Wire Wrapping Projects - Batch #1 - (Jul 26, 2019)
Jul 26, 2019 11:24:16 GMT -5
drocknut, Peruano, and 6 more like this
Post by NevadaBill on Jul 26, 2019 11:24:16 GMT -5
Good day!
Well, I am just getting started in this Wire Wrapping hobby. It has really grabbed hold of me. I think I like it better than tumbling or cabbing!! That is saying a lot.
But I just seem to like twisting some wires I guess.
Lately I have been such a no-show on these forums that I can't even seem to keep track of my own forum posts. I seem very irresponsible for this, and I apologize if I happen orphan this topic, and not circle back to it for some time. This will be a lengthy post. I just didn't want to make them separate posts, and thought it more tidy to keep them together as a batch.
> (001) - I will include a shot my first wrap attempt. Lavic, silver dollar template, 20 gauge silver coated wire. I made it a couple weeks ago:
The frame is the foundation for my early projects. And I seem to gravitate towards a minimalist design, actually. For now. I learned it at a class.
But these projects are all novice attempts, full of rookie mistakes. All of them have a problem or two. But I thought I would post my best ones.
> (002) - My second attempt is done in Thulite (zoesite), Large 52x38 template, in 20 gauge silver and gold coated wire. It is pretty marred up:
I saw a picture of the interweaving top portion on the internet, and tried to reproduce it by memory. This was both a good thing and a bad thing.
My mistake on this one, was the cabochon. First off, it was slabbed too thin, and second, I accidently chose the wrong side to face forward. Live and learn. Here is the back.
> (003) - The next effort is done in Lavic, freeform (from a tumbled tock), in 20 gauge silver and gold coated wire. It is a 40x30 sized stone (sort of). I over exposed the shots, sorry:
It is actually a very shiny Lavic with some nice translucent running through it. There is a crack, not too visible when not overexposed, and it shows a bit better than this.
I have trouble with the bail, but do like the finished product a good deal. The back looks very much like the front, as it is a mostly symmetrical rock polish that I just thought would be a new wrap.
> (004) - The next try is a piece of Lavic, freeform (from a 30x22 oval template) which I elongated on the top and bottom. It is in 20 gauge gold and silver coated wire. The top of the rock is a bit translucent.
The idea was mine, and didn't come from something I saw. I wanted to suspend the rock, by holding it on its sides by the wire. The wire was thick enough. I didn't know what I was doing. But, oh well.
Happy with the effort, the mistake was, the sides were bent, and twisted perfectly on one side, and then I couldn't reproduce it on the other side! Doh! So, I marred the heck out of it. Then, when it was all done, if I pulled hard enough, I could pull the rock right out! Ugh. So, I marred and bent the heck out of it to make it better, but I just couldn't get the rock to stay on its own. So I had to CA glue it.
I wish I didn't have to do it, but it was poor execution that got me here, and the CA glue would ensure that it would never move out of the wire wrap. I forgot to polish the back (Doh!). I will learn from this one.
> (005) - The rock is some mine tailings junk (Chrysochola, Azurite, Malachite? no idea) that I often tumble. But I freeformed in to an oval of sorts, which is bigger than 40x20, wrapped in 20 gauge silver and gold coated wire. With beads.
Ok, this was a class project. In my 3rd class we were supposed to make a fish. Well this one was a PITA. I put the dorsal fin on the wrong side, and bail on the wrong side.
It is three dimensional, and the back is also about as wide as the front. The tail is quite large and it is also wide. The pictures make it look pretty flat.
It is a marred up, mess and I had trouble with the thick wire on such a small stone. Lesson learned. Buy smaller gauge wire for future smaller rocks.
> (006) - Done in Amethystine, and freeformed from a large 44x38 shield, it is actually larger than that. I used pure silver filled wire, which cost almost almost 1 ounce of silver. It was supposed to be 22 1/2 hard Square. I received 22 Full Hard, sort of square.
I am wrapping some stones for my sister's 50'th birthday next month, and this is one of them. I thought I was good enough to use pure filled silver wire. This was HARD wire. It was not easy bending for me.
There is a lot of character in this stone, and I didn't want to blow it. I was shaking at the end of making this, trying not to ruin the wrap. It was expensive and important. And I was happy to pull it off.
I didn't make any huge mistakes. There is a hint of white at the bottom, which is a hard rock that runs with the Amethystine a lot. It has dendrites also.
