Now when I make my annual trek to Stitches West here in Santa Clara, California, I can confidently purchase tons and tons of yarn (and I do buy tons and tons of yarn) with the knowledge that I don't know what I'll knit, but when I figure it out, I'll have a "road map" of sorts through these labels to figure out what yarns can be used for the various projects.
Sadly, no such label or "road map" exists yet for wire. In fact, one of the most common questions I'm asked by students is "how do you know which wire to use" for different applications?
To answer that, let's look again at temper and gauge. By the way, this is going to be a very "general" guide for my jewelry friends, so if you're an expert with more specific information, feel free to leave comments. Thanks!
What is Temper? Temper, as it refers to metal (and not to angry humans) is the measure of the wire's malleability or ability to be twisted and manipulated and it's relative "springy-ness" when bent. In our case, wire comes in four "tempers":
1) soft or "dead soft" (everyone likes to say "dead soft"--it's that word "dead" at the front that gets 'em every time)
2) half hard or 1/2 hard or HH
3) hard or "full hard" (okay, just too many sexual jokes...sorry about that)
and
4) "spring hard" (which is an industrial version of hardness)
Going from 1 to 4, the metal is the most malleable with the least amount of "spring back" to metal that is rather hard to turn and will try to spring back to its original shape each time. All metals can be "annealed" which is heated to become softer, but unless you have a torch, it's best to get a metal in the temper that you will need for a specific project.
What is Gauge? Gauge refers to the diameter or "size" of the metal. All metal wire is made the same way, by pulling it through metal plates that have successfully smaller and smaller holes in them--these are called "draw plates". A long long time ago, metal was measured by how many times it was pulled through these wire making holes. Thus, an 8 gauge wire was (presumably) pulled through
the draw plate 8 times. A 36 gauge wire was pulled through the draw plate 36 times, so it was much much skinnier and smaller in diameter. This is an easy way to remember that lower numbers in gauge are bigger wires while larger numbers mean skinny wires. In reality, however, the AWG or American Wire Gauge system which is also the B&S system (for Brown and Sharpe) is based on the division of an inch into 1000s of units. Interestingly, wire is most commonly manufactured only in even numbered gauges (4, 6, 8, 12, etc.), and seldom in odd numbers.
In Europe, wire is sized in metrics, rather than what Irish jewelry designer Rachel Murgatroyd (YrDesigns on Youtube) calls the "Imperial" method in her YouTube vids or by a B&S gauge. For jewelry crafters and handmade jewelry artists, here are some common metric to gauge conversions:
0.08mm = 20 gauge wire
1.024mm = 18 gauge wire
1.29mm =16 gauge wire
1.62mm=14 gauge wire
So What Gauge and Tempter to Use and When?
Here's where making recommendations can get a little tricky because every jeweler or wire wrapper I've ever met has their own "sense" of what's proper. In fact, the longer someone seems to have worked with wire, the more likely they'll opt for the harder tempers and smaller (e.g. 10-14) gauge of wire when making jewelry. On the other hand, as I've gotten older, I prefer NOT to fight with my wire each time I make something, so I've moved away from my trusty half hard wire and buy a lot more soft wire to use when making projects. Soft wire is super easy to turn, but it is also super easy to turn "back" or bend in the other direction. As a result, if I make jewelry "architecture" or "structures", then I have to slam the heck out of my wires to get them hard enough to hold their shape. Sometime, when I'm playing with wire, I've no idea that the item I'm working on is going to become something more "structural," so I will admit that it is annoying not having started with a harder temper or larger wire first. So keep in mind that as you get better (and you WILL get better and fast), you might find that the dead soft wire you bought two months ago is just too smooshy and bendy to be serviceable today. But keep the wire, because as you get older, you'll find you prefer keeping your wrists in good working order to bending those steel girders like "He-Man" (or "She-WoMan" as the case may be).
But if you're just starting out, here's a good general guide to working with wire:
Making Connectors (Hooks and Eyes for the Back of Your Necklace) - 16 Gauge Soft Wire (you will have to hammer with metal hammers) to harden the wire, or 16 g 1/2 Hard wire that is hardened with a rawhide mallet (thus keeping the "round shape). Connectors can also be made from 18 gauge wire, but I would avoid anything smaller than 18.
Connector Wires for Beads (Simple Loops)- 18 or 20 g 1/2 hard wire is great to hold beads of any size. The 1/2 hard temper will help hold the simple loops at the top and bottom of your bead from opening. If you have to use soft wire in your simple loops, hammer the loops a bit to make them harder and less likely to open.
Connector Wires for Beads (Wrapped Loops) - 18 or 20 g sof wire to complete the wrapped loop. The wrapped loop is a loop that has been wrapped at its stem (similar to a hangman's noose). The best loops are those that are made with soft wire, although I've seen some pretty impressive 1/2 hard wrapped loops too. Use the soft wire and save your wrists...
Cord Wrapping for Leather - If using leather, pleather or cord components with your necklaces, wrapping the leather with 18 gauge 1/2 round wire in soft or 1/2 hard works great to close off the ends of the leather. Once wrapped, a quick squeeze with the flat nose pliers will help keep your work neat and clean.
Bezels - I used to make wire bezels with 21-22 gauge 1/2 hard square wire. Since then, I use soft wire and tumble the resulting bezels to harden prior to slipping the rock into the bezel. If you can manipulate the wire with your fingers, 1/2 hard wire will provide the most security with the least amount of "after-fabrication" tumbling and adjustments.
Pearls - Pearls are both beautiful and fragile. So much so, in fact, that drilling holes in pearls and trying to enlargen them through reaming can cause the pearl to snap right in half. To avoid destroying the pearl, these luminous orbs are drilled with thinner drill bits. As a result, use 22 gauge soft wire and wrapped loops when making jewelry with pearls.
Natural Stones - The rule of thumb for wire and stones is to use a wire that is the as "large" as the hole in the stone. Almost all stones are drilled first from one side of the rock to the middle of the stone and then from the other side of the rock to the middle of the stone. Seldom is the stone drilled from one side or end to the the other side, as this greatly increases the chances that the stone will crack in half. As a result of drilling from the outside to the middle, the holes in the stone may or may not be completely "straight"--there may be a small 'jog' in the middle of the stone that still presents a weak spot for the bead. Most stones will accept a 20 gauge wire, but some (like Jasper) are often drilled with holes large enough to accept 18 gauge wire. Depending on the fragility of the stone, you might consider soft wire to string the stone (to prevent cracking the stone if there is a noticeable "jog" in the drill hole).
I hope this general guide helps in selecting the proper wire and temper when making your next piece of jewelry.
Happy twisting,
Grace
