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If you guys did notice, I haven't been making any new pieces for The Atelier lately. Been in a dilemma actually. Weight dilemma..... o_O
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Well, this is actually how I do my wrapped loop. Just a 'lil something for you to consider and you could probably nip pick certain parts which you might find useful to you.
I don’t normally like to wrap the wire around too many times such that the loop is too far away from the bead, separated by the wrapped ‘stem’. I prefer to have the loop as close to the bead as possible and wrap around no more than two times.
This is what I do.
I normally cut off about 1" long wire for making the wrap. I find 1" works just fine for me. It's very difficult for me to work with any length shorter than that and I find that there's wastage with any length longer than that. 1" for mw is a comfortable length. Long enough to work with and not that much wire wastage.
After the 90 degrees bend and depending on the size of loop that you want to create, grip your round nose jaw as close as possible to the bead. Chances are, you might not be able to get it too close to the bead. But that will be sorted out later.
With the wire ends facing you, turn your wire end upwards. Not too much though. Probably a 180 degrees turn would be good enough.
You will somewhat end up with something like this.
Next, with your thumb, push the bead end upwards. What I’m trying to do here is to try to position the loop centred to the bead while getting the loop wrapped as close to the bead as possible at the same time.
This is more or less what it will look like.
I call this the two-step turn. Most of the instructions I found makes a one time turn downwards but would normally end me up with a wrapped loop with a longer ‘stem’. So I made up this two step turn instead to get the intersection centred as close to the bead as possible.
Alright, back to where we left off.
Now, reposition your plier.
Next, turn the wire end all the way down, intersecting the ‘stem’ which you will be wrapping later at a 90 degrees angle.
If you still find that it's still not very centred, you can always push the bead end forward a little to centre it.
This should be how the intersection will look like.
Now, here’s a two cents of mine.
When I’m making the intersection, I like to have the wire ends stopped facing me (which is also why I started off with the wire facing me so that that is also where the wire will stop after making a whole circle turn). In that way, when I’m doing the wrap later on, I am wrapping outwards, i.e. wrapping anti-clockwise. Well, not to say that it’s a better way but for me, I find myself to be more at ease wrapping that direction and chances are, when you are at ease, you get to work done more smoothly and ‘at-hand’. Erm, I don’t know how should I explain this but it’s something like your ‘flow’ of work or ‘way’ with work, something like that?
Then, I grip the loop with the round nose plier. Some people just leave the round nose stuck into the loop hole while wrapping underneath. I like to grip the loop flat instead since I find that I get a better grip that way. Be careful not to grip too hard though or you might marred the wires real bad or if you are using a thinner wire, it might even snap and break.
Now, with the chain nose plier, grip right at the end of the wire and start wrapping.
I’m aware how some would suggest that you grip inside close to where you’ll be wrapping but I personally find it to be more effective to grip at the end.
This is my rationale. When you grip at the end, grip it with a light pull, creating tension along the wire. That way, when you wrap, you are able to achieve a nice and tight wrap. Just another of my two cents on wrapping.
When you think you have had enough wraps, cut of the excess wire.
Tuck the ends (if any) in with a chain nose plier to prevent the sharp cut-off ends from scratching the wearer.
And there you have it, wrapped loop 101, Work Room style! ;)
Ouh, another thing that I’ld just like to mention. You might have saw some doing the wrap with their bare hands and this is my take on this.
Personally, I don’t favour wrapping with bare hands at all. In the absence of any assistance from any tool, I find it difficult to achieve a neat tight wrap. The rationale is this. As I mentioned earlier, when you are holding the wire end with a tool, you are somehow pulling the wire a little. It’s probably not a very deliberate pull but subconsciously, perhaps? What this pull creates is a tension which straightens the wire, and as you wrap, you are able to get a close, neat, wrap.
Some may have find that hand wrapping would work out equally fine for them. One thing I’ll need to confess though. My hands are weaker, especially the left one. So, they are not strong enough for a steady grip and that is why I always prefer the assistance from the tools any time. So, if you think hand wrapping does a fine job for you, by all means, go ahead.
Well, ladies and gentleman, and that’s my final two cents for today. :)
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