Choosing the Right Wire for Wire Wrapping Jewelry

Wire wrapping can create some of the most beautiful and delicate looking pendants and jewelry. There are a lot of great things about taking up wire wrapping as opposed to other types of jewelry making. It is relatively inexpensive, it doesn't require a large or specially set up place in a home or studio to work in, and it doesn't take much equipment to get started. Really all you need to get going with wire wrapping are some pliers (preferably a couple of different styles), wire cutters, wire, something to wrap, and some creativity.

One of the most confusing parts about wire wrapping jewelry is knowing what type of wire to use. It can get confusing seeing all different kinds of descriptions like half-hard, dead soft, half round, not to mention all of the different gauges that are available! Here is some information on the various types of wire that most wire wrapping artists use to help you to select the right wire for your project.

The first, and most obvious, thing that you will need to decide is whether you want to use sterling silver wire or gold wire for your wire wrapping project. When it comes to choosing wire metal for your project a lot will depend upon the color of the stone, cabochon or bead that you are wrapping. Typically stones with warm colors like orange and yellow look better with gold wire while cool colors like blues and purples look better with silver wire. You can also use copper wire in your wire wrapping projects which looks great with a variety of different colors. Use your best judgment and choose whatever you think will look the prettiest.

Next, you need to select the gauge of wire that you want to use. When it comes to wire gauge, the lower the number, the thicker the wire is. So a 16 gauge wire will be thicker than a 24 gauge wire. Thicker wire is more difficult to bend and to get to obey. However, if the wire you choose has too high of a gauge that makes it too thin it won't be able to hold its shape once you have wrapped it. Here a few common wire gauges: