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Post by brad on Mar 3, 2024 7:17:42 GMT -6
I am considering the possibility of edging a silver pendent with a stitching of silver or gold wire (narrow flat or round) wire. Like some of my old leather lacing on leather knife sheaths. I am thinking of the “spiral/whip” stitch.
So things (questions) to consider: - size of punched/drilled holes around edge of 18-20 ga silver piece? - spacing of holes? - gauge of “wrap-able” wire? - keeping wrapping tight? - how to estimate length of wire needed to complete the ,,,,,, stitch with one piece of wire? - other things to consider?
I look forward to your comments, Brad
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Post by caeterle on Mar 3, 2024 7:42:41 GMT -6
That sounds interesting. I think you really have to decide first what kind of look you want in order to answer some of these questions, a tighter wire look around the edge or a more open one, a more decent "lacing" or a bolder, more 3D one, etc.
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Post by Irith-Rita on Mar 3, 2024 7:46:04 GMT -6
Stitching is Cat and Dawn's expertise
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Post by caeterle on Mar 3, 2024 7:54:12 GMT -6
Irith, but you have pieces whose edges are pierced for dangles, like in earrings, so I'm sure you can offer some expertise on spacing and drilling/punching?
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Post by brad on Mar 3, 2024 8:43:36 GMT -6
Thank you. I would think a little gap between wraps is good. I think I would desire the wraps to be tight against the edge. I will continue to follow.
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Post by caeterle on Mar 3, 2024 8:46:23 GMT -6
You know what I would do to determine which look you like? Take some heavier cardboard and some copper wire to try out looks.
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Post by brad on Mar 3, 2024 11:46:15 GMT -6
You know what I would do to determine which look you like? Take some heavier cardboard and some copper wire to try out looks. Good idea. Gets me thinking of mockup methods to test idea. Also, if I use flat wire, I need to figure out how to cut slots instead punch or drill holes. Yikes!
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Post by DawninCal on Mar 3, 2024 12:21:57 GMT -6
That's a great idea, Cat. The size of the holes is going to depend on the size of the wire you decide on. I think I'd figure that out first; I'd lean towards deciding on the wire as once you do that, the hole size will be decide too. I think you'd find round wire easier to work with than flat for what you want to do. The thinner the wire, the easier it will be to work with, so keep that in mind too. When doing this sort of wrapping 26 - 28 gauge is the range I use most often. A general rule of thumb for something like a pendant is 36 - 48 inches of wire as it's always best to use one piece rather and have more wire than you need than it is to run short and have to add another piece of wire. I like the sound of this project and I think your next step should be to get some cardboard or card stock and experiment. Dawn
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Post by caeterle on Mar 3, 2024 12:28:37 GMT -6
I would go with round wire as well. Maybe you can hammer it to flatten it afterwards?
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Post by DawninCal on Mar 3, 2024 12:29:35 GMT -6
Also regarding the tightness of the wire. I get wanting the wire to be tight and look nice and tidy, but you want to be careful not to get it too tight. It's sort of like crochet, if the stitches are too tight, the work becomes distorted, but too large and the work looks sloppy. It's something I struggled with for a long time, but it's really not that hard - being mindful of not pulling too tight is what works for me. Dawn
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Post by Irith-Rita on Mar 3, 2024 13:13:31 GMT -6
Irith, but you have pieces whose edges are pierced for dangles, like in earrings, so I'm sure you can offer some expertise on spacing and drilling/punching? To punch - all I do is mark the place to punch with a pen and use a pointed punch and hammer over the marked area. Of course I also use a ruler or caliper for the spacing. In cases where the metal is too thick, a Foredom/Dremel drill will help. Does this sound too simple? this is exactly what I do.
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Post by brad on Mar 3, 2024 16:37:40 GMT -6
Many good comments. If I go round wire, a lot of trouble goes away. I like my jewelers screw down punch. If I need bigger hole , I can resort to my drill press or the dremel. I do not want cable tightness, and not practical or holes would be too close to each other. So space of holes and distance from the edge, I gather will be much based on wire gauge. I was even considering gold plated wire? I need to review my in stock wire size to see how big I want to try. Right now, I have sawn out a 1-3/4” in silver disk, and did a lot of prep sending with file on edge and dremel driven sanding disks. I plan to etch a NA design, yet to be determined. By then I will have decided on wire gauge to whip stitch with. Brad
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Post by brad on Mar 5, 2024 9:01:27 GMT -6
I was trying to determine what wire gauge I would like to use, in order for the whip stitch around the pendent be prominent. I was looking at my old circle template, and thinking 1/16" (diameter) would be nice. That calculates to 14 AWG. That would likely be too large to wrap. At the other end, I feel 26 ga and smaller would be too small, for a large pendent. A 1mm diameter wire would be 18 ga AWG. I would consider not doing the wire whip stitch with anything less? Hmmm? Brad
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Post by brad on Mar 5, 2024 9:03:53 GMT -6
A fun factoid, I just found: Pipe sizes go up with their cross-sectional diameters, and lumber sizes increase with their dimensions, so what is it with wire? Why does it get smaller as the gauge number goes up? As it turns out, it’s just a peculiarity of the manufacturing process. Craftspeople have been making wire for centuries by drawing a metal rod through a conical opening with an exit hole slightly smaller in diameter than the rod. To make thin wire, they repeated the process with successively smaller openings until they got the desired thickness. The gauge number corresponded to the number of times they had to repeat the process. Things aren’t much different today, which is why larger gauge numbers correspond to thinner wires.
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Post by caeterle on Mar 5, 2024 9:53:20 GMT -6
I still have to look up the gauges that I don't use regularly as we measure in mm.
How large do you want to make the pendant? Will it stay the 1-3/4” you mentioned? 18 ga would be too thick for me, but that's really a matter of taste.
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