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Holding Wire for Weaving

By on January 13, 2016
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by Judy Ellis, Wirejewelry.com

Wire Jewelry Tip for January 13th 2016

Holding Wire for Weaving

by Sarah Thompson

In following along with some of our previous posts about wire weaving, our contributor Sarah Thompson gives us a few great tips today on how to hold your wire when beginning to weave!

Sarah says:
sarahcut

Our natural tendency is to pinch the small gauged wire between our thumb and forefinger to guide it as you weave. This is fine, but you will find that your hand will cramp up over time. This can make weaving unpleasant. I use an alternative method inspired from crocheting.

Start your weave to anchor your weaving wire to the base wires. Hold your woven form to the inside of your palm with your weaving wire between your thumb and fore finger and resting on the back of your hand. Pull the form across your palm underneath the pinky and across your ring and middle finger, let the weaving wire follow the same path as it is pulled along with the form. You are now set up to start weaving.
Tip 5a
Tip 5b

The idea is to allow the wire to run through your fingers while you guide it with your middle finger. Your hand can be open or loosely closed in a fist, but the most important thing is that we are not clenching the muscles in our hand.
Tip 5c

The other benefit to holding the wires this way is that I can use my fingers to tap the small gauged wire as I am weaving. This gives the right amount of tension to wrap the wire tightly around the base wires as you weave. When my wire is in the back I tap with my thumb, then as I move to the front I can use my forefinger to tap. We normally pull the wire to tighten; this uses your arm muscles which are more difficult to control, using more force than needed to tighten the wire which can lead to your wire breaking. By tapping with your fingers you are using a minimal amount of force. This dramatically cuts back on your wire breaking.
Tip 5d

Tip 5e

In the beginning holding the wire this way may feel awkward, so I want you to first focus on learning the weave and getting it right. Hold the wire in a way that is natural to you. Then once you are comfortable with the weave come back and work on how you hold your wire. This will make it more manageable to learn, and soon you will find that it has become second nature.

Happy Wrapping!

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2 Comments

  1. avatar

    Kat

    January 13, 2016 at 8:15 am

    T.Y. My Weaving was ALL OVER THE PLACE. NOW I tried your idea & WOW It Looks “Professional,” Not like a “Knotted Mess”.

  2. avatar

    Tanya

    July 31, 2016 at 12:47 pm

    My problem is the hand that holds the larger wires. The wires that I’m weaving around, in other words. Would you call it your base wires, maybe? Anyway, my thumb starts hurting after only a few minutes. Maybe I just need to keep at it? It was the same when I tried to learn guitar. Muscle cramps. Contemplating a vice or some sort of contraption to clamp onto my desk to hold the base wires lol Any help would be appreciated!