What Matters in Picking a Wire
Style, durability, and hardness are a few of the considerations involved your choice of jewelry wire for a jewelry project. First and foremost, the finished piece of jewelry must be durable enough to stand up to the wear and tear that is expected for the finished jewelry component. Second, the hardness of the jewelry wire must be appropriate for the design. (Spirals don't work well with half-hard or hard wire.) Finally, the selection of wire must be esthetically pleasing in both color and size. Lens content provided by WigJig - jewelry supplies, jewelry tools, jewelry wire, jewelry making instruction, and beads!
Background Facts on Jewelry Wire
Almost all jewelry wire in the US is sold in sizes defined by the American Wire Gauge. In this standard, as the gauge of the wire increases, the size of the wire decreases. As an example 16 gauge wire is much larger than 22 gauge wire. To view the size of wire in each gauge and the measurement of that wire in inches and mm, see below. As the wire gets larger, or the gauge gets smaller, the wire becomes harder to bend. Simply put, it is easier to bend thin wire than it is to bend thick wire. In general, wire components for earrings are made in 20 gauge wire, wire components for bracelets are made in 18 or 20 gauge wire, and wire components for necklaces are made in 16 or 18 gauge wire. These sizes of wire are relatively easy to bend and durable enough to stand up to the wear necessary.
Wire Hardness
With inexpensive wire, like copper, brass, or Artistic Wire, the wire is generally made in only one hardness -- soft. With more expensive jewelry wire like sterling silver, gold, or gold-filled wire, the wire is commonly manufactured in one of five hardnesses -- soft or 0, 1, half-hard or 2, 3, or fully hardened or 4. For the jewelry making projects described in this web site, we generally only use soft or half-hard wire according to the project. Soft wire bends easier than half-hard wire and tend to remain in place once it is bent. Half-hard jewelry wire is somewhat springy and tends to spring back some once it is bent. Soft wire is perfect for making spirals and other rounded shapes, but doesn't make crisp angles. Half-hard wire makes crisp angles and wraps around itself well, but because it is springy, it must be pushed beyond where you want it to end up. Please visit our Nov. 9, 2003 WigJig jewelry making newsletter for good information on how to work with 1/2 hard wire.
Wire Durability
Jewelry wire is relatively soft by comparison with glass or stone. The inside of glass or stone beads has little microscopic irregularities that act as a saw and will cut thread or jewelry wire. Over time and with heavy wear, glass or stone beads can saw through wire. This effect can be minimized by using a bead reamer to remove some of the microscopic ridges inside the bead, but it can not be eliminated. Bracelets seem to be most vulnerable to this sawing action, but necklaces are also vulnerable. Anything that gets a lot of wear and as a result a lot of motion by the beads is vulnerable. The sawing action of the beads is a consideration whenever you are making a wrapped bead link connecting two wire components via a wire segment with the wire inside a bead. In general, it is easier to make a wrapped bead link with thinner wire, but thinner wire is less durable. 22G jewelry wire is recommended for making the wrapped bead link, but for a piece that will get a lot of wear, 20G wire may be a better choice.
Changing Wire Hardness
The last jewelry making topic to discuss is hardening jewelry wire. Just as during the manufacturing process wire can be made in one of several hardness's, when making jewelry a wire artist can change the hardness of a jewelry wire component. Most of us have experience in breaking a wire coat hanger by bending it back and forth many times. With the coat hanger, we were changing the hardness of the wire by "work hardening" it. Each bend increased the hardness of the wire until we saw one of the drawbacks of very hard wire -- it became brittle and broke. With our jewelry wire components we want to make them permanent, so we frequently want to increase the hardness of the wire. This happens naturally as part of manipulating the wire into shape by work hardening. We can use nylon jaw pliers to help with this manipulation and by squeezing the piece in the jaws of the pliers we can work harden the piece. We can also significantly increase the hardness of the wire by hammering it with a chasing hammer and anvil. When making ear wires, this will be an important step to set the round portion of the ear wire and make it permanent. (Do not hammer where one wire segment crosses over another piece of wire.) Do's and Don'ts
Here are some do's and don'ts about choosing jewelry wire:
Please visit here for some general jewelry making information for beginners.
In general use 20G wire for earrings, 18G wire for Bracelet components and 18 or 16 G wire for necklace components.
In general use 20 or 22G wire for making wrapped bead links in bracelets and necklaces.
In general don't use 22G wire to make a wire component that must stand by itself, unless that component is very small.
In general, when buying 16G wire, buy soft wire, half-hard may be too stiff.
In general use soft wire for spirals and half-hard wire where you will have wrapped loops.
When making an ear wire, consider 20 or 21G wire. 22G wire is probably too thin and may be uncomfortable to wear.
Do not use Artistic Wire or any other dyed wire for making ear wires. The dyes have chemicals that do not belong inside the human body.
Please visit here for some general jewelry making information for beginners.
In general use 20G wire for earrings, 18G wire for Bracelet components and 18 or 16 G wire for necklace components.
In general use 20 or 22G wire for making wrapped bead links in bracelets and necklaces.
In general don't use 22G wire to make a wire component that must stand by itself, unless that component is very small.
In general, when buying 16G wire, buy soft wire, half-hard may be too stiff.
In general use soft wire for spirals and half-hard wire where you will have wrapped loops.
When making an ear wire, consider 20 or 21G wire. 22G wire is probably too thin and may be uncomfortable to wear.
Do not use Artistic Wire or any other dyed wire for making ear wires. The dyes have chemicals that do not belong inside the human body.
Jewelry Making Links
- Jewelry Wire by WigJig -- Our Online Wire Store
- Jewelry Making Wire and the styles and sizes of jewelry wire sold in the Beads & Jewelry Making Supplies by WigJig Store.
- WigJig Beads -- Our Online Beading Supplies Store
- Beads by WigJig an online beadstore. We also include Beadology -- information on the sizes, shapes, types and styles of beads. Page includes links to jewelry designs.
- Beads, Jewelry Tools, Wire, & Jewelry Making Supplies by WigJig
- Making jewelry with wire, beads and gemstones. 2500+ free web pages of designs. Online store selling jewelry tools, beads, wire and jewelry making supplies. This is our home page.
- Beginners Instructions
- Intro Making Jewelry with wire and Beads -- Free instructions using WigJig tools and jewelry supplies.
- Free Necklace, Bracelet and Earring Jewelry Making Instructions
- Jewelry Making Projects -WJU with over 2,700 free web pages of instructions for making jewelry with jewelry wire, beads and other jewelry supplies.
- WigJig University - Free Jewelry Making Designs using Beads and Wire
- Make jewelry with wire and beads. Over 2,500 free web pages with free instructions, techniques and jewelry making projects. Online store selling WigJig tools, beads, wire and jewelry supplies.
- Jewelry Making Videos from Beads and Jewelry Making Supplies by WigJig
- WigJig Video University with instructions in how to make jewelry using wire, beads, gemstones and jewelry findings.
- WigJig on Myspace
- MySpace profile for WigJig with pictures, videos, personal blog, interests, information about me and more
- How To Minimize Tarnish in Sterling Silver Jewelry
- Many people have problems in working with Sterling Silver jewelry wire. Here are some ways of minimizing tarnish in sterling silver jewelry.
by Brittany9984
Brittany is the niece of Gary and Suzanne Helwig, owners of the WigJig company - and daughter of Marcia, the WigJig customer service represe...
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