> (007) - This is dark red Amethystine, formed from a 30x22 rectangle template, wrapped in 22 gauge and 26 gauge silver coated wire.
A smaller stone, I used smaller wire. And boy did I learn on this one. Thinner wire is very susceptible to mars, easy bending mistakes, and a host of other things. 26 gauge does not want to hold its shape well.
This is a darker stone than it shows, and you can see a fracture or two (not visible by the eye easily), because I over exposed the shot. But the deep red is interesting, I think. I messed up the bail.
I gave this away to a visiting old friend, the same day it was made. All I see are mistakes on it, but the gift was happily received.
> (008) - This, again, is Lavic, which is formed directly out of a large 52x38 template. Almost a good cabochon form on this. I used gold 22 gauge and 26 gauge coated wire.
This one gave me fits. The wire is too thin for this big stone, and when forming the bail, I twisted the wires on one of the sides, at the top, and there is an error, permanently (can be seen in above shot).
I do however love the character of the stone, and the little twisty circles at the top turned out nicely. I was thinking of fireworks when I formed them.
A big, heavy piece, this will need a good chain to hold. You can see how the 26 gauge soft wire does not hold its shape well. Easy to make mistakes with thin wire.
> (009) - This is Lavic, formed from a 40x30 teardrop template, but ground down to less. It is done in gold 22 and 26 gauge coated wire.
So, this is a small, thin piece that was salvaged from a slab slicing session gone bad. I will not take credit for the thin slab. But I have a pair of thin matching 23x18 earings in this material, and will finish a set, once I figure out how to do earrings.
Like a lot of my Lavic, this has a lot of Chalcedony running through it. But this wrap was a PITA. The small size, the thin wire, was only the beginning.
I could hardly keep the stone in the wrap. I had to use painters tape fully to hold the bottom as I struggled to form a bail. When I uncovered the bottom, I discovered I had put the bail on the WRONG side (Doh!).
What a mess, trying to bend it forward. The circles at the top were meant to be ovals, but are a mess. The rock is so tight inside this wrap, that I barely was able to get the wires around it.
Live and learn.
Well, that is about it for now. I realize that I used too many words here, but hope that it wasn't too much of a bore for reading.
Thank you for stopping by and taking a look!
Well, I am just getting started in this Wire Wrapping hobby. It has really grabbed hold of me. I think I like it better than tumbling or cabbing!! That is saying a lot.
But I just seem to like twisting some wires I guess.
Lately I have been such a no-show on these forums that I can't even seem to keep track of my own forum posts. I seem very irresponsible for this, and I apologize if I happen orphan this topic, and not circle back to it for some time. This will be a lengthy post. I just didn't want to make them separate posts, and thought it more tidy to keep them together as a batch.
> (001) - I will include a shot my first wrap attempt. Lavic, silver dollar template, 20 gauge silver coated wire. I made it a couple weeks ago:
The frame is the foundation for my early projects. And I seem to gravitate towards a minimalist design, actually. For now. I learned it at a class.
But these projects are all novice attempts, full of rookie mistakes. All of them have a problem or two. But I thought I would post my best ones.
> (002) - My second attempt is done in Thulite (zoesite), Large 52x38 template, in 20 gauge silver and gold coated wire. It is pretty marred up:
I saw a picture of the interweaving top portion on the internet, and tried to reproduce it by memory. This was both a good thing and a bad thing.
My mistake on this one, was the cabochon. First off, it was slabbed too thin, and second, I accidently chose the wrong side to face forward. Live and learn. Here is the back.
> (003) - The next effort is done in Lavic, freeform (from a tumbled tock), in 20 gauge silver and gold coated wire. It is a 40x30 sized stone (sort of). I over exposed the shots, sorry:
It is actually a very shiny Lavic with some nice translucent running through it. There is a crack, not too visible when not overexposed, and it shows a bit better than this.
I have trouble with the bail, but do like the finished product a good deal. The back looks very much like the front, as it is a mostly symmetrical rock polish that I just thought would be a new wrap.
> (004) - The next try is a piece of Lavic, freeform (from a 30x22 oval template) which I elongated on the top and bottom. It is in 20 gauge gold and silver coated wire. The top of the rock is a bit translucent.
The idea was mine, and didn't come from something I saw. I wanted to suspend the rock, by holding it on its sides by the wire. The wire was thick enough. I didn't know what I was doing. But, oh well.
