Читать книгу Making Copper Wire Earrings - Lora S. Irish - Страница 8

Jewelry wire comes in a variety of metals and coated metals, such as gold-filled, gold-plated, sterling silver, silver-plated, brass, colored copper, copper, and color-coated aluminum.

Wire is measured by gauge; the higher the gauge, the thinner the diameter of the wire. For making links, use thick gauges from 12 (very thick) to 18 (less thick). Wrapping wires are normally worked using thinner gauges, from 20 (thin) to 26 (very thin).

Copper wire is a favorite for modern wirework jewelry and wire-wrapped jewelry. Available in round, half-round, and square, it is easy to bend and form into almost any shape. It’s also great for the beginner and intermediate jewelry crafter because it is inexpensive and available in a wide range of color coatings. Throughout this book, we will be using copper wire; however, any technique taught in this book can be worked with any metal wire.

Wire comes in three hardness levels; from hardest to softest, these are full-hard, half-hard, and dead-soft. Dead-soft is what you’ll want to use for most of the projects in this book; you can manipulate it a lot before it becomes work-hardened (a term meaning stiffening that occurs during manipulation) and therefore difficult to further manipulate. Half-hard wire can be used for earring hooks or simpler wirework link shapes that won’t require too much manipulation. Avoid full-hard wire for the projects in this book.