Читать книгу Making Copper Wire Earrings - Lora S. Irish - Страница 17

Many items you already have in your home can be used to help you make earrings. Be creative and open-minded.

21 Assorted markers, medicine bottles, wooden spoons, and a whole host of other household items make perfect rolling forms for bending hoops, spirals, and more.

22 Coiling tools are available for purchase and come in a variety of shapes and sizes for the coiling arm. The handle in which the coiling arm is secured, like the purple one shown here, makes turning the coil quick and easy. However, any even-diameter tubular household item can become a coiling tool, like the nail shown here. For small-diameter coils, though, you will likely need a coiling tool.

23 Miscellaneous items like alligator clips, non-skid kitchen mats, scrap chipboard, permanent markers, measuring tapes, small metric rulers, and painter’s tape are often found in a jeweler’s toolkit. For example, the custom clamp shown here is created using two pieces of scrap cereal box and an alligator clip. The alligator clip holds the wire link secure as the scrap cardboard prevents the clip from scratching the link. As another example, painter’s tape is a low-tack tape that can be used to secure several bending wires together before beginning the wire-wrapping process. Use your imagination and whatever you have on hand to make your life easier while creating earrings.

Cardboard Bobbin

To work an extra-long wrapping or to add a series of small beads to a wire, try creating a cardboard bobbin. Coil the extra-long length of wrapping wire around a square of scrap cardboard with a notch in it, then add all the beads that you will be using. The bobbin controls the wrapping wire while making it easy to slide each bead into place. If you use this technique, you should not wrap the bobbin tightly, as it will kink and work-harden the wire. Small kinks like these are hard to fix and will show in the final wire wrapping.