{"id":6853,"date":"2009-11-23T03:35:21","date_gmt":"2009-11-23T11:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/?p=6853"},"modified":"2009-11-22T17:53:28","modified_gmt":"2009-11-23T01:53:28","slug":"jewelry-wire-gauge-selection-polymer-clay-bead-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/jewelry-wire-gauge-selection-polymer-clay-bead-projects\/6853\/","title":{"rendered":"Jewelry Wire Gauge Selection for Your Polymer Clay Bead Projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/images\/blog\/2009-11\/23-brass-jewelry-wire-2009-10-15-023.jpg\" border=\"0\" alt=\"Brass Jewelry Wire\" hspace=\"0\" width=\"250\" height=\"188\" align=\"left\" \/><strong><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><span style=\"color: #808080;\"> <\/span>&#8220;I have been wanting to start working with wire. My problem is I never know what size to use where.&#8221;<span style=\"color: #808080;\"> ~Peggy-B<\/span><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><!--more--><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Recently, several of you have been asking about what size (gauge) of wire should be used for the various types of jewelry making projects. So today&#8217;s post will provide you with some suggestions.<br \/>\n<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Since there are a lot of beginners here, I like to teach with easily accessible and relatively inexpensive wires such as copper, brass and steel. But the same principles pretty much apply for more expensive wires too&#8230; like gold, silver and niobium.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: large;\"><strong>Here are some pointers:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">The number for the gauge of the wire gets larger as the wire size gets smaller. For example 10g is much thicker than 30g.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Many metals come in different hardness&#8217; (tempers) as well, such as Dead Soft, Half Hard, Full Hard and even Spring Hard. Although the hardness rating is not listed on wire materials that I often source from hardware stores like the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/cheap-jewelry-making-supplies-for-bead-artists\/145\/\">Home Depot<\/a>, they appear to be Half Hard. Stiff enough to hold its shape, but still flexible enough to easily bend.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">Copper, Brass, Black (Anodized) Steel and Galvanized are easy to find in most hardware stores. Copper can usually be found in a few different gauges.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">10g-14g &#8211; heavy gauge wire is perfect for making large hooks, chain links, large jump rings and hammered bookmarks.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">14g-18g &#8211; medium gauge wire is good for links and medium clasps.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">16g-20g &#8211; light gauge wire is ideal for making your own jump rings.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">20g-24g &#8211; very light gauge wire is suitable for earwires and wire wrapping projects. Although copper can be worn by some, choose Gold, Silver, Niobium or Surgical Stainless Steel for sensitive ears. In hardware stores, this light gauge wire is often found in the picture hanging department.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: medium;\">I hope this information helps a bit when you&#8217;re out there looking for wire for your jewelry making projects. If you have had success finding wire at your local store. please let everyone know where you found it. It will help others make their search a little easier. Thanks!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><span style=\"font-size: medium;\"><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\"> <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><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>&#8220;I have been wanting to start working with wire. My problem is I never know what size to use where.&#8221; ~Peggy-B<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[2704],"class_list":["post-6853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-supplies","tag-wirework-and-polymer-clay"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6853","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=6853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6853\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beadsandbeading.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}