Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
December 31, 2009

Question:

How do I keep the wire wrapped on itself when doing spirals? It slips under/over itself and towards the end of the spiral it starts to open up creating space between the circles instead of staying tight/close to the preceding circle.

Answer:

Great question! Yes making a nice tight spiral may seem like a simple procedure, but it does take practice to get it right – and once you do – you’ve got it forever! Check out the ‘Best Ever Coils’ pattern by Contributing Guest Artist, Karen Roberts on our updated ‘Patterns & Ideas’ page here: http://wire-sculpture.com/pages/Jewelry_Making_Patterns2.html

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
December 30, 2009

Question:

Why would a pattern (I’ve seen a few of them on Wire-Sculpture.com) call for an 8 inch piece of silver patterned wire, but you can only order it in 6 inch pieces…outside of bulk?

Answer:

Although most companies only sell pattern wire by the foot, the previous owner of Wire-Sculpture.com had cut a LOT of pattern wire into 6-inch pieces for some project he had been promoting, therefore when the new owners purchased the business (including the warehouse stock) they also got all of this shorter pattern wire. I agree that a 6-inch piece is not great for regular to larger sized bracelets, but it can be cut into shorter pieces to make earrings and in its 6-inch length it can be added to a frame bundle to make a cabochon pendant.

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
December 29, 2009

Question:

I have read so often about tumbling my jewelry projects in a tumble polisher to get a final shine on them. I got a tumbler for Christmas, and am wondering what medium I can use. I hear so much about steel shot, but some of my stones are soft like Turquoise, and I am afraid to use steel shot. I have seen media from ground corn cobs and walnut hulls all the way to big rock like chunks, and of course, steel shot. Which can I use, and which is most effective?

Answer:

Regarding tumbling wire jewelry pieces that contain soft and/or porous materials like turquoise, malachite, fluorite, amber, azurite, rhodocrosite, and pearls, some folks do it all the time with mixed results, and others say not to tumble jewelry made with them at all! I can tell you that when we tumble rocks, the entire rock batch per tumbler load is of the same hardness. For example we tumble malachite and turquoise together, and agates, jaspers and quartz is another combo, etc. (In the Resource Center, our new Gemstone Glossary has hardness listed under each mineral

Wire-Sculpture has a great new article about tumbling here: http://wire-sculpture.com/jewelry-making-blog/1384/tumbling-your-jewelry/

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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The Colorful World of Fluorescent Rocks

By: Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
December 27, 2009

Question:

I am running low on wire inventory, and can’t afford to buy more stock just yet.  I need to make some designs in all sterling.
Can I make a sterling project using both Sterling Silver and Argentium Sterling Silver, mixed?

Answer:

Personally I see no reason why you cannot mix sterling silver and argentium silver in your jewelry designs. The only real difference is that the sterling will eventually tarnish black while the argentium will tarnish a pale blonde color. I often mix sterling silver beads with argentium wire and sometimes both wires as well. When you write the product description for these combined items, be sure to list both metals so your customer is aware of the uniqueness of their purchase.

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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