Sunday, February 9, 2014

Still Experimenting

At least snow days are good for experimenting on creating multi-strand clasps.

Here is my best try:

Almost There
I think this will eventually work.  However, it is just a part of what I envision the clasp to be. 

Although photos show every little imperfection, I need more practice to get the weaving more even.  I also  need more practice at weaving into the loops. I suspect I might need to go to a three or four base wire weave.  In other words I still have a lot of experiments ahead but I do feel like I am making progress. 

Let me show you another test piece:

Multiple Experiments
There were lots of experiments going on here. 

From the right to left  let me walk you through the process.

The loops on the right were made after the weave was started.  Not a bad option, and maybe it is my just my skill set, but the I could not keep the base aligned. 

As you can see, the loops in the middle are jump rings.  This was a good idea but I could not get the jump rings evenly sited on the base wire.  You can see the one on the right sits lower than the one on the left.

The non-loop on the left was another good idea but it just seemed unworkable when I tried it.  It could be that it was at the end of a day of experiments and I was tired. 

All these thoughts are good.  I need more practice wire weaving. I also need to figure out further embellishments to draw the eye away from what is inherently uneven when adding loops. 

What I have not mentioned so far is this does not include the hook and eye part of the clasp.  This part of the experiment is just to add the strands to the clasp.  I think I had better start practicing the three base wire weave and perhaps a four wire base, I might just need all those wires to pull this off.

3 comments:

  1. Wow. Wirework. So far out of my wheelhouse. You are right tho, practice does really improve your work, and the experiments are looking pretty awesome to me. Tell me, do your hands suffer? I find my fingers hurt really fast when I play with wire and I think I avoid it for that reason more than any other. I love the clasp in the first shot! When I need handmade custom clasps, I will know who to turn to!

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    Replies
    1. I am not even close to where I want to be on the clasp Marsha. I do, however, love woven wire. I always thought wirework was beyond my abilities and available time until I got a tutorial from Nicole Hanna and it was easier than I thought it would be. http://www.nicolehannajewelry.com/tutorials/ Still, it takes practice and it does not help that I am a newbie and trying to create at the same time. It may not work out this time, but I have a good start.

      As to my fingers hurting- kinda. I think the best description would be dry or maybe distressed. I just want to put on lots of lotion after working with wire all day.

      Take a look at Nicole's gallery- she is fabulous and her tutorials are really good.

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