Wire wrap Q

[battah]

Another wire wrapping question! My friend asked me to make a necklace for his wife and he's dead set on white gold (or plat, but I can't easily get platinum findings). Rio only has white gold wire in dead soft, do you think that would be too soft? I've only used half-hard to wrap, and since he's paying for the materials I don't want to experiment. I'm wrapping some 8mm round Tahitians with 1.3mm chain (he wants it to be really dainty), and I'm thinking 24g wire would balance well with that. But I'm nervous about using dead soft, I don't want it to be too fragile. Any thoughts?

 

[Lady_Disdain]

Even dead soft, white gold is much springier than sterling. I don't think it would be a problem.

 

[battah]

Thank you! I've only worked with sterling and gold-filled wire, so I wasn't sure of the differences. Thanks

 

[pattye]

Agree, the 24g soft should work. Hopefully the wire will fit through chain link with no problem.

 

[battah]

Oh goodness, that's a great point, Pattye. I may try contacting Rio's customer service to see if the pieces I'm looking at fit together. Thanks for pointing that out!

 

[Lady_Disdain]

If not, maybe some very delicate jump rings between the pearls and the chain will solve the problem. If the pearls are pretty far apart, it won't be too obvious.

 

[battah]

That's a good option, LD. I shy away from using too many jump rings bcs I can't solder them and I don't want them to pull apart, but that could work if I need it to.

 

[MSC]

I have used both Rio's 24 and 26G dead soft white gold wire and they both hold up well for wire wrapped pieces.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Working the wire will help to harden it. Unless the pearls are heavy/large, it should be fine. I try to stick with a 1.5 mm chain, but I have used the 1.3 mm beveled oval link in wire wrapping projects with no problem.

 

[battah]

Thank you both! I'm going to try to convince him to go for slightly thicker chain, I think. I feel like 1.3mm is going to be too thin with 8mm pearls.

 

[MSC]

I would agree that 1.3mm would be too thin with 8mm pearls. 1.5mm in a beveled oval would have a lot of presence.

 

[battah]

That sounds pretty.

 

[MSC]

Request for photos when you finish the project!

 

[battah]

You got it! I directed him to PG a while back and he fell in love with BAS' asymmetrical ombre tin cup, so we're doing something similar but with five Tahitians. I asked Jac if he could pick five that graduated a bit color and he thinks he can. I'll start obsessively posting pics as soon as I get the supplies