A Day of Experimenting

I spent my day experimenting with 12 gauge wire. This is a good thing to do if you  are new to wire wrapping.  I know you don't want to experiment with the good stuff. I suggest you go to the

floral section of your store where they carry the cheap stuff in several different gauges.

 

 I bought 5 yards of 12 gauge aluminum floral wire with a golden coating.  I also bought 270 ft of a gold colored floral wire in 26 gauge, 8 oz 's of a silver 22 gauge and 4 oz's of 26 gauge, I'm assuming aluminum, floral wire called bright floral wire.  They didn't name the footage on these particular items. Gasp! I'm almost shocked!  I'm guess-tamating that since the 8 oz bundle
of wire is almost twice the size of the gold bundle that you will have around 400 ft of silver wire to play with and the 4 oz bundle will give you approx. 200 ft.  Each of these items were under three dollars.  Since it is so cheap experiment to your hearts content.  Enjoy a couple of hours of guilt free pleasure.

 The floral wire I mentioned above are the two wire bundles on the left of the picture, the gold colored wire on the bottom right and the silver bundle top center of the photo.  Another way to get wire is what I call found wire. The small coil of copper wire, center bottom, I got from a compressor motor that my brother had.





Before you start make sure you have something available to put your scrap pieces into.  Above I'm using a pint canning jar. I have also used sandwich baggies.  Whatever is available will do fine. A side note while I'm thinking of it. I've read on someone else's blog that they save the scraps of their fine silver and gold wire.  Make sure you keep them in seperate bags. These can be recycled.
Sorry, can't remember whose it was. I've read so many lately. A note to self remember to write down where you get good information so you can pass it along to others and give proper credit. If I find it again I will post a link here so you can read what they did with their scraps.

 

  I used my chasing hammer and anvil to test flattening the wire.  I did it a tiny bit and in the photo to the left you can see I did it a lot. I have seen another type of chasing hammer that has a more rounded head on it so it won't leave those gouges you see made from a flat headed one.  I will definately be purchasing that one. Will post a link on where to buy one. Look for my cheers  

and jeers.

As I flattened the 12 gauage wire I would periodically stop and test its hardness.  I pounded one end of the wire slightly and then the other end I pounded repeatedly unil finally in an attempt to bend it it broke. It was was interesting to feel the metal get harder and harder with each stroke of the hammer.

My next step was to try out the other side of the hammer which is known as the ball peen. That is the the side of the hammer that looks like a ball. These results were much more pleasing.



Then I tried to twist it with my little gadget, that silver pen like thing, but found that in order to get this gauge of wire to fit inside of it I needed to really flattend it. By then the only piece that would twist was the flattened end. I definately don't recomend this tool for this gauge of wire. I have successfully twisted 20 and 24 gauge wire together in two different colors. The results were not unpleasing.  Sorry, no picture. I did that experiment before I decided to do this blog.

I got out my Twist and Curl to see if I liked the    look of a coil this size. The first thing I noticed is that the hole was not big enough to fit this gauge  of wire. Not a problem, just wrap it around the     handle. There are some good videos on how to    use this gadget. Will post a link. I do recomend    his style of coiler. There is no clamping to a table and it is protable. A great plus if you like to take  your work with you.                                             

                                           

I tested the angle of my cuts and made a simple bead.
The bottom bead is made with 20 gauge and the top with 12 gauge.

 The last experiment I did was to see if there was some way of using my chasing hammer with padding between my project and the hammer itself. I always set my anvil on a couple of sheets of foam to protect the surface I am working on and to help deaden the noise of my pounding.  I used one  sheet for my experiment.  As you can see even with padding the flat chasing hammer still made dents in the metal. I really must get that other style of hammer.

I count my time well spent doing these tests. I now have a better understanding of how fast a wire will harden with pounding. I have also learned the limits of some of my tools. If you have tried some experiments I like you to share your results.

**Note I will be working on my site to get it better organized. If you have any suggestions for me please fill free to share your thoughts.  My particular wish is to have a place for my readers to not only share their thoughts but to post pictures.  As I'm new to this I may already have it here and just don't know how to use it yet. I can hear my daughters laughing.