Quote:
Originally Posted by barbbbeads
This is so beautiful and I may just have to give it a try. Rocio's kit is inexpensive enough, but I hate to waste good money on sterling wire to get it down right. Anyone have a suggestion for wire to practice on that will still reduce like the sterling does? I'll be back with questions later about how to finish them off, and also like how to get the center focal bead attached as in Lisa's bracelet.
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I used 26 gauge copper wire that I found at Joann's to make my first weave, it was around 3.00 for 30 feet which gave me 20 inches of knit done on a 1/2 inch dowel. I pulled it down progressively through drilled holes that were
1/2", 3/8", 1/4 ", 5/16", and 7/32". This gave me 34"'s of a finished weave from the original 20 inches. This makes a necklace with a nice diameter, but I prefer a larger diameter for my bracelets.
My next weave was done with sterling, soft, 24 gauge again on a 1/2 inch dowel. For my purposes I can't imagine that I would ever need another size dowel since you pull down anyway. I don't know how much wire I used because it was on a leftover spool of silver I had. This time, I only pulled the weave down 2 sizes to the 1/4" which I love for a bracelet, I'm going to cut off what I need for a few bracelets and then continue to pull what's left down further for a necklace.
Here are some things that I learned and improved on from my first to my second knit...
I probably will mostly use 24g or 22g wire, but use the thinner 26 for the first try.
When you make your start up flower petal, it IS important to keep this as perfectly spaced as possible, I'm very pickly and kept my rows as perfectly straight and evenly spaced all the way down the dowel. This made a big difference in the appearance of my second weave as opposed to my second silver knit.
Weave your little E's looser than you would think, it makes it easier to get behind your weave with the wire and you can work alot faster.
Don't forget to put your soft flex in your weave BEFORE you pull down and make it quite a bit longer than the knit will be when you pull it down. If you don't, it will be very hard to try and pull your stringing material through the knit when it's tight.
I was surprised at how little waste wire there was, just tiny little snips.
Hope this helps a bit.