Playing with Wire

Recently I had the opportunity to take a Nina Bagley jewelry class (Yes, she was at Ephemera Paducah!).  

I have not made much jewelry using wire and was excited to learn some basic techniques

like 

 the Nina Knot,

twisting the wire using a hand drill, 

how to coil wire using a T-pin

and how to make a cocoon wrap.

In addition Nina showed us how to drill through thin shells, rocks and slate, using a Dremel type tool. and how to ball up the end of a wire using a small torch.

I do not plan to get into jewelry making, but these techniques will be useful in creating embellishments for journals and accessories. (That is if I don’t forget!)

I used the Nina Loop and the cocoon wrap to make this key fob.

I tried to ball of an end of wire for this project; it didn't work. I must have forgotten the technique already! 

Now, let me take a minute to gloat; Crafting from the Underground turned 1-year old this month. Yesterday it reached 5000 views! Woot Woot! Thanks to all of you that have taken the time to check it out! Hope you have found something that will encourage you to sign up for email posts (under my photo.)