Tumbleweed Glass Studio - Wire Wrapped Jewelry Tutorials, DVD

I Think a Customer’s Gallery Would be Interesting

I am going to get started on a Customer’s Gallery.

Send me a photo, a nice big one, and information on the item. I will create a thumbnail and add it to the gallery with your information, and if you wish, a link to your site where they can purchase the item.

I am going to build the framework for the gallery and send out emails to my online customers.

You can jump the gun on this and send me:

Photo

Description of the item.

Your name.

And if you like: Your web site name, it’s URL and the price of the item. Go to the Contact Us tab at the top of this page.

Steve
Here it is:
Click here to go to the Customer’s Gallery

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Wire Wrap Ring DVD Now Available as Online Video

Announcing an Online solution for our friends in Europe and Australia. Also, outrageous shipping costs to Canada(and tariffs) have kept them away until now.

Our DVD is now available for viewing Online. Read more about that Here.

Until now, customers outside the United States were unable to get our Wire Wrapped Ring DVD.
(More Information and Preview Here)

As a streaming video, I will provide you with a personalized Username and Password, to access a secure page. Two options are available there. If you have a recent version of Windows Media Player, (available for free at Microsoft’s Download Site) you can enter your Username and Password and it will start streaming as soon as it buffers, usually a few seconds. The other option is to plug a link into your own Video Player. Depending on the player, the video may have to completely download to begin, making the streaming version a better option.

It plays straight through, allowing pausing along the way. Once it completes, you can back up and replay selected areas. Your Username and Password will remain active, so you can replay it several times. It is copyrighted material, so you can not give away or sell your Username and Password.

You must have a Cable or DSL connection to the Internet to use this. A Dial-up connection would take days to view the DVD. As with all of our products, your satisfaction is guaranteed with a no quibble refund. After the purchase, email will be sent to the buyer at the email address provided to PayPal which will contain all of the information needed to view the video.

Steve

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Got Glue? What if you Want to Stick Metal to Glass?

Eventually you will need to glue some glass or stone to metal. Our wire wrap jewelry is made without the use of adhesives, but that is not all we do.We experimented with several brands and types but there is only one you need when the bond must not fail. We used to use E6000, and it is a great product. It was likely our technique that aided the occasional failure, but fail it did, on a tiny percentage of the items we sold. It is fast to use and it was how we attached earring posts to glass dots.

A few years ago we discovered Triolyse. It comes with an activator, the bigger bottle (14ml) and the adhesive (10ml). How much is that you ask? Well, it is two teaspoons. At around $20, it is expensive, but a little goes a long ways. Most stained glass and fused glass suppliers carry it. My last kit came from eBay and cost around $23 shipped.

It is a UV cure adhesive that uses an Activator to cure. The instruction say to paint a thin coat of activator on one side, up to 4 hours in advance of applying the adhesive. Then you apply a dot of adhesive, one big enough to mash out to cover the entire area to be bonded. You hold together for 30 seconds and set it to cure for 24 hours. The cure is shortened to 30 minutes at 150F. We use tiny spring loaded clamps to hold the items together for many objects, speeding up the process.

We listened to others and now apply the Activator to both sides. We use a lamp with a reflector to incubate the items being cured.

When the bond absolutely, positively must not fail, get some of this stuff.

Steve

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We Now Offer Dichro Magic Dichroic Glass

Austin Thin Films, Dichro Magic Dichroic Glass

We are offering to our Warm Glass and Hot Glass friends, Austin Thin Film’s, Dichro Magic brand Dichroic Glass. It is our favorite Dichroic Glass and all of Susie’s fused pieces are made using this product. It is 90 COE, which makes it is compatible with other glass with a with a Coefficient of Expansion of 90. We offer competitive and small quantities, so you could experiment with this amazing glass. It comes in 4 inch by 4 inch sheets and is priced per piece. The photos are taken with the Dichroic Glass slightly tilted and in front of black paper on the left, and white paper on the right.

When fused, the color of the glass shifts, usually one step on the spectrum of colors. Overheating can shift the colors more, and sometimes with poor results. Susie fuses two thin layers of glass to a temperature of 1375F. with a 40 minute soak time. Her thick cabochons, 1/4 inch thick, are taken higher.

Dichroic Glass, as the name implies, transmits one color and reflects another. For example, the green listed below as UTC-GR, transmits green but reflects pink. It will shift to transmit Teal and reflect Light Pink. The naming of the glass reflects that the Dichroic coating is on Uroboros brand, Thin Clear glass, which is around 2mm thick.

Click Here to check it out.

Steve

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How to Purchase Metal for Wire Wrap Projects

The most common questions we get on the subject of purchasing metal are the big ones.

1) What do I get?

2) Where do I get it.

The second one is answered quickly. I get my silver and gold filled from two places, Monsterslayer and Rio Grande:
Monsterslayer
Rio Grande
Get the wire coiled, but with Rio Grande, you sometimes have to specify Coiled or it comes on a tight spool.

Now, what do I get. Don’t use silver or gold plated, it won’t hold up to wear. If price is forcing you to look at silver plated, consider copper or brass instead. I only use Sterling Silver and Gold Filled. The specific Sterling Silver I use is Argentium Silver. It has the same silver content as traditional Sterling Silver (92.5%) but replaces some of the remaining components with Germanium. It greatly reduces tarnishing.

