2nd page of Beginners Jewelry Making using Beads, Tools, Wire & Supplies Page 2

Jewelry Making -- How to Cut wire

The jewelry wire cutters that we use for all of our jewelry making projects are called "Flush Cutters". These cutters are specifically designed for jewelry and wire working projects to make a cut that leaves one side of the cut wire relatively flat or flush and the other side relatively sharp. The cutters are designed to be used with the flat side of the cutters perpendicular to the wire to be cut and the beveled side of the cutters provides the sharp edge necessary to cut. The perpendicular or flat side of the flush cutter will cut jewelry wire and leave a relatively flat end on the wire at that side. The beveled side of the flush cutter will leave the cut wire with a sharp end. Try cutting a piece of wire and see the two cut ends to understand this better.

For your jewelry making and wire projects always cut the wire so that the flat side of the cut wire remains on the finished piece. This is important so that the finished component won't have any sharp ends to snag or cut. This is accomplished by cutting with the flat side of the flush cutter toward the finished piece. As shown here and in our jewelry making Online Book "Wire Design Basics" has pictures showing how to hold your flush cutter when cutting wire.

Finally, the flush cutters are designed for cutting "jewelry wire". This is sterling silver, gold-filled, gold, brass or copper wire. They are not designed to cut steel in any form and will be ruined if they are used to cut steel, including the Soft Flex or Tiger Tail bead stringing wire.

Safety Tip #1: Always hold both ends of the wire as you cut it. When the cut is made, the loose end of the wire tends to fly. It can be a hazard to your eyes and it can be a hazard to your back as you crawl around on the floor trying to find the wire and pick it up. Wearing safety glasses when jewelry making is often recommended, but it is safer still to make sure the loose end of the wire can not become a missile hazard.

Safety Tip #2: A good habit to have, is when you are cutting wire from a coil or spool to cut it so that the flat side of the cut remains on the spool or coil of wire. This way the shorter wire segment that you work with will always have one sharp end and one flat end. In addition, the wire on the spool with have a flat end so it will be less likely to hurt anyone who picks up that spool later.

Safety Tip #3: Flush cutters can be sharp and may not be suitable for young children. Jewelry making is probably not appropriate for young children.

This WigJig jewelry making project is provided as part of WigJig University - College of Jewelry Making Designs. We try to provide interesting jewelry projects using beads, jewelry wire and other jewelry supplies. We hope that these pictures will provide you enough information for you to learn these jewelry making skills. We have tried in these pages to discuss the skills necessary for making jewelry in the detail that beginners need. We also suggest that beginners to jewelry making might need to visit the WigJig University College of Jewelry Making Techniques for additional information about some of the skills and techniques shown.

Most, but not all of the jewelry supplies shown here can be purchased in our WigJig store. We try to have a complete selection of jewelry supplies in our store including chain, wire, glass beads, findings, watches, tools, etc.

Page 2 Beads & Jewelry Making Supplies by WigJig -- Jewelry Making for Beginner's

Jewelry Making -- How to Cut wire