Wire wrapped jewelry intrigued me from the early days of my handcrafted jewelry career. I visited one of our local bead shops and saw an example of this technique so beautiful I knew I must learn how to do this myself. My pieces are cabochons ( stones without a bead hole) sculpted with sterling silver wire in various patterns or free form style using artistic wire and the wire may be adorned with other types of beads such as crystals.
As defined by Wikipedia, Wire wrapping is one of the oldest techniques for making jewelry by hand. In wire wrapping, jewelry is made using jewelry wire and findings similar to wire (like head-pins) to make components. Wire components are then connected to one another using mechanical techniques with no soldering or heating of the wire. Frequently, in this approach, a wire is bent into a loop or other decorative shape and then the wire is wrapped around itself to finish the wire component making that loop or decorative shape permanent. Because of this technique for wrapping wire around itself this craft is called wire wrapping.
Examples of wire and beaded jewelry made using wire wrapping techniques date back to thousands of years BC. The British Museum has samples of jewelry from the Sumerian Dynasty, found in the cemetery of Ur that contain spiraled wire components. This jewelry is dated at approximately 2000 BC. Other samples of jewelry from Ancient Rome show wire wrapped loops (one of the important techniques in making wire wrapped jewelry). This Roman jewelry is dated to approximately 2000 years ago. In the manufacture of this early jewelry the techniques for soldering did not exist. Later, as the technique for soldering developed, the wire wrapping approach continued because it was an economical and quick way to make jewelry components out of wire.
 |
| SOLD |
 |
| Red Agate wrapped in sterling silver wire accented with topaz crystals $38 |
 |
| Tree of Life Pendant Silver Artistic Wire and Swarovski Crytals $20 |
 |
| Red and Gray Marbled Agate Silver Artistic Wire Topaz Crystals $20 |