Gold Filled is a great product. Unlike gold plated, Gold Filled has a layer of gold bonded to brass and holds up well to wear. It comes in 10k, 12k and 14k, depending where you get it. Usually you see the product described a 1/20th, 14k Gold Filled. That means that 1/20th the weight of the metal is the gold component, the remainder being the brass core.

We use several sizes of metals. For most projects we use 21 Gauge Square wire, Half Hard. For tiny pieces we use 24 gauge. Where practical, we wrap the bundles in the same wire. We also wrap bundles in 16 or 18 gauge Half Round wire, also purchased Half Hard. Ring shanks get wrapped in 21 gauge Half Round wire.

For ornate projects we use Dead Soft wire, but it is hard to handle and easy to kink and twist. It is difficult to make a ring using Dead Soft wire.

The math on Gold Filled: Lets start with one Troy Ounce of 1/20th, 14k Gold Filled and ferret out the gold component. A Troy Ounce is 31.1 grams. Since it is 1/20th, that takes the gold component down to 1.575 grams. Since 14k gold is 58% gold that takes the weight of the gold down to 0.9135 grams, or 2.94% of a Troy Ounce. Today, (5-26-2009) gold is $959 a Troy Ounce which makes the gold component worth $28.17. Monsterslayer had one Troy Ounce of 1/20th, 14k Gold Filled 21 gauge square, today at $53.65 for small quantities.

Steve

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What Do You Want to Learn About Wire Wrap?

If you are struggling with an aspect of a new hobby or trying to learn something that is important to your livelihood, overcoming problems is very important. Susie and I have been doing wirewrap for many years, and the primary objective of this blog is to help others learn to wire wrap. This is where you come in.

Let us cut to the chase; what problems are you having and what information do you want to know about? No sense waiting to see if we cover the issue in a subsequent article, just ask.

Click on the Add Your Comments link at the bottom of this post and ask questions. Susie and I will help if we can, or tell you if we can’t.

Steve

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Lily Pads of Pink and Blue Dichroic Sterling Silver Pendant

Click image to enlarge.

Lily Pads of Pink and Blue Dichroic Sterling Silver Pendant. Pink lilies floating on green pads in a pond of deep blue. Excite the senses. Wrapped in a wide asymmetrical border bezel of sterling silver. The bail will accommodate a wide Omega chain, 6mm beaded necklace or look as stunning on silk cord or a chain. 2.75 inches tall

Item # 503, $78.00

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We Have a Drawer Full of Side Cutters, That’s Expensive

We have been doing wire wrapping for many years and have ended up with a drawer full of side cutters. They range from under $7 to around $45 in price. There seems to be two themes, the $7-$10 range and the over $40 range. The cutters in the middle don’t offer much advantage, and for my money, $10 or less will get you what you need, read on.

When I reach for a cutter I head for only a couple pairs, depending what I am cutting. For wire wrap, I head to my Value Series Cutter or my 5″ Flush Diagonal Cutters.

If I am cutting something hard, I have some cheap cutters purchased in the 1970s. They cut memory wire and are used on projects around the house.

If you want a near-perfect cut, you are going to have to spend $45+ on a cutter, as I did. Did I mention I broke mine the first day I had them. They had a fine cutting edge that was no match for my smooth touch.

Now, I don’t worry about the tiny blip in the middle of the cut wire. If it is an issue I hit it with a file.

Where it is a big issue is with ear wires. We sell a lot of earrings and the ear wire is sometimes part of the design. (If it is not, we use ear wires from Rio Grande.)

You can not get away with simply cutting the end you poke through your ear, leaving it untreated. We used to carefully file it down to a rounded point. That was hit and miss. Then we discovered Cup Burs. They are a small bit that is used in a rotary tool. They are sized to match different wire gauges. We now keep a cup bur for each of the wire sizes we commonly use.

You cut your wire and stick the cut end into the cup and turn on the rotary tool, a perfect end every time.

Get a decent pair of side cutters and spend a few dollars on a selection of cup burs.

Steve

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Floating Swirls Pendant

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Floating Swirls. Swirls of pink and greens float over layers of green, silver, aqua and soft white clouds in this fused dichroic glass pendant wrapped in Sterling Silver wire. The main bundle of Sterling Silver wires are wrapped with Gold Filled wires as an accent. There is a Champaign colored, heart shaped CZ at the top of the piece. The bail will easily hold a wide Omega chain or an 8 mm bead necklace. Total length including bail is 2.5″ x 1.25″ at the widest. The glass length is 1.5″ on the longest side, 1.25″ opposite side and 1.125″ across the bottom.

Item #499, $78.00

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Copper Electroforming Anodes and Round Copper Wire

We have added two new products to our product line. We now sell Copper Electroforming Anodes and 18 gauge Round Copper Wire.

Our Electroformed beads and cabochons have been a big hit in Galleries. I got tired of paying $4.50 each so I bought a big enough quantity to enable us to offer them at $1.50 each. They are a bit thinner, but at a 66% discount, the slightly thinner anode is a good value.

We also started carrying round copper wire in 18 gauge. We offer this in 10 foot lengths for $2.95. This wire can be used for many wire jewelry projects and as hangers and baskets for Electroforming. It is also a great size for jump rings.

Copper Anode