Sara,

Thankyou for that article.  I've been exploring coloured wire for about a year now, it adds a depth to any piece one wants to make.  I have made many Gypsy Bracelets with a variety of coloured wires, particularly like Sea Foam and Peacock coloured Artistic Wire.  Think all my girlfriends have a bracelet in the colours they like with charms that are all about them.  Its incredibly good fun.  I use my Nylon coated wire straightners the most to manipulate it and to stop from sratching the coating.  Can you suggest any other tools which are handy for working with the wire?

Andy

I teach jewelry design in Miami, FL and one of the first things I tell my students is how wonderful the craft wires can be. I used to think that everything had to be constructed in sterling or gold-filled, but with today's prices I can't bear to put out the price required.

I have made a number of pieces using the Silver Non-Tarnish Artistic Wire and must say that the pendants I've made stay bright and shiny, while the sterling chains end up looking dull and tarnished after a few months.

Same goes for the Brass  Non-tarnish - stays bright and like new. The only problems I encounter are on the tips of the wire where the cut was made, a slight discoloration after a couple of years.

For Andy -

I hope you have a pair of  Nylon-Jaw pliers to use with your colored wire.

I also take my flat nosed pliers and dip them into Plasti Dip (available at home improvement stores) to give them a rubber coated, no-scratch finish. My students also use Plasti Dip on some of their chain nose and round nose pliers.

If the coating gets damaged, just peel it off and dip again.

Hi Sara,

Thank you for the article.  I was just looking at the colored wire in a catalog this morning and wondering what I could do with it and what it is like to work with.  I've got some of my questions answered now.

The Ocean Garden necklace you made is beautiful and I'd like to know if the pattern is available so I can try a project with the colored wire?

Also, thank you to Andy and Amy for some great tips.

Ymana

he visto c omo la autora ha fabricado un lindo colgante en una bola de vidrio, tambien he visto que utiliza un aparato para enrrollar el alambre, es posible verlo mas detallado y como se usa.  gracias  emitasilva@hotmail.com

Hi everyone,

Wow, thanks so much for your comments. I'm glad I've inspired some of you to try out using colored wire. :)

yumjo, I do not have a project written for the Ocean Garden necklace, but there is a very similar project I have on Jewelry Making Daily for free. Under free projects, just search for my "New Year's Eve Bracelet". It is pretty similar to how I constructed the bib of the necklace. However, instead of just wrapping crystals for this piece, I also incorporated blue furnace glass pieces, blue dichroic beads, and blue faceted glass diamond-cut beads to give it added dimension. Then just attach pieces of chain to the last jump rings (where you would normally add the clasp) and add the clasp onto the ends of the chains. :)

Hope this helps. Thanks everyone again for your nice comments!

-Sara :)

Also, yumjo, I also used 22-gauge Pacific blue Parawire, and instead of wrapping one side of each bead, I wrapped both of them. :) And to make the bib longer or shorter, just increase or decrease the amount of jump rings that you link together.

-Sara