{"id":4292,"date":"2009-06-01T03:11:43","date_gmt":"2009-06-01T10:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=4292"},"modified":"2009-05-30T20:29:25","modified_gmt":"2009-05-31T03:29:25","slug":"copper-wire-working-polymer-clay-jewelry-making-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/copper-wire-working-polymer-clay-jewelry-making-projects\/4292\/","title":{"rendered":"Copper Wire Working Tips for Polymer Clay Jewelry Making Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/2009-06\/01-copper-wire-jewelry-findings-2009-05-17-116.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Copper Wire Jewelry Findings\" hspace=\"0\" vspace=\"0\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" align=\"left\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\">You Guys Are Sharing Some Awesome Wireworking Ideas &#8211; Keep Them Coming!<\/span><\/strong><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">From all of the comments and conversation that resulted from the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutorial-hammered-copper-findings-jewelry-clasps\/4177\/\">hammered copper findings<\/a> video, it appears that this topic is a popular one.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Lots of cool tips and tricks surfaced from all of the recent comments. The following bullets are a bit of an overview in case you didn&#8217;t have time to follow along&#8230; plus a few new ideas too:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">If you can&#8217;t find bare copper wire in the larger gauges (the stuff without the plastic coating), you can strip the wire yourself. There are special wire stripping tools available at any hardware store. Or, here is a link to a photo tutorial on how to strip wire using a utility knife: Quick Bonus <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutorial-hammered-copper-findings-jewelry-clasps\/4177\/#comment-18220\">Polymer Clay Tutorial<\/a> (this is a freebie from a cool site called the &#8220;Instructables&#8221;)<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Always take any kinks out of the wire before working with it. A beautifully straight piece of wire makes nicer loops and wraps than a kinked one.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Sterling Silver, Niobium, or Gold wire can be used instead of the copper wire. Copper is way cheaper though, so practice with it first before working with the more expensive precious metals. Aluminum wire is another inexpensive alternative.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">You will find that each of the different types of metal wires will have different hardness&#8217;s to them. Copper and Silver are about the same. Steel and brass are much harder and stainless steel is so hard that it is even difficult to bend. You&#8217;ll need special tools to work with stainless.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">A bur cup or wire rounder is a nifty tool to use at the ends of your wire to smooth it off. It is important to use a wire rounder or file on the ends of wire for earring hooks. You certainly don&#8217;t want to be making jewelry that will irritate or scratch anyone&#8217;s ears.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">To clean or brighten up the surface of your wire, you can run a piece of 00 steal wool over the surface.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">To make wire stiffer you need to work harden it by hitting it with a hammer. You can also put the metal findings in a rock polisher with some steel shot &#8211; little pellets of steel in different shapes, meant for using with tumblers. Steel shot is much too aggressive for polymer clay, though. So for pieces with both metal and polymer clay already combined, try using dry white rice in the tumbler instead.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Besides the ammonia trick I showed you in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutorial-hammered-copper-findings-jewelry-clasps\/4177\/#video\">Hammered Copper Findings Video<\/a> on how to get a nice rich green patina finish, there is another way that Ken H. came up with. He let the copper soak in a vinegar and salt solution. It takes longer, but is less caustic. Thanks Ken for the eco-friendly green alternative!<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">If you have any other wireworking tips and tricks to share, we would all love to hear them. That&#8217;s what the comments section is for down below&#8230;<\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/cindy-sig.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Cindy Lietz Signature\" width=\"114\" height=\"99\" align=\"right\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/polymer-clay-tutor.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Polymer Clay Tutor\" width=\"200\" height=\"26\" align=\"right\" \/><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>You Guys Are Sharing Some Awesome Wireworking Ideas &#8211; Keep Them Coming! From all of the comments and conversation that resulted from the&#8230;&nbsp;<span class=\"cmtcnt\">12<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[217,2676,2704],"class_list":["post-4292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-techniques","tag-copper","tag-jewelry-findings","tag-wirework-and-polymer-clay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4292\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}