my first paltry attempt at a wire wrap

Not bad John. Gotta start somewhere, and this is a good start.

Nate

A good solid start. I see potential! Enjoy them, they will always be special. Jo

Great start!

Thanks Stu and all,

I did want to put my earliest attempts out there for the reasons you mentioned. I have no illusions about these being "good", I just hope that they allow someone else new to see what they can expect from day 1, week 3, etc. these were definitely "day 1" attempts.

For me, the value in these lies in the fun I had selecting stones, using new tools and materials, and the knowledge that "I" put the effort into tumbling the stones.

To Jim's point I am trying to get the simplest stuff understood, for 2 reasons. If I can't do "simple" I can't do "complex" and I do love to show off the stone, particularly (in my case) in the absence of skill with wire.

I honestly don't know if I will ever try for elaborate wraps. I got into this because of the stones,so unless I get hooked on wrapping, too, it is only so I can have an excuse to share them in a meaningful way.

Thanks all for your kind words, honest feedback and unmerited praise. Hopefully I can help others forward in the same ways you all help me.

looks like a good start to me, do you have any pictures of the backs? maybe a close up of the bail area at the back?
Thanks for posting,
Chuck

I agree with Unclestu. It's nice to show that people don't just pick up some materials, tools and boom, make the pieces you can see here much of the time. Reason that matters is because when someone new tries it, and it doesn't look right, they give up because they think they don't have a knack for it, when really, they didn't put in the practice. The top top pieces people see here are often the results of many failed experiments and imperfect efforts.

But technique aside, your wrapping MOSTLY looks different because you used different wire compared to the other wraps here:P. If you look at some of the directions... what you need is a very specific 22 gauge half hard or dead soft square wire to achieve the effects you are seeing with the wrapping.

While I haven't tried actual wrapping a stone, I have done a little bit of wire work (headpins mostly), and the biggest thing that requires the skill is the ability to wrap TIGHT to the next coil. People good at it don't even think about it, but for a rank beginner, it can be challenging, especially when using stiffer lower gauge wires.

When I look at your back, it looks just like my wraps:P. hehe. And trying to get that smooth tight coil with exactly the same depth for each coil is probably the first important skill (that I haven't mastered either). It's why I never moved on to buying the nice square sterling 21-22 gauge wire. If I can't do a simple coil perfectly, I'm not going to do a better job with more expensive wires.

Once you get that part down, then I'll bet you will move very quickly to the fancier types of wrap:).

John my first attempts at wrapping left me with a brain stall in design and died an ugly death by wire cutter. I have only done 3 myself and find I need to really stop and think along the way about how it looks and how I want it to look. I am like the others who like a simple wrap that does not distract from the stone itself. I have seen some spectacular wrapping designs on here and wish I could wrap like that. Many would look great with no stone involved they are so nice. Keep it up, you are doing great at everything else you have undertaken.