Making Wire Jewellery E-Book

Janice Zethraeus

• Herausgeber: Crowood
• Kategorie: Lebensstil
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2016

Beschreibung

Precious metal wire is a versatile material that can be used to great advantage in jewellery design. This book focuses on using soldering techniques to confidently construct wearable wire jewellery designs. It incorporates fundamental skills such as cutting, filing, annealing and soldering, and encourages the maker to master these basic techniques, so they can create individual articles of wire jewellery using their own inspiration and designs. Suggestions on how to approach the design process through sketching, model making and creating test pieces. Comprehensive list of tools and equipment needed for working with wire. Illustrated step-by-step instruction for learning basic wire working processes, such as drawing, twisting, hammering and soldering wire. Practical advice for constructing more complicated pieces of jewellery containing structural forms. Further instruction for making chain, applying surface finishes and adding decorative elements to individual designs.

Leseprobe

Making

Wire Jewellery

Janice Zethraeus

THE CROWOOD PRESS

First published in 2016 by

The Crowood Press Ltd

Ramsbury, Marlborough

Wiltshire SN8 2HR

www.crowood.com

This e-book first published in 2016

© Janice Zethraeus 2016

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopy, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

ISBN 978 1 78500 166 6

DEDICATION

I would like to dedicate this book to the three men in my life: my husband Bo, who is my rock and has always been an immense source of support for all my creative endeavours, and my sons Simon and Adam, whose advice and critiques I could not do without.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Margaret Chodos-Irvine for her creative text perspectives and to the talented Catherine Hendy for her advice and the use of her ring images. A word of gratitude to Simon B. Armitt for the many photographs he has taken for this book. Finally, I am grateful to all the people in the UK jewellery world who have helped to make my second career as a jewellery designer-maker so exciting and fulfilling.

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

1 WIRE AS A RAW MATERIAL

2 INSPIRATION AND DESIGN

3 STUDIO AND EQUIPMENT

4 WIRE-WORKING PROCESSES

5 JEWELLERY FINDINGS

6 CHAIN MAKING

7 CONSTRUCTING STRUCTURAL SHAPES

8 SURFACE FINISHES

9 EMBELLISHMENTS AND DECORATIVE ELEMENTS

INDEX

INTRODUCTION

Creating jewellery to adorn the body dates back to prehistoric times. Natural objects such as shells, stone and animal teeth have been discovered in archaeological digs across the world, some dating back nearly 100,000 years. Over time, humans began manipulating these objects, creatively fashioning wearable adornments from these raw materials. With the advent of the Bronze Age, over 5,000 years ago, metallurgy transformed jewellery making. The qualities of metal jewellery made it exceedingly desirable, being both aesthetically appealing and long-lasting.

The Sumerians and Romans are examples of ancient cultures that used wire components in their designs. The ancient Celtic and Viking cultures also provided us with numerous examples of pieces dominated by the use of metal wire.

Wire can be used in jewellery making without the need for heating and soldering. Methods such as wire wrapping, crocheting and beading can produce embellished pieces with no heat or flame. Joining metal with cold connections and the use of unsoldered links, crimps, hinges and rivets can be implemented as alternative techniques. This book, however, will focus on using soldering techniques to create wire jewellery. Soldering improves the functionality and appearance of a design: it helps provide strength and security, and also imparts a clean and finished look. A soldered jump ring will retain its strength much longer than an unsoldered one. Soldering can enable you to construct pieces that have depth and form. Hardened wire is both strong and lightweight – important factors when creating pieces with larger dimensions: a statement piece need not be cumbersome and heavy.

The satisfaction that can be derived from working with wire will depend on how one approaches jewellery making. Using fine wire requires precision and patience and can be time-consuming. Soldering is the paramount skill required when making wire jewellery. Like any creative process, it is a skill learnt by repetition, trial and error. As skills are practised, techniques are fine-tuned to suit the individual maker. Unfortunate mistakes, such as overheating and melting the metal, become fewer as time goes on. It is important to note that makers employ a range of techniques in their work and those involving forming and soldering may include short cuts developed over time. This book will offer instructions and tips that I have developed which suit my way of working. They are not the only way to approach working with wire.

Undertaking a new project and following its journey from first sketch to final piece can be frustrating, but fulfilling. Long hours spent at the bench to produce a single item of jewellery are worth the result: a unique piece of wearable art.

CHAPTER ONE

WIRE AS A RAW MATERIAL

Wire, purchased from bullion suppliers, can be ordered in lengths to suit one’s specific design needs. A very wide range of sizes and shapes can be found. Further manipulation of the wire by twisting or hammering it or using a drawplate to make the wire thinner can provide endless variations to suit specific designs. This broad choice in both size and shape makes wire a versatile material that can be used to great advantage in jewellery making.