[Jewelry making - Article 01046] - Re: [Orchid] Crocheted bracelet

[ElegantBee]

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    Hi-I've also done both spool weaving and crocheting of fine silver
    wire. Spools can be made out of large size thread spools and small
    nails with four, five or six nails--each yielding a different kind of
    weave. I usually use 28 or 30 gauge wire- and the result is very
    fragile,  and liable to break when pulled through the spool.  I also
    feet that pulling it through a draw plate destroys it's very fragile
    look, but then I  haven't yet found a good use for it in jewelry. I
    wonder if it were put  into a tumbler with steel shot for a short
    time, it would harden enough to be used as a necklace? I'll try it
    and let you know what happens. The real fun of spool weaving it to
    use different color wires to make stripes, and  watch for them to
    come through the other end of the spool. It provides some  special
    motivation to keep at it. 

    The 'technology' of spool weaving is not new.  When I was a  little
    girl, we called them 'horse reins' (although I didn't know why until
    much  later when I realized that the product looked like a horse
    rein).  We  used yarn, usually of different colors so we could watch
    when it cam  through the end.  We'd make a long, long chain and then
    remove it from the  spool, and roll it up in a spiral, sewing it
    together to make doll's hats or  scarves or something like that.  It
    was a very common activity in my  neighborhood.  Imagine my surprise
    when I saw an article about doing this  exotic thing with wire.  I
    went around to bead stores and yarn stores  asking if the carried
    'horse reins' and got some very odd looks. 

    For crocheting, I prefer 26 ga wire to give the piece more 
    stability, and I put the beads on afterwards.This gives me the
    ability to  plane the design ahead of time. I usually use the same
    gauge wire to weave the  beads into the fabric, unless the bead
    holes are too small, and then I use 28  gauge wire.  The ends are
    woven into the fabric, 

    I find these very time consuming, and have never been able to price 
    them so that I was paid adequately for my labor-especially since I
    have only  done this work in silver. I wonder whether others doing
    this work have  found the same thing? 

    Samples of my crocheting effort are at
    http://www.elegantinsects.com. On the Welcome  Page there are links
    to the pages of crochet work. Would love to get some feedback! 

Best Holiday Wishes to you all. 
Sincerely, 
Sandra Buchholz 
elegantbee AT aol.com

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