Wire weaving

If you decide to learn how to weave wire, you will need to acquire certain tools and materials. First of all, this, of course, wire. For work it is desirable to purchase a special artistic (jewelry) wire, which is designed for needlework, including for weaving. Such wire is produced in different diameters and colors, so you can weave a variety of products from it.

To measure the thickness of wire used a special unit - American gauge wire (American Wire Gauge, AWG). The smaller the wire number, the thicker it is. Also the wire for weaving differs in rigidity (soft, semi-rigid and rigid) and depending on the material from which it is made.

If you just started to learn the weaving from wire, we recommend first to practice with inexpensive wire types. It can be, for example, ordinary copper wire. Also for practice, you can use galvanized, enameled, silver-plated and gilded wire - these types of wire are relatively inexpensive,but look quite impressive due to metallized or colored coating. Note only that with prolonged use of the product, the coating on the silver-plated and gilded wire may wear out over time.

For the manufacture of wicker jewelry used silver and gold wire. Worth it, of course, quite expensive. A cheaper option for making jewelry from wire is a copper or brass wire with a thin layer of rolled silver or gold (usually labeled as silver-filled and gold-filled).

Also for wire weaving you will need pliers, round nose pliers and pliers. These are the three main tools, but for the manufacture of a particular product, you may also need others, for example, tweezers, flat over-filters, etc. It is advisable to wear protective gloves and goggles when working with a wire. Gloves will protect your hands from scratches with sharp ends of the wire, and glasses will protect your eyes from pieces of wire that can bounce to either side when biting off.

Beads, beads, decorative stones and other decorative elements will be useful for decorating products. If you plan to make jewelry from wire, you may need furniture (shvenzi, fastenersetc.). Some fittings can be made independently from the same wire as the product, but while you are just learning, it's easier to use the finished one.

To facilitate the weaving of some elements use special plaiting platforms. They are lattice bases, inwhich are inserted special pins, around which the wire is wrapped, forming a loop. Varying the location and diameter of the nozzles, you can make a variety of elements. Having obtained the desired part, it is removed from the mold, the ends are cut with wire cutters and leveled using pliers.

Begin to learn the weaving of wire can be with simple techniques: making ringlets, loops, curls, twistedwire, spirals, the simplest chains. With the help of these techniques, the basic elements of the future product are manufactured, which then are interconnected. You can combine wire weaving with weaving beads, that is, use weaving techniques from beads, but instead of fishing line take wire, so that the finished product better kept the shape. A very effective kind of wire weaving - chain weaving. Products in this technique are made of wire rings according to the principle of chain mail.

Making jewelry and other wire products by oneself is a very fascinating activity. A little practice and experiments, and you will become the owner of the original jewelry, which no one else has!