Wire - 2D material in a 3D world

The use of metal wire in jewelry dates back to the 2nd Dynasty in Egypt and to the Bronze and Iron Ages in Europe. In the 20th century, the artistic works of Alexander Calder, Ruth Asawa, and other modern practitioners developed the medium of wire sculpture as an art form.

Alexander Calder (1898–1976), an American sculptor, greatly developed the use of wire as a medium for sculpture with his kinetic and movement based Cirque Calder, as well as pieces such as Two Acrobats, Romulus and Remus, and Hercules and Lion.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wire_sculpture

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Artists continue to push the material, exploring the use of positive and negative space, often blurring the lines between two-dimensional gesture drawings and 3D space. Look at the images below. Wire is not just a single line through space - it can be as visually heavy or light as the artist desires it to be...

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To get started, here are some of the tools you will need:

https://feltmagnet.com/crafts/basic-tools-for-wire-wrapping-jewelry

1. First of all you need wire. Without wire there is nothing to wrap. When you're just starting out, copper wire is the best to use in jewelry design.

2. Pliers. One can never have enough pliers for wrapping. However for starting out you will need at least some round nose pliers and chain nose pliers.

3. Cutters. You need to cut the wire flush (a knife or a pair of scissors is not what you want here)

4. Hammers and mallets. At least a rawhide mallet to strengthen your base frame wire.

5. A ruler so you can accurately measure the wire that you need to cut for your piece.

6. A Sharpie pen, or something else to mark the wire with for cutting or bending.

7. A ring mandrel if you want to make rings - it's indispensable

8. A bracelet mandrel for making bracelets, preferably oval, but round will also work.

9. Files or sandpaper to smooth down the sharp ends of your cut wire

10. Thick gloves (optional)

11. Courage!

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There are all sorts of different types of wire. Learn the difference in sizes, materials and strength.

https://www.fusionbeads.com/wire-glossary

Gauge is the most common measurement of wire thickness used in the U.S. The smaller the gauge, the thicker the wire. For example, 16 gauge wire is thicker than 22 gauge. Approximate gauge to metric conversion:

12ga = 2.0mm 14ga = 1.6mm 16ga = 1.3mm 18ga = 1mm 20ga = 0.8mm

22ga = 0.6mm 24ga = 0.5mm 26ga = 0.4mm 28ga = 0.3mm 30ga = 0.25mm

Here are a few terms to be aware of:

Here are a few ideas to get you going: