My First Wire-wrap Cabochon

 

Remember when I won the free class at my local bead store?  After delaying it due to all the madness of the holidays, I finally took the class today.  It was great!

I finally had someone to show me how to hold the pliers properly, and how to coax the wire to do what you want it to do.  I wire-wrapped an oval cabochon, unfortunately I’ve already forgotten the name of the stone.  Ugh!  I’ll check what it was next time I go in there.

We used Beadsmith craft wire, Antique Bronze, 21 gauge, square and half-round.  This was my first time using anything but round wire, so it was a good learning experience for that.  One thing I learned is that it isn’t easy to find the half-round side on half-round wire!  Maybe it’s easier with larger gauges than 21.

Even though I learned a lot, I don’t feel like my cabochon turned out so great.  The class teacher said it was very good for my first time, but I’m a perfectionist, and I can see every mistake I made.  Still, I learned a lot of technique to build on.  I want to keep practicing so that I can have perfect wire-wraps in the future. 

My daughter took the class also to see if it was something she would like, and boy did she like it!  She wants to run out and buy all kinds of wire and tools immediately, if not sooner, lol.  I told her just to wait until she knows what she really needs and wants so that she doesn’t end up with a lot of unused stash sitting in her house.  She can come over and share my tools and wire, so now I have a beading buddy too! (well, a wire buddy)

Here is a picture of my not-so-great wire-wrap.  There is a bail on the back, but you can’t see it in the picture.  I didn’t like the spirals the way I had them, so I moved the ones on the right more to the left.  Did I make it worse or better?  Remember, it’s my first time…so be gentle…

Take care,

Cat