WigJig Newsletter 030608 on Jewelry making, Jewelry Supplies, Beads and Wire

FREE JEWELRY MAKING DESIGN:
With every newsletter we provide a free design from WigJig University to spur the creative juices. This newsletter's free design is the Easy Earrings shown at right. These earrings are made using a metal finding called an ear drop and three head pins per earring. Instructions are provided here or by clicking on the pictures or text at right. These are easy earrings to make, hence the name.

Easy Earrings

Jewelry Making Technique of the week:
Our WigJig University wire-working technique for this newsletter is how to make an ear wire like the one used in the easy earrings shown above. This ear wire is made on the WigJig Cyclops using the pattern shown at right. As always, please remember that we only use the colored Artistic Wire for taking pictures. Real ear wires should only be made using sterling silver, fine silver, gold, gold-filled wire or stainless steel.

How to make an ear wire

Question of the week:
How do you avoid marking the wire with round nose pliers? This is an excellent question as many people do not realize that round nose pliers do mark the wire. In fact, round nose pliers mark the wire every time you grasp the wire with them. When making loops, one of the jaws of the round nose pliers marks the inside of the loop and the other jaw marks the outside of the loop. Now the question is how to minimize these marks.

The first thing to do to minimize the marks made by round nose pliers is to use that amount of pressure necessary to hold the wire fixed, but no more. Do not over squeeze. Second, knowing that the round nosed pliers make marks, try to limit the number of times and places that you grasp the wire. If possible grasp the wire in one or two places maximum while making a loop.

The last thing to do to minimize marks on your wire is to use alternative tools when possible. Round-Flat Pliers and Step Jaw Pliers have one round jaw and one flat jaw. The flat jaw is always on the outside of the loop and the flat jaw spreads the force used to grasp the wire and for this reason leaves almost no marks on the wire. These tools can not be used for every function, but where they can be used they are worthwhile since they don't mark the wire.

Announcements:
Vacation Celebration. We did not have a winner of the Vacation Celebration during the past two weeks. 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 "Ear Cuffs Basic" Online book is on sale for 20% off.

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.

Classes. We are still working to develop web pages showing who has jewelry making classes where. If you are interested in classes, please select here. If you know someone who has classes in using our WigJig tools, please ask them to send us an e-mail so that we can include them in these pages. Please send the e-mails to custsrv@wigjig.com.

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.