All About Soft Wire

by Dale Armstrong

This week I found another great question in our older posts that I think is well worth revisiting - All About Soft Wire. Maybe you've had this same question as well.

Instructions

Question:

I have been working with wire for more than 25 years, and have used many gauges, usually in half hard. However, sometimes I get more soft wire than I want. I remember my old teacher telling me when I complained about soft wire that it will work for a while, but then it’ll get hard. I have found that while shining the wire with a cloth that if I bend it gently and straighten it a few times, it does indeed get harder. Plus, if I twist half hard, it can get too hard to use, but if I twist dead soft (square of course), it gets just about right. What do you think?

Answer:

Yes, twisting dead soft wire will make it close to half-hard temper. The question then would be, how much twisted wire do you want to be in your design?

As far as twisting half-hard wire and it becoming too hard, that would depend on how much of a twist or ‘bead’ you put on the wire. (Sometimes I will individually twist several pieces of 24g sq half-hard and use them to hand-sculpt with, and I often twist 21g or 22g sq half-hard when making a cabochon frame too.)

In my opinion, the amount of twisting done to what gauge and temper of wire is up to the individual artist and comes first from their experience and then from their choice.

What Gauge to use:

Are you familiar with what gauges of wire to use in different kinds of jewelry? Here’s a quick chart for you to refer to in a pinch:

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If you are interested in learning more about wire work or wire twisting take a look at the many Instructional DVDS and Wire Jewelry Books that we have available. A few suggestions might be our Jump Start Beginner Series, Intermediate or Advanced Series or even Coiling and Weaving Series.

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Category: General Education
Technique(s): Wrapping

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Dale Armstrong

A die-hard rockhound, lapidary, and wire jewelry designer, instructor and author, Dale credits her mom for spurring the main interest that led to Dale's chosen career. Her mother was an avid rockhound and many, weekend family adventures involved traipsing through the White Mountains of New Hampshire in search of abandoned pegmatite mines. This is where Dale’s fascination with, and education of rocks and minerals began, some 40 years ago.

With more than 40 years of experience, Dale uses absolutely no solder or glue in her traditional wire jewelry designs, and teaches how at jewelry making events in North America, Russia, Ukraine and Switzerland. Her award winning work is sold in galleries and has appeared in many printed publications.

Author of numerous magazine and Internet articles and the bestselling book, “Wirework: An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Wire Wrapping”, Dale has made several series of instructional DVDs for WireJewelry.com.

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