Wire Wrapping Projects - Batch #4 - (Aug 24, 2019)
Aug 24, 2019 13:26:53 GMT -5
rockjunquie, socalagatehound, and 6 more like this
Post by NevadaBill on Aug 24, 2019 13:26:53 GMT -5
Well, here we go again. I suppose that I can't get enough of this wire wrapping business. But honestly it has kind of taken hold of me, and is now my favorite hobby. My work area has moved to the coffee table in the middle of the livingroom. Hehe. So far, no complaints.
P027 - Starting off with a piece I was able to craft for my sister on vacation last week, the Malachite, Chrysocholla rock cabochon is wrapped in a 20 gauge silver coated wire. I spent an hour on the bail, constructing and deconstructing it until I almost had no wire left. The accent on the top came off better than I had planned it would look. The non-symetrical looking wraps, match the wavy patterns of the rock in my opinion.
P028 - Petrified wood, which is wrapped in a silver coated wire. I just felt like doing something different here. I originally had this going on another rock actually. But that rock turned out to be too chubby to hold with the wrap, so mid-wrap, I swapped it out, and put this one in instead, and continued the wrap. I underestimated how much wire would be needed, and almost ended up with no bail at all. But the bail came off without issue. The accent next to the bail is pretty weak, but is more pretty than it appears here. Overall, happy to produce this. Freeforms can be very challenging once I get in to them.
P029 - Lavic brecciated wrapped in 18 gauge gold coated wire. The inspiration for this wrap came from an unexpected PM from member MsAli who sent me a link to some different wraps which I really liked a lot. Mostly floral looking wire wraps that have more of a natural, earthy, floral accents to the rock. Not sure how to describe it.
Without actually studying any of the works found on the pages (which don't really match the latest wire wrapping trends of modern day to be honest), the visual images of those efforts stayed on my mind, and were the inspiration for the next couple of my own attempts as well. A more complicated wrap than I could have imagined, this took around 4 hours and took on all kinds of challenges I had not foreseen. It almost came off as I imagined it. My wife thinks it is too "busy". She is probably right.
P030 - Thulite / Zoesite that is wrapped in heavy 18 gauge gold coated wire. With floral on my mind, I attempted to try to improved on a similar wrap done, which I ended up having to use CA glue on, to hold it together. Well, this one took all day. I fully messed up the bail, and also the last few wraps of this 2 times, and had to start over, a 3rd time to get it right.
I am very happy with how this turned out, because there is no glue involved with it. The back is rather elegant too (for 18 gauge, which is very hard to twist). There is one very heavy wire that forms the floral accents on the front, when wraps around the back so tight, that it holds the rock in place. The accents on the top, keep it from popping back out the top. But this took like 6 hours to complete, and is pretty marred up.
P031 - Unknown Colorado River agate, wrapped in gold and silver coated wire. Again, the theme was a floral pattern, and a completely different style of wrap. The skeleton on the back is very simple, and yet very sturdy to allow the branches of this wrap to stay in place. I pretty much conceptualized this exactly as it came off. Everything really came together easy on it. I should have taken a picture of the back side.
The triple wire bail on the back is something that I don't often get right. It stayed together perfectly for me, and didn't fight me at all. For some reasons, 3 or 4 wire bails give me hell. This one didn't though. There is no glue used on this wrap, and the rock is not coming out without excessive force. My wire informed me that she thought that I should no use floral wraps on rocks which have visual interest, and stick to using them on plain rocks without much character. She is probably right.
P032 - Green Chrysocholla stained rock (soft) wrapped in gold coated wire. OK, I was told that I was not to make any more floral wraps for a while. The order was for small stones, wrapped in more contemporary or simple design. I was shown an example of one of my first wraps. OK, here goes. Small rocks give me fits. The flexie wire mars easily. It has a perfect wrap bail. Not a single mistake made here. And I put a floral accent on the top, just .. well .. just because. 
I just received some Sunshine Cloths, and tried it out on this one after completing it. It put a thick layer of white dust all over the piece. No idea on why it did that. Maybe I should wash the Sunshine cloths first?
P00Ugly01 - Thulite / Zoesite uncooperative rock that did'nt want to cab. Don't we get this enough? The rock that breaks into pieces when cabbing, or just splits in half on some unseen crack when polishing it? These never make the photo shoot. But there is time spent on them. I think one of my least favorite sounds, is a stone that flys off of the dop stick, or one that cracks in to pieces during the grind. This stone is famous for fracturing, as I hammered it out of the host stone, and didn't realize I was causing fractures until just now.
P033 - Lavic brecciated wrapped in heavy 18 gauge gold coated wire. This one was nicknamed the "chubby bug" by my wife. She pulled it from the pile of rocks I had lined up to wrap, and asked to have it done next. OK, but it has the oddest shape. I had no idea how to wrap it. I studied it for like a half hour or something, trying to come up with something. In the end, I used 1 piece of heavy gauge wire for the whole thing. And it would have come off perfect, had it not been for the fact that I guessed wrong on the legnth of that piece, and it was too short.
The back frame for this is elegant and simple. Almost as nice as the front. It does have some lighter 22 gauge wire binding the one piece in three different places. I sweat this whole thing out. There was like zero wire left for the bail, and I was lucky to just get something up there. The rock is actually in place here, without any glue! Those 4 prongs hold it in place, and the 18 gauge frame is strong, and it won't move. I bet if I threw it across the room though, against the wall, the rock would fall out though.
Well, that is it for now. I've got a couple other wraps on the table now, but they can wait.
Thank you for stopping by, and your patience with my very wordy post.
I need to do that again some time too.
