First two "real" wraps

Alex...I gotta say, you should in NO way be unnerved posting these! Truly, both of these wraps are stellar!! Your design and execution are both top level! They are both elegant and GORGEOUS!!

As far as "looping" the wire: I've found if the wires have bent at all during the first part of the wrapping, they have a tendency to want to bend where they were bent (you know what I mean! LOL). If they haven't been bent, then they will loop a lot more consistent.

If they haven't been bent (tweaked), then I will loop them with a large loop and keep bending them until the loop gets to the size I'm looking for.

If they have been tweaked so there's a "weak" spot in the wire, I will either use a circular mandrel OR what I normally do is bend a little bit at a time. When I bend a little at a time, I pinch the wires with thumb and forefinger on my left hand (like pliers) right up by the bail...then I bend a little... move my fingers...bend a little more...rinse and repeat until I've got the loop all the way around.

Again...these two wraps are truly fantastic!

Excellent job on the wraps, they look great. No need to be anxious posting on here, we love pictures and love to encourage each other.

Thanks everyone!  

rockjunquie / jasoninsd ok that makes sense.  Now that I think back on it, I straightened the wire out a little after unwinding it from the spool.  I'm betting that's where some of my problems started with getting even swirls.  

Is there a trick to getting wire straight enough to work with after taking it off the spool without creating some hardened areas?  

Those are great!.   

Very nice. I like how you connected the leftover wire down at the base with extra wire around the frame before your big 3 loops. Is that a separate piece of connection wire or a part of the original binding wires? Also your back is very clean. Overall very nice!

Your first wraps are awesome!  I would never have guessed they were your first ones.  I am truly impressed with how nice, tight and even your binding wires are.  

Work hardening is what happens when you manipulate the wires.  In dead soft (annealed) wire, all the molecules in the metal are spaced evenly throughout the piece of metal making it totally malleable.  As you manipulate the metal (wire in this case) by bending, curving or hammering it, the molecules move around making the metal "harder" and less malleable.  If you continued to manipulate the metal eventually you would make it brittle and it could break.  Just like if you took a piece of wire and kept bending it back and forth in the same spot, eventually it would break into 2 pieces.

I straighten my wire by running it through a Sunshine cloth a couple of times (between my thumb and forefinger) using my thumb to press a little more on the outward curved wire.  Does that make sense?

Even doing that will start to work harden the metal, but not enough to make it worth thinking about.

Wow! You are well on your way to being extraordinary. I don't usually do that type of looping, so can't be any help--except--you may find it easier with round wire (since it doesn't turn on its side, or rather, you can't tell if it turns cockeyed) and long ago Marie did a tutorial on doing "swirls." I'm not remembering what her name was on here but perhaps rockjunquie Tela remembers (?) I think she taught at jewelrylessons.com and I know she sold on Etsy for awhile.  At least she had a tutorial or three on jewelrylessons.com.

I use an old sock to run the wire through...one that has a big hole in it...like a LOT of my socks! LOL

I couldn't get this technique to work to save my life...then I realized I was pinching the wire too tightly when running through the cloth/sock. I lightened the pressure and now it works great.  

Truth, Jason.  All you need is a light touch.  Death grips defeat the purpose.