Boot Camp #3: Wire Work Out

Love My Art Jewelry is running its 3rd Boot Camp Blog Hop today with a mission for us to expand our skills in wire work. Over the past month, Artist Members offered up some great tips and techniques for making wire jewelry. They also challenged us to move forward with our own new designs.

I started by making a pair of copper wired earrings. I really enjoy working with copper, it is so soft and easy to form.  The copper links were a snap using just flat chain nose pliers. The ear wires are nonallergic anodized niobium which is a lot stiffer to work with then copper. However, niobium's qualities for ear wires are tough to beat, in my opinion.

Having so much fun making these copper squares, I decided to move on to a copper chain (link) necklace. And I should add here that there are good and bad aspects of working with soft metals like copper. Yes, the wire is soft and easy to form but that also means it could bend and become "out of shape" (need to go back to boot camp ha ha) after being worn for a while.

As a work around, I decided to add silk ribbon to the part of the piece that lays along the back of the neck which typically takes the most stress. Second, I was very careful to work harden each individual link with a small rubber tipped hammer. Great for building boot camp arm strength don't you think?

Last but not least, the ribbon connectors I made came from a great wire work technique provided by Kelli Pope at the Love My Art Jewelry Blog. Am planning to keep this necklace in my personal collection for testing. You can always contact me  to find out how it is holding up. I love hearing from you!

 

And now please click below for more great Boot Camp jewelry wire work:
 

 

Love My Art Jewelry