Beading Term: Wire Gauge

-
Wire is measured in gauge, with higher numbers indicating thinner wire.

The reason for this has to do with how wire is made: Those who make it draw it through a cast called a drawing plate to make it thinner. The more times the wire is drawn through the plate, the thinner the wire gets. Gauge number is the number of times the wire gets passed through the drawing plate.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Beading Days

-
I've assigned myself beading days, three days a week in which I focus my at-home time creating beaded pieces and striving to develop my creativity. For three other days each week, I plan to work on DIY home projects such as decluttering, painting and redoing my kitchen cabinets. I'm tired of my house being incomplete, but at the same time, I want to stay on track with my beading goals.  For at least the first year or so after my husband and I bought our house, I worked on my home at least once a week. After a schedule change at work, though, that changed. It's not unusual for months to pass between DIY days.  And it's even harder to find the time now that we have a 3-year-old. So I've decided the only way it's going to get done is if I do it. But I don't want to lose sight of my beading goals in the process. I know myself well enough to know that I'll have a tough time sticking with my 3-days-of-beading, 3-days-of-DIY-plan, though. It will take more disc...
Read more

Top 4 reasons why I love crafts

-
Image
Seed bead bracelet in progress Lately, I've had a lot of job stress that's made me wish more and more that I had the courage to throw caution to the wind, turn in my notice, and turn my crafts into a business. Here are the biggest reasons why I love making crafts: Reason 1: It's calming ... Eventually When I am in the "what am I going to make phase?" my stress level goes up as I struggle to think of something new to try or to create a new pattern for an old project. But once I know what I'm making and can settle in and work on it, I feel a calmness I don't normally feel during waking hours. It's a peaceful, relaxing way to spend an hour or two ... Eventually. Reason 2: Completing a project feels good Recently, my grandma asked me to make earrings for a woman at her doctor's office. The woman had requested some, knowing that my grandma knows a few people who make authentic Native American jewelry, but she wasn't specific beyo...
Read more

Bracelets With New Czech Beads

-
Image
I bought some dual-hole Czech beads for the first time a few months ago, and after a lot of wondering what I could do with these little gems, I created these bracelets. I like the way they look, but I feel like they're very simple. I'd like to get really creative with them. I need to do some thinking. Has anyone other readers tried this? If so, what did you make with them?
Read more