WigJig Newsletter 030427 on Jewelry making, Jewelry Supplies, Beads and Wire

FREE WIRE DESIGN:
With every newsletter we provide a free design from WigJig University to spur the creative juices. This newsletter's free design is the Dragonfly Wire Sculpture shown at right. These piece was made using 18G Black, 22G Black and 18G Silver Blue Artistic Wire. The piece uses a 1/4 inch and 1/8 inch dowels to make the body and tail of this piece.

Dragonfly Wire Sculpture

Braided Gems

This elegant pearl and crystal set includes matching necklace, bracelet and earrings.

Question of the week:
Our WigJig University wire-working question for this newsletter is about wire hardness. First, what is hardness. Hardness in wire is the resistance of the wire to bending. Soft wire bends very easily. Hard wire is very stiff and wants to retain its original shape. Memory Wire is a good example of a very hard wire. Memory wire resists bending and returns to its original shape if possible.

Hardness is determined by the manufacturing process of the wire. Most precious metal wire is made by pulling the wire through a hole (orifice) of a defined size. Smaller sizes of wire are made by sequentially pulling the wire through progressively smaller holes. Each time the wire is pulled through the hole it becomes harder.

With the manufacture of gold, gold-filled, sterling silver and other precious metal wires, the wires are manufactured with a defined hardness. Manufacturers generally make this wire as a hardness of 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4. The hardness of 0 is dead soft wire. The hardness of 4 is fully hardened wire. A hardness of 2 is half-hard wire.

Most wire is sold without an indicated hardness. For the majority of this wire, the absence of a hardness indication means that the wire is dead soft. Brass, copper or Artistic Wire are sold as soft wire. With Niobium wire, this wire is also sold without an indicated hardness and in our experience generally has a hardness of fully hardened.

Each hardness of wire has its own advantages and disadvantages. Soft wire bends easily and makes excellent rounded shapes. Because soft wire bends so easily, it must be hardened after working the wire into a finished jewelry piece. Frequently soft wire is hardened by hammering the finished piece with a hammer and anvil. Soft wire is excellent for making spirals and other rounded shapes, but soft wire will not make crisp corners, by contrast it makes rounded bends. Hard wire is very stiff and requires almost no hardening. Hard wire resists bending, but once enough force is applied hard wire will bend and it makes very crisp, sharp corners. Half-hard wire is a compromise between hard and soft wire. Half-hard wire makes excellent wrapped loops and makes tight corners or bends. Half-hard wire does not make good spirals.

Our experience is that hard wire is too difficult to work with. Half-hard wire works very well when tight bends and wrapped loops are required. Soft wire works best when spirals or other rounded shapes are required.

Announcements:
Vacation Celebration. This week we did not have a winner of a free vacation from the Vacation Celebration Sweepstakes. Please view the bottom of our WigJig Home Page to see our Vacation Celebration banner. Select this banner to enter the contest to win a free vacation for yourself.

Online Books. If you are looking for new and interesting projects -- try one of our Online Books. Our most detailed jewelry making instructions are for sale online. Please select here to view our selection of online books. This week our "Wire Design Basics" Online book is on sale for $3 off at $9.95.

Shipping Policy. We ship all retail orders over $60 for free within the US. For International orders we ship via FED EX International and charge $34.95 (our average cost) for this expedited shipping service. Please select here to view our entire shipping policy.

WigJig University. We provide 1358 pages of free information, tips, techniques and free designs in WigJig University. We encourage everyone to view this information as a source for new ideas, projects, or a way to learn new techniques. We now have a page in WigJig University that shows you designs by type of WigJig tool. Please select here to view that information.

International Vendors. We do have vendors who sell our WigJig products outside the US. We encourage customers to contact these vendors in their home country. Please select here to view our list of overseas vendors.

This WigJig jewelry making newsletter is provided as part of WigJig University. 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 complete this project. Some of the skills and jewelry making techniques have not been discussed here. For beginners, we suggest that you visit our Beginners Start Here pages. These pages 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.