 ga is a good place to
start
for a clasp.

And I too recommend you use only SS and Gold filled wire, no plated wire
for
jewelry. But get yourself some different gauges of brass. It looks
good
enough. But mostly, it works up while similarly to sterling. So you
can
practice, practice, practice. It'll make nice custume stuff.

Thanks. I bought 20 gauge, which is what they had at the craft store.
It's
just a base metal and I figured I'd use it for practice, but it's pretty
difficult to work with.

Of the sterling silver and goldfilled, I would assume the gold is the
softer? Does it make sense to use a thicker gauge of the softer material?
Or should I just get used to a different feel for each?

Laura

I use copper because I like it. Just as itself.

Deirdre

On Sun, 20 Jul 2003 00:52:18 GMT, "Christina Peterson"
wrote:

Copper has lots of nice properties, but if you're practicing for working
with sterling, brass is what you want because it feels much more like it.

I don't know, but I wonder if copper feels like fine silver. That would be
useful, if practicing so you can work fine silver to add to a PMC piece.


Tina


"vj" wrote in message
.. .
vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson"
:

]And I too recommend you use only SS and Gold filled wire, no plated wire
for
]jewelry. But get yourself some different gauges of brass. It looks good
]enough. But mostly, it works up while similarly to sterling. So you can
]practice, practice, practice. It'll make nice custume stuff.

second to the SS wire.
but i've found i love using copper wire to practice with - and i can
get it in my "Orchard Supply Hardware" store in any gauge i need.


-----------
@vicki [SnuggleWench]
(Books) http://www.booksnbytes.com
(Jewelry) http://www.vickijean.com
-----------
The Bill of Rights - Void where prohibited by Law.
Regime Change in 2004 - The life you save may be your own.