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Wire Jewelry Idea Aug. 15: Colorful Wire and Agate Pendant
By Judy Ellis on August 15, 2012
by Rose Marion, Wire-Sculpture.com
Wire Jewelry Idea for
August 15, 2012
Name: Colorful Swirls
Submitted by: Linda Gyetvay
Technique used: Wire sculpting and wire wrapping
Materials used:
- Silver, Purple, and Black medium-gauge craft wire
- Purple agate bead
Linda started wrapping this gorgeous agate bead with non-tarnish silver craft wire, and added matching purple and black wires, accentuating the color of the stone.
Linda says, “This type of wire is inexpensive, so you can make a beautiful one-of-a-kind piece that doesn’t cost you, or your customer, a fortune.”
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Mary Phillips
August 15, 2012 at 6:05 am
Thanks for sharing this. I adore the color choices and love the way the wire design rounds out and contrasts the rectangular stone. Very inspiring.
DeLane
August 15, 2012 at 6:55 am
Linda, Nicely done! The colors of your wire really do enhance the agate stone.
Jeanne Lyons
August 15, 2012 at 6:55 am
Linda – I love your use of color! There are a lot of beautiful curls, coils, and swirls.
I just wondered how you workhardened the wires enough so that they wouldn’t catch on anything, or did they harden enough as you worked the wires.
Would you be willing to share what gauge wire you used?
Trish
August 15, 2012 at 10:03 am
I was wondering this too. I can see the longer wires catching on something. Beautiful piece!
Lynne Hopkins
August 15, 2012 at 10:38 am
Jeanne, I’m glad you asked those questions because I was wondering the same things.
Catherine Franz
August 15, 2012 at 7:50 am
Have been looking for a bead like this for several years. Would love to know where to purchase one.
This is a beautiful design. Thank you for sharing.
Heidi Rousseau
August 15, 2012 at 9:41 am
I don’t use craft wire for wrapping jewelry only because it marks up so easily!I love making jewelry but don’t like the marks on my finished pieces,I don’t know what to do about that except maybe buy pliers that have the styrofoam wrapped around the ends.I have seen these and they look promising.
Debby
August 18, 2012 at 6:23 pm
Heidi,
Have you ever tried Tool Magic?
I always coat my tools with this when working on wire. It prevents the scratching that you are talking about. I love it and it works great.
Judi M'STAR
September 6, 2014 at 6:06 am
I find not all craft wires are created equal. Some will mar easily while others do not – often within the same brand, one color holds up better than another. I’ve been doing Viking weave with colored wire and see this more as you have to draw the wire thru a draw plate. I found that ‘scrubbing’ the Viking weave with the jewelry cloth before using the draw plate does help & will often use the cloth after several passes. I often draw my wire weave down too small but then have the fun of ‘What to do with it’ when that happens’
I use nylon jaw pliers when I can if I think the wire will mar more easily. But, they are clumsy for close work so I have a couple of pliers coated with tool magic which both protects & grips. I recently purchased some nylon round nose but so far haven’t really used them as I thought I would.
Done rambling
Sterling Foley
August 15, 2012 at 10:25 am
you have done a very nice job with thta stone.i my self work all the time with craft wire because its so cheap. keep up the nice worm .
JILLRY
August 15, 2012 at 6:56 pm
I’LL BET SHE’S USING 18 GA HERE…
ONE WAY I HARDEN THE TEMPER OF SUCH CRAFT WIRE (THAT’S BETWEEN HALF-HARD AND DEAD-SOFT) IS TO APPLY VERY FIRM PRESSURE & CURVE IT REPEATEDLY– BACK AND FORTH AGAINST EACH LONG CURVE– BETWEEN MY THUMBNAIL AND FOREFINGER.
Sheryl
August 16, 2012 at 7:25 am
Beautiful! Thank you for sharing and inspiring. I have some agates, and I’m going to bring them out of hiding today and embellish a couple of them.
Elizabeth Davenport
August 18, 2012 at 6:05 am
This is very pretty except the wire almost overpowers the beauty of the stone. I’m always in favor of letting the stone do the talking instead of the wire.
Barbara Mosher
August 25, 2012 at 11:35 am
This is beautiful! How about giving directions on how to make this for us novices?
Judi M'STAR
September 6, 2014 at 5:59 am
Beautiful! Fantastic color combinations. I get so inspired by these tips. The description above says agate bead. Can we assume that there is a hole drilled in it?
Kenna
December 20, 2014 at 3:58 pm
Just a question of clarification. The email I received about Wrapping a cabochon with craft wire”. When I come to the pattern from August it is clearly for a bead. Can a bead be a cabochon? I thought only a “drilled cabochon” had holes, otherwise a cabochon has no holes so cannot be a bead. Am I wrong? Is a cabochon a form of bead? Thank-you nevertheless for all the tips and great advice.
Marina
October 14, 2015 at 6:50 am
Is this a drilled bead that the silver wire went through, then the color wires added? This is a beautiful pendant. Thanks.