What's my solution?

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Work Room chat:
Ever wondered how wire jewellery artist make those wire wrapped cross pendant? I found this video not too long ago showing how those wire wrapped cross pendant are made. The lady in the video did it very fast and her wrapping is a little messy I reckon. When you do it, you just slow down a little so that you get a nice neat wrap and now that you've know the technique, you can be more creative by attaching beads or something to make it yours. Check out the video here.
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No doubt, we all know that the best wire is sterling silver wire but we all also know how much it costs. I think I’m still considered an amateur crafter lor. Sterling silver material is probably not something I can afford to look into right now. In time to come, maybe. But for now, dwelling so much into the price tag for sterling silver wires will probably put me off from continue making jewellery.

But even as an amateur, I still want to be able to make a good quality piece of jewellery.

I tried silver plated pins and the same hoo-haas I had with pins arose. Moreover, I think those plating were so thin that I can literally see the plating flaking off while I was working with them. A total let down!

Sa Kor came back to visit early this year and she brought back these wires for me to try. These are European made silver plated wires. They have a copper core and the plating is made up of a small quantity of pure silver, to get the colour, and an alloy. The plating on these wires is a lot thicker than what you normally get from the Chinese wires.


These wires have a firm but bendable feel, it keeps it's shape really well and it has a beautiful, bright silver finish, akin to sterling silver. I’ve been using these ever since. Good quality wires, I must say and I’ve been very happy with it.

All my pieces you see in the Atelier are made with these silver plated wires. I have since crossed off head pins and eye pins from my bead shopping list. All my wire needs are found in these silver plated wires.

I’ll tell you why.

I make my own head pins


Hold the spool of wires on your left hand. (I'm right handed, so, if you're left handed, it should be the other way round la!)


Slide your bead in.


Let your bead slide further down a bit so that it doesn't get in the way.


Now, with your tip of your chain nose plier, hold onto the edge of the wire.


Turn 90 degrees upwards.


That's not enough. Turn some more. Until you turn 180 degress.


Then, use the flat surface of the chain nose plier , press them together so that they are literally crushed into each other. :P


This is what you'll get. This picture is not crushed close enough. When you do it, you should crushed them together real close in order to get the intended effect. There shouldn't be gap in between like this.


Now, slide your bead back up.(?)Cuz just now we said slide down mar, so logically, it should be back up now? But it looks like you've got a top hat on the head when you only want a head.


No worries. We're gonna tweak it a little.

Slide your bead back down to get it out of the way.



With your flush cutter, be very careful and cut a small bit off the tip of the folded part. This would require some precision cutting, so it would be a good idea to do this in a bright room. Careful also not to cut off the entire head.


There, now it looks more like a clean shaven head. LOL!


Slide your bead back up.


There. That looks more like it. :)



Now, use your chain nose plier and hold right at the top of the bead.



Make a 90 degrees turn.


Guesstimate the length you'll need to make your loop and cut off.



Tadah! You've just made your own head pin. Loop the other end as usual to make your connection.


Erm, I think it could even be pass off as one of those ball end head pins, no? o_O




An alternative to the ball-like end head pins is to make a scroll end head pins. Instead of balling up the end, you scroll up the end like this. This can even goes as part of your design.



Basically, design possibilities are endless.

I make my own eye pin.

Same old story. *yawn* :)



Slide your bead in.


Make a loop.


Slide your bead back up.


Make a 90 degrees turn. Cut off at the length you need to make a loop.


Look what we have here? ;)


And finally, what I like best.....

No more wastage!

Now, here's the trick. Do not cut off pieces of wire to make your loop or head. Otherwise, you are still faced with the same wastage problem as before.

This is what you do.

Always hold onto the spool of wires on one hand and slide in the bead first. Once you’ve got the required length, you can put the roll aside and do the loop forming as usual.

Notice how there is no wastage of wires at all throughout the process?

I just love it how there's control over material usage when it's done this way.

I know some may find it to be a little inconvenient to be holding a roll of wire on one hand all the time while working it with the other but this seems to be the only way that I know of to help you cut out the exact length of wires that you need without any wastage. Save whenever you can, is a good policy. No?

You'll get used to it after some time. :P

However, some wastage is unavoidable when you are making a wrapped loop. You do need to cut out excess wire for you to make the wrap and it is always a good idea to have a longer end for you to wrap so that it gives you the correct tension to help you make a nice tight wrapped loop.

What else did I do with these silver plated wires?

I made my own hook and eye clasp!



On the rare occasion when I ran out of clasp I made my own. But really, it is the eye that I made more of.

I was never quite happy about ending my pieces with a jump ring or split ring for the clasp to hook onto. I felt that it gave a very unfinished look to the piece.

I knew about end tags.



But end tags are hard to come by and I feel end tags look better paired with a bolt ring clasp.



Not with a lobster clasp.




Now, I make my own eye for the lobster clasp to hook onto. Same old grandmother story, why buy when you can make your own? I’m more satisfied with how my pieces end now than I was before.



With wires long long like this, I can also ......

Wrap a teardrop bead



..... the way I’ve always wanted to.


I even ....

Made my own jump rings.





I wouldn’t recommend you to make your own if you want to do chainmaille. You’ll probably die of exhaustion unless you have a coiling gizmo and a jewellery saw!

This is for the odd one or two that I need to connect the clasp and eye to finish off a piece or to make a connection.

Okla, so I did tried making a chainmaille piece once. With ALL handmade jump rings using 1.0mm thick wires! LOL :) But that was it lor hor.



I’ve been using these wires for almost a year now and I do think they have work wonderfully for me. It’s a great way to get the look of sterling silver for much lesser.

If you are interested to get these silver plated wires click here for more info. This will also work great for those who wants to make wire jewellery.

I have 20 samples pack of these silver plated wires in 0.6 mm to give away.



The first 20 readers to leave your email on the comment box for this post will get a pack of these wires. Each pack consists of ½ metre long of 0.6 mm European made silver plated wires. Postage paid for by normal post.

I will mail you personally to get your address to send them to you. Limit to one sample per reader, alright? :)

Oh, and also only for local shipping addresses, ya.

This is something interesting I found on the metaphysical properties of silver. Silver, it is said, to serve as a mirror to one's soul, allowing a view without judgement. It provides a strong connection between the physical and astral bodies. Used with gemstones, it attracts and retains the qualities of the stones. It enhances the powers of the moon.

Hhhhmmmmm....... interesting..... if only la I knew what are astral bodies and what can the powers of the moon do...... o_O