Happy with the effort, the mistake was, the sides were bent, and twisted perfectly on one side, and then I couldn't reproduce it on the other side! Doh! So, I marred the heck out of it. Then, when it was all done, if I pulled hard enough, I could pull the rock right out! Ugh. So, I marred and bent the heck out of it to make it better, but I just couldn't get the rock to stay on its own. So I had to CA glue it.
I wish I didn't have to do it, but it was poor execution that got me here, and the CA glue would ensure that it would never move out of the wire wrap. I forgot to polish the back (Doh!). I will learn from this one.
> (005) - The rock is some mine tailings junk (Chrysochola, Azurite, Malachite? no idea) that I often tumble. But I freeformed in to an oval of sorts, which is bigger than 40x20, wrapped in 20 gauge silver and gold coated wire. With beads.
Ok, this was a class project. In my 3rd class we were supposed to make a fish. Well this one was a PITA. I put the dorsal fin on the wrong side, and bail on the wrong side.
It is three dimensional, and the back is also about as wide as the front. The tail is quite large and it is also wide. The pictures make it look pretty flat.
It is a marred up, mess and I had trouble with the thick wire on such a small stone. Lesson learned. Buy smaller gauge wire for future smaller rocks.
> (006) - Done in Amethystine, and freeformed from a large 44x38 shield, it is actually larger than that. I used pure silver filled wire, which cost almost almost 1 ounce of silver. It was supposed to be 22 1/2 hard Square. I received 22 Full Hard, sort of square.
I am wrapping some stones for my sister's 50'th birthday next month, and this is one of them. I thought I was good enough to use pure filled silver wire. This was HARD wire. It was not easy bending for me.
There is a lot of character in this stone, and I didn't want to blow it. I was shaking at the end of making this, trying not to ruin the wrap. It was expensive and important. And I was happy to pull it off.
I didn't make any huge mistakes. There is a hint of white at the bottom, which is a hard rock that runs with the Amethystine a lot. It has dendrites also.
> (007) - This is dark red Amethystine, formed from a 30x22 rectangle template, wrapped in 22 gauge and 26 gauge silver coated wire.
A smaller stone, I used smaller wire. And boy did I learn on this one. Thinner wire is very susceptible to mars, easy bending mistakes, and a host of other things. 26 gauge does not want to hold its shape well.
This is a darker stone than it shows, and you can see a fracture or two (not visible by the eye easily), because I over exposed the shot. But the deep red is interesting, I think. I messed up the bail.
I gave this away to a visiting old friend, the same day it was made. All I see are mistakes on it, but the gift was happily received.
> (008) - This, again, is Lavic, which is formed directly out of a large 52x38 template. Almost a good cabochon form on this. I used gold 22 gauge and 26 gauge coated wire.
This one gave me fits. The wire is too thin for this big stone, and when forming the bail, I twisted the wires on one of the sides, at the top, and there is an error, permanently (can be seen in above shot).
I do however love the character of the stone, and the little twisty circles at the top turned out nicely. I was thinking of fireworks when I formed them.
A big, heavy piece, this will need a good chain to hold. You can see how the 26 gauge soft wire does not hold its shape well. Easy to make mistakes with thin wire.
> (009) - This is Lavic, formed from a 40x30 teardrop template, but ground down to less. It is done in gold 22 and 26 gauge coated wire.
So, this is a small, thin piece that was salvaged from a slab slicing session gone bad. I will not take credit for the thin slab. But I have a pair of thin matching 23x18 earings in this material, and will finish a set, once I figure out how to do earrings.
Like a lot of my Lavic, this has a lot of Chalcedony running through it. But this wrap was a PITA. The small size, the thin wire, was only the beginning.
I could hardly keep the stone in the wrap. I had to use painters tape fully to hold the bottom as I struggled to form a bail. When I uncovered the bottom, I discovered I had put the bail on the WRONG side (Doh!).
What a mess, trying to bend it forward. The circles at the top were meant to be ovals, but are a mess. The rock is so tight inside this wrap, that I barely was able to get the wires around it.
Live and learn.
Well, that is about it for now. I realize that I used too many words here, but hope that it wasn't too much of a bore for reading.
Thank you for stopping by and taking a look!
Looking forward to seeing what you do next. I love your observations, too. I only use very small wire for opals and diamonds (which were in gold). In that one where you used crazy glue, if you had put the fat side on the bottom, it would have been easier with no glue. 
