The Complete Handbook of Jewelry & Beading Wire

Chapter 1: Understanding Jewelry & Beading Wire

When you buy a spool of wire at a craft store, you are purchasing a piece of drawn metal. That is the simple truth behind every project in this book. A jeweler's wire is a rod of metal that has been pulled through a series of dies to reduce its diameter to a usable size, typically from fractions of an inch down to a few thousandths of an inch. But the act of drawing the metal changes it far more than just its thickness. It rearranges the internal crystalline structure of the metal, making it harder and more rigid. The wire you hold in your hands is a material in a specific state of stress, and understanding that state is the key to using it well.

Consider the difference between a brand new, straight piece of 20-gauge copper wire and one that you have been twisting and bending for an hour. The fresh wire is malleable: you can bend it into a crisp corner or a smooth curve with modest pressure. The hour-old wire is noticeably stiffer. It resists bending and may even be springy. This is not your imagination, and it is not a defect. The metal has undergone a process called work-hardening, where the dislocation of atoms under stress makes the material stronger and less ductile. Every bend you make moves the wire a little further along this path. If you work it long enough, the wire will eventually become brittle