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Daily Wire Tip Dec. 31: Wrapping Spirals

By on December 31, 2009
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Daily Wire Jewelry Making Tip
December 31, 2009

Question:

How do I keep the wire wrapped on itself when doing spirals? It slips under/over itself and towards the end of the spiral it starts to open up creating space between the circles instead of staying tight/close to the preceding circle.

Answer:

Great question! Yes making a nice tight spiral may seem like a simple procedure, but it does take practice to get it right – and once you do – you’ve got it forever! Check out the ‘Best Ever Coils’ pattern by Contributing Guest Artist, Karen Roberts on our updated ‘Patterns & Ideas’ page here: https://wire-sculpture.com/pages/Jewelry_Making_Patterns2.html

Answer contributed by Dale “Cougar” Armstrong

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4 Comments

  1. avatar

    Carol Braden-Williams

    December 31, 2009 at 5:40 pm

    Take it very slowly until you get the desired results. Also turn the piece over as you work making sure the wire hasn’t overlapped on the back and don’t pull it too tightly. If you are wrapping a long section of wire with another piece of finer gauge wire, use your thumbnail or the blade of a dull knife to push the coils together every three or four wraps. Also, if you look at some antique wire wrapped jewelry, you will notice that it’s not perfectly wrapped which gives the piece character, so don’t be too critical of your work. Sometimes it will look better to you if you put it down for awhile and go back to it later.

  2. avatar

    mary

    January 4, 2010 at 9:18 am

    Making spirals that look good just takes practice so dig out some round copper wire and your pliers. Most of the work is done by understanding and using your tools correctly. Your flat nose pliers are used to stabilize and control the spiral as you slowly turn the wire as you construct the spiral. Don’t get discouraged, we all made horrible spirals when we first started.

  3. avatar

    Yvonne

    January 5, 2010 at 8:01 pm

    Can you tell me where I can find copper and brass wire that is square, flat and half round. Also soft and dead soft. Do they even make it? Yvonne

    • avatar

      dalecgr

      January 5, 2010 at 10:46 pm

      Yvonne,
      WS carries all of the wire you mentioned! Just go to the home page http://www.wire-sculpture.com and look at the menu of supplies on the left side. Click on Wire and a page will come up that shows all of the different metals. When you click on your choice, you will find all of the shapes and tempers listed for that particular metal.