Wednesday, May 19, 2010

When making loc jewelry any size wire will do right?

When making your loc jewelry there are different sizes and types of wire that work best for your adornments. Before we go into the types let talk about the sizes or thickness. Wire is measured by the gauge. The higher the gauge number, the thinner the wire. I like to work with wire from gauge 22-20. 20 gauge is not heavy on the hair and it's pliable. 22 gauge is a bit thinner and works well if you want to created a beaded coil.

If you plan on making adornments that are going to stay in your hair for extended periods of time, there a few types of wire that will not change color and last even if left in during washings. The best and least expensive wire is copper wire. Copper wire will not fade or cause damage or discoloration of your hair.
The next best wire is Argentium Silver. Argentium Silver is the most tarnish resistant silver available today – it is available in a wide range of products, is firescale free and whilst perfectly malleable in an annealed state, can easily be made almost twice as hard as annealed traditional sterling silver. It's very lightweight and can be worn in the hair indefinitely. Sterling silver is a bit more expensive so I stick with the Argentium :)



There are other wire types and colors that you can use though i recommend that you take them out because they will fade and loose their color after a while. Color coated copper wire comes in a wide range of colors and are fun to wear. I would recommend taking these out because as I previously stated, they will start to fade after a while especially if you add a lot of oil and other products in your hair.


Gold-filled, or gold overlay, is made by heat and pressure bonding a thin layer of gold to a brass core.I personally don't like gold coated copper wire because it starts to look dull after a short time. Gold filled wire is not that expensive and can be worn for extended periods of time also.


Who knew  wire was that serious lol It really isn;t that serious however I don't use any kind of wire and I make pieces that last. You can purchase copper anywhere from Joanns Fabric to Home Depot or Lowers in the hardware department. Copper is copper and I look for the cheapest lol I order my Argentium online and I have posted the links. Have fun !

1 comment:

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