Well, Hello to my first follower.. Thank you for joining.. :-)
Today would like to talk about my favourite past time in the world.... Wire wrapping! I love it, because it is sooo much fun.. It is like therapy for me after a long day of taking care of my beautiful girls ( I have 2... :-)) Unfortunately I only get to do it when they are in school or asleep.. so that gives me not as much time as I would like to have. But enough about me... let's get back to the main subject.
Did you know that wire wrapping dates back thousands of years BC? The British Museum has samples of jewelry from the Sumerian Dynasty, found in the cemetery of Ur that contain spiraled wire components. This jewelry is dated at approximately 2000 BC. Other samples of jewelry from Ancient Rome show wire wrapped loops (one of the important techniques in making wire wrapped jewelry). This Roman jewelry is dated to approximately 2000 years ago. In the manufacture of this early jewelry the techniques for soldering did not exist.
... I didn't know, myself, until now! Now it is not very common, anymore.. Today, the wire wrapping approach to making jewelry is primarily employed by individual craftspeople... like me. ;-)
Of course, you'll need several tools to help you with forcing the wire into a shape.. There are many different ones.. The main tools I use are:
- round nose pliers ( to make those beautiful loops)
- flat nose pliers ( those have many uses.. one of them is holding and bending the wire )
- the flash cutters ( to cut the wire ).
... And last, but not least, you need wire..
It comes in various shapes and sizes. There is round, half-round and square wire. Sizes vary from really thick wire (which I use as a frame for my pieces) to very fine wire, almost as thin as hair ( I use that one for the actual wrapping of all the different designs ). You can choose between copper, brass, silver, sterling silver, silver plated, gold plated, enameled copper ( which basically means color-coated copper ) and gold- and silver filled wire.. So many choices! I personally like copper, brass and the silver. Every now and then I use some color-coated copper wire.. You can see an example of the color-coated copper wire piece on the picture below..
Once you have all your tools together, you'll need some inspiration.. You can get it from the most unlikely places.. The bracelet you see on the picture below was actually inspired by a fairy computer game my daughter was playing.. Who knew, right??
There are many wrapping and weaving techniques.. You can find a ton of tutorials online.. And then it's practice, practice, practice.. Practice makes perfect... Don't give up.. It could take some time until you are at the level of being able to make clean, intricate pieces.. You'll never stop learning.. I know, I still am... :-)
Thanks for reading.. <3
Thanks for this introduction :) Your work is stunningly beautiful, it makes me want to start immediately! At the same time it makes me think "I could never make something so beautiful...". I'll just have to work up some courage and try, I guess...
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for your compliment, Karoline. :-) That's exactly how I felt when I first started.. I saw all these awesome jewelry designs and I didn't think, I could do it.. But I really started getting into it and I couldn't stop..
DeleteIf you want to try it out and see if it's for you, you could Google some local jewelry/ wire wrapping classes in your area. There should be some.. Or you can find some easy tutorials on youtube for free.. You should start with the basics, like the different wrapping techinques and go from there.. Practice makes perfect! Good Luck.. :-)