WigJig Newsletter 040125 on Jewelry making, Jewelry Supplies, Beads and Wire

WigJig Newsletter for January 25, 2004

If you are unable to view all the pictures in this newsletter you can always view the entire newsletter at: http://www.wigjig.com/newitems/.

International Gem and Jewelry Show, Tucson:
For those of you who will be visiting the International Gem and Jewelry Show in Tucson, Gary Helwig, the inventor of the WigJig, will be demonstrating our WigJig Products at the "Best Bead Show" in the Keno Senior Citizens Center from February 4th through February 8th. He will be showing jewelry made using the WigJig and will be happy to demonstrate how that jewelry was made.

New Products:
Since our last newsletter, we have added Chinese furnace bead mixes to our Internet store. These bead mixes are much less expansive than the designer furnace beads that we have been selling. You can view our selection of Chinese furnace bead mixes here.

ON SALE:
We update the items we have "On Sale" with every newsletter. A small sample of the products we currently have for sale at a discount are shown below. Please click on any of the text below the pictures to view our entire list of sale items. Quantities are limited for these items so please shop early. This sale will be effective through February 13, 2004.

New Store:
We now have an alphabetical index of our products. This provides another way to shop in our Internet store. You can view this Index here. If you have problems placing an order, please call us at 800-579-WIRE or send us an e-mail at custsrv@wigjig.com with your telephone number and we will be happy to call you to take your order.

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 design for the Triangles necklace shown at right. This necklace uses a WigJig component (shown below) as a yoke in the center of the necklace. This component is made of 20G 1/2 hard wire . Select either the picture or the text below the picture to view instructions on how to make this necklace.

Triangles Necklace

Past Techniques:
We maintain a techniques web page that provides links to the discussion of techniques in our prior newsletters. You can visit this web page here. Follow the links on that page to the discussion of the technique in that newsletter. You will need to scroll down to view the techniques section in each prior newsletter.

Jewelry Making Technique:
This weeks techniques discussion is on tools. Normally, we discuss which tools are appropriate for a beginner. This time we will discuss what tools we actually use to make the projects we show on our web site. A few of the tools we use are expensive. Some of the tools that we use may surprise you as we don't always chose the most expensive tools. We select our tools using the criteria, which ones work best for us without regard to price.

Other than our WigJig tools, the tools that we use almost every day are the following -- round nose pliers, two pair of bent chain nose pliers, a flush cutter, fine step jaw pliers, and bent closing pliers. While in general we feel the Lindstrom makes the best tools in the business, only one of the tools that I use on a daily basis is made by Lindstrom. It is my round nose pliers with the ergonomic handle, Item 2829 in our Internet store. These round nose pliers have a tip that is the smallest of any that I have found and they also have an ergonomic handle that makes them comfortable to grip.

The two pair of bent chain nose pliers that I use are both our Fine Bent Nose Pliers (seconds), item 2828. These chain nose pliers were made at our request because they have the finest (thinnest) point on the pliers which allows them to be used in tight places and for the most delicate work. The surface blemishes on these pliers do not impact their ability to work.

The flush cutter that I use is our Flush Cutter Ultra, Item 0356. This cutter has an ergonomic handle and does a great job of cutting gold, gold-filled, silver, copper and brass. Do not try to borrow this cutter to cut Soft Flex, it isn't made for that.

For almost every piece that I make, I use our Fine Step Jaw Pliers to make the initial loop. The Fine Step Jaw Pliers (item 2774) were also made at our request with the initial step of the pliers being the size of a WigJig Delphi peg, the second step being the size of a WigJig Olympus peg and the third step being larger still (9/16"). Because the jaws of the step jaw pliers are cylindrical and not conical (like round nose pliers) it is very easy to make loops of a consistent size. That is why this tool is so valuable.

The final tool in my everyday tool kit is our Bent Closing Pliers - Premium, item 0389. This tool is used to help close loops, when necessary. The groove in the jaws of these pliers keeps the wire from slipping as you squeeze the loop closed.

There are two other tools that I use frequently, but not every day. They are a chasing hammer and an anvil. The chasing hammer that I use is our Chasing Hammer 1 1/4", Item 0353. The anvil that I use is our Economy Anvil, Item 0299.

Unfortunately, the links provided to view these tools will work when we have the tools in stock. Our store is configured so that we do not display items like our Economy Anvil which is now out of stock.

These aren't the tools that I recommend for beginners. A complete set of these tools would be quite a bit more than $100. Our Beginners tool kit is less than $30.

When you view our instructions for our projects, now you will know the tools that we actually used to complete these projects.

Item 0299

Announcements:
Online Books. If you are looking for new and interesting projects -- try one of our Online Books. Our most detailed instructions are for sale online. Please select here to view our selection of online books.

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 Over 1,500 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 our designs by sorted by the WigJig tool used to make them. 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 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.

4mm Sterling Silver Rondelle Bead	8mm Round Swarovski 50 Facet Siam Beads
6mm Square Swarovski Fuchsia beads	Chain Curb Oval Fine Sterling Silver
Sterling Silver Ear Wire with Coil	20G Round, Half-Hard, Sterling Silver wire 1 ounce