Creating Jewellery with Silver Wire
Creating Jewellery with Silver Wire
Sterling silver jewellery can be crafted from silver wire to create interesting designs and effects. Most silver jewellery wire available for crafting jewellery pieces will be sterling silver which is 92.5 percent pure silver alloyed with 7.5 percent other metals. Quite fine silver wire is generally used for jewellery manufacture as it is easy to bend and work with. As well as the silver wire other materials can be used in your jewellery creation such as precious gemstones, polished stones, glass or crystals.
Before you begin working your materials to create your own designs of jewellery it is advisable to put some design ideas on paper first. Even if you adapt your design while your creative juices are flowing a design on paper gives a good basic starting point for your jewellery design. Fine silver wire can be used for threading drilled gemstone beads and other interesting materials but silver for making jewellery is available in many different shapes for you to work with. Thicker silver wire can be twisted or wrapped into various forms and shapes to create your final piece of jewellery. Flat pieces of silver can be hammered out into exciting designs and given a textured finish surface to make bangles or wide necklets.
If you are new to making your own jewellery you may want to start with a lower cost alternative to silver wire initially. Silver bonded wire is available at many craft websites on the internet and in good local craft stores at a lower price than sterling silver wire. This will be a base metal wire that has been plated with silver, so your resulting jewellery piece will still look like silver but will only be silver plated and may be less hard wearing than sterling silver. And rather than using more expensive precious stones in your jewellery you could begin with lower cost beads made from glass crystal, that can still give outstanding results.
The equipment required to start making your own wire jewellery can be as simple as a pair of pliers and some wire cutters. Simple designs can be made without the need for soldering using simple twists to secure beads onto your jewellery. Sooner or later you may require an oxyacetylene torch to enable you to solder high melting temperature metals such as silver. Once you get the hang of soldering your own jewellery the options for designs and artistic creations will be practically endless.
As well as using silver or silver bonded wire many people create their jewellery from gold wire. Gold wire can be used to great effect in combination with other materials such as pearls or polished semiprecious stone beads. After you have become proficient at making your own wire jewellery you may wish to go on to sell your creations at a local fair or craft show. Many people that started jewellery craft as a simple hobby have progressed to making a part time or even full time income from sales of their jewellery. The appeal to the public of handmade wire jewellery is that they will be wearing one off designs that may be unlike any other jewellery available in the stores.
