Re: I need beads! Rant and ? about wire

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :

]And I too recommend you use only SS and Gold filled wire, no plated wire for ]jewelry. But get yourself some different gauges of brass. It looks good ]enough. But mostly, it works up while similarly to sterling. So you can ]practice, practice, practice. It'll make nice custume stuff.

second to the SS wire. but i've found i love using copper wire to practice with - and i can get it in my "Orchard Supply Hardware" store in any gauge i need.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Copper has lots of nice properties, but if you're practicing for working with sterling, brass is what you want because it feels much more like it.

I don't know, but I wonder if copper feels like fine silver. That would be useful, if practicing so you can work fine silver to add to a PMC piece.

Tina

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from "Christina Peterson" :

]Copper has lots of nice properties, but if you're practicing for working ]with sterling, brass is what you want because it feels much more like it.

hmm. i haven't had that experience, but "touch" is so different for individuals. i go from the copper to the silver "seemingly" without a problem. but i'm still terrified i'll mess up the silver, and i don't worry about the copper.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)

Yeah, I hear ya :) I have an ongoing occupation of my kitchen area, and it keeps expanding. I keep threatening to move the whole mess upstairs but so far I haven't found a suitable work table to put up there. I keep thinking I'll have better focus if I have a dedicated workspace for this... but who am I kidding? LOL!

Laura

Thanks. I bought 20 gauge, which is what they had at the craft store. It's just a base metal and I figured I'd use it for practice, but it's pretty difficult to work with.

Of the sterling silver and goldfilled, I would assume the gold is the softer? Does it make sense to use a thicker gauge of the softer material? Or should I just get used to a different feel for each?

Laura

I don't like bracelets, so I make them as seldom as possible. If you were making a bracelet you'd want a larger wire (lower number gauge) in half hard. And if you were using a very thin wire you might want to work with half hard to give it more body. But you can always harden wire. It's much harder to get it soft again. I have some half hard, but mostly I just use dead soft. The third kind, hard wire I've never used.

Yes, heavier gauges of wire would require more work with, and skill in, the use of tools.

And there are somethings I'd like to try with fine silver because that's softest.

I find sterling and gold filled to be very similar to work with, as is brass. Whereas copper is significantly softer.

Tina

I use copper because I like it. Just as itself.

Deirdre

vj found this in rec.crafts.beads, from Deirdre S. :

]I use copper because I like it. Just as itself.

----------- @vicki [SnuggleWench] (Books)