Wire weaving - your own jeweler

2024 Author: Sierra Becker | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-26 03:46

From ordinary, unremarkable wire, you can create wonderful things - jewelry, accessories, photo frames, figurines, baskets and more. Wire weaving is an ancient art that our ancestors mastered to perfection. During archaeological excavations, scientists often find typesetting belts and women's jewelry made from this material. The same chain mail is nothing more than a product made of forged wire.

Wire weaving is painstaking work that requires perseverance and perseverance. In addition to these qualities, you need a set of tools and wire. From the tools you will need pliers, round nose pliers, needle files, wire cutters, a triangular file, tweezers, a small hammer, several nails of different diameters, a piece of iron with a flat surface. Also a small vise. For weaving, copper, aluminum and knitting wire with a diameter of 0.5 - 3 millimeters are used. Beads, beads, semi-precious stones, Swarovski crystals are used.

Beginners are best to start working with copper wire. It is flexible, bends easily and at the same time holds its shape well. Before starting work, the wire must be burned. This will sting the varnish covering it, the remnants of the insulation, and make it flexible. Roll it up neatloose roll and put in the flame of a gas burner. When it is red hot, dip it in cold water. For complete cleaning, the procedure can be repeated several times.

Having prepared the necessary tools and materials, you can start weaving simple elements from wire - rings, spirals, coils, chains. Even the most complex products are made up of simple elements. Wire weaving, in which beads and beads were used, looks very impressive. To do this, you can master the technique of beading. Only use thin wire instead of fishing line.

The simplest method of wire weaving is chain mail. Using this technique, the product is made up of many wire rings. They are formed on special round mandrels.

A knitting needle or a nail is suitable as mandrels. At the nail, you need to cut off the hat and the sharp end. At the end of one of the edges, make a notch to secure the wire. To make single links, lubricate the mandrel with machine oil and clamp it in a vise. Fix the end of the wire in the file and start winding even dense rows of wire onto the mandrel. Cut the finished spring directly on the mandrel with a hacksaw. As a result, you will get a bunch of single links, from which you can begin to assemble the intended product.

In order to get links of two or more turns, the spiral is removed from the mandrel, then every two turns are separated with a knife and bitten off with wire cutters. The ends of the link should be opposite each other. There is another kindlinks, they look like eights or an infinity sign. In order to get such beautiful twisted links, two identical mandrels must be clamped in a vice. The distance between them should be twice the diameter of the wire. We put one end between the mandrels and tightly wrap one of them, then we stretch the wire between the mandrels and wrap the second one. Wind the figure-eights between the mandrels until you run out of wire. Separate the links with wire cutters.

Mail wire weave is suitable for making bracelets, belts, necklaces.