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About Wire
If you are wondering about wire, or have already fallen in love with it like I have, and want to get started making jewelry with it, here’s some basic information about it. Wire is made of several materials like gold, silver, copper, steel or aluminum, it's also easy to find gold plated and silver plated wire, and the choice of wire depends solely on each one's liking… or budget!When we’re just getting started it’s better to try the pieces out with copper wire, since it is less expensive, and you might me surprised on how beautiful it turns out!
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How Do I Create Jewelry
Sometimes I just wake up with an idea and I make it. Not often but sometimes. Sometimes I sit down with a strand of beads and try to make something out of it that looks good. That usually works out into something I don't much like. The process that works for me is as follows.
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Stringing Mediums
This article will cover the very basics of types of stringing mediums. Stringing means putting beads on a “string” and adding a closure so it can be worn as a bracelet or a neclace. It almost always starts this way. You decide you can string up the beads and make jewelry too. Then you are in a quandary wondering what to use and how to finish the piece off.
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How to Wire Wrap Jewelry
I get asked this once a week and I give everyone a different answer depending on their skill level but there are some things that are universal that I say. Most people don't like my initial answer. I tell them to go for a walk and pick up a handful of rocks they think are pretty. Then head over to the hardware store or craft store and pick up some wire. 22 gauge preferably but 20 or 18 is fine. Get a pair of needle nose pliers (gasp yes I said needle nose) that you have in your tool box and spend a few days trying to capture the stones so you can put them on a necklace.
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Soldering Jewelry 101
Soldering Considerations - Magpie Gemstones often receives questions about how to get started soldering. Although this is not the company’s specialty, it is important to get information to customers regarding interests. This information is not purported to be a recipe for learning to solder, but rather it is written as food for thought.
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Fold Forming
Charles Lewton-Brain invented the technique known as foldforming in the late 1980s, creating a major innovation in metalworking. This brief article presents basic information about foldforming and does not provide specific “how to” information about the technique. There is information available on the internet, including Youtube.com if you have interest in learning how to create metal shapes with foldforming. Be sure to check http://www.ganoksin.com/ for articles by Charles Lewton-Brain and/or those relating specifically to foldforming. This site also provides a plethora of information on other jewelry-related techniques.
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Using a Tumbler
We’ve received a number of internet queries at Magpie Gemstones wondering what a tumbler is used for in jewelry making. This is a brief response to those questions. It is based on practical knowledge rather than internet research. In other words, this is my opinion which certainly may differ from those of others.
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Generating Jewelry Ideas by Making Connections
Have you ever been totally stuck waiting for your next great jewelry design idea? Most of the time I have more ideas than I can complete in the time available; yet, sometimes I just can’t picture a new design. Since I’m relatively stubborn and am seldom content to sit and wait for my muse to speak, I just dig out a creative thinking tool and stimulate thought.
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Creative Thinking in Jewelry Design Part 1
We are very lucky to have as one of our peers in jewelry design a professional educator, Dr Karen Meador, whose focus in her last career was mastering how to teach creativity. What a resource we have available to us. She has agreed to work through a creative process in jewelry design for us and offer it here at Magpie Gemstones for all of you. This is the introduction, stay tuned for further instalments.
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Creative Thinking in Jewelry Design Part 2
The Rubber Band Approach to Developing Creative Thinking in Jewelry Design-Part I Fluency and Flexibility I hope you had a chance to read the introduction to this series and that you were enticed to want to know more about creative thinking in jewelry design.
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Creative Thinking in Jewelry Design Part 3
We may all have our own interpretation of originality in jewelry design. What appears to be new, different and unique to one may be “old hat” to someone else. “Originality results when something is created for the first time (Meador, 1996).”
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Creative Thinking in Jewelry Design Part 4
Previous sections of this series on creative thinking discussed fluency, flexibility, originality and elaboration. If you recognized the importance of these components for designing unique jewelry, you may have scratched your head at the end of Part II and wondered how to use them to create something new and different. This part of the series discusses one of the common tools for doing just that.
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Excellence Versus Perfectionism
The Healthy Jewelry Artist - Do you ever think about the definite differences in between you or your jewelry making peers? Perhaps you see a difference in the quality of the pieces we produce. One person may painstakingly rework a piece to hide an errant wire end while another uses that end as part of the design.
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The Healthy Jewelry Artist: Fighting Perfectionism
Following is a brief discussion of things that might help alleviate perfectionism and allow the jewelry artist to be healthier and more productive. I’ve read many articles concerning how to cure perfectionism. They fall into two basic categories: adjusting attitudes and taking action. With those in mind, what can we do to avoid the pitfalls of perfectionism?
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Copper Tarnishing
Here's my little bits of input on the ages old issue of tarnishing copper and green skin, since they really do seem to go together for most of the population.... I like the theory about the metal being a living thing, the ever changing colors showing it's character. Let it live! Lemon juice with a dash of salt will clean copper in very short order. Rinse well or you will get lovely green in the cracks and crevices. The metal will start tarnishing again immediately. Try a little wax.
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Copper Tidbits and Facts
The use of copper in jewelry making is growing exponentially, resulting in the quest for more knowledge about copper in general. Below I have included snips and links to many interesting articles gathered near and far on the big wide web, touching on various aspects of copper. From mining and the making of wire to some of the many and varied health aspects. As in all jewelry making, use proper safety procedures, read directions where appropriate and work smart. Most important - have an enjoyable experience and make pretty things!
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