Читать книгу Wire-Wrapped Jewelry Techniques - Lora S. Irish - Страница 18

There are a variety of specialty tools designed just for making wire-wrapped jewelry. These are fun additions to any jeweler’s toolkit, but are not strictly necessary for the techniques you will be learning in this book.

15 Wire-wrapping pliers have one flat, straight arm and one cone-shaped arm. This tool makes perfect small loops as well as square-angled bends.

16 Looping pliers have one cone-shaped arm and one concave arm into which the cone-shaped arm fits. You can create perfect half-circle U-bends and loops with this tool.

17 Stepped mandrel pliers also have a concave arm into which the stepped circular arm fits. The stepped arm allows you to control the size of loops, jump rings, and split rings very precisely. It is easy and quick to create a set of rings of exactly the same size using these pliers.

18 Many of the glass beads that are used in wire-wrapped jewelry are manufactured on nichrome wires coated with kiln wash to prevent the hot glass from adhering to the nichrome wire. A bead reamer is used to clean that kiln wash layer from the hole of a bead, making the center of the bead brighter and clearer in color. Beam reamers are small, thin metal cones that have a textured surface. Slide a reamer into a bead hole and gently file away any kiln wash inside the hole. You may find that beads can crack during the bead reaming process. However, those beads often were initially cracked during the glass-blowing process, and it was only the kiln wash that kept the bead from breaking. By cleaning the inside of glass beads before you use them, you can ensure that the beads will not succumb to their inherent flaws and break later during use.

19 Long-nose pliers have extra-long, flat arms. They are wonderful when you are working large bent-wire links because they secure the entire link during a bending step, not just one or two arms of the link. The extra gripping room is great for when you are working large wire-wrapped necklaces or earrings.

20 Specialty nylon-grip pliers have one flat arm and one cone-shaped arm. The cone-shaped arm can be used to hold and bend smooth and perfectly even loops, curves, and circles without damaging the wire.