I *love* seahorses!! They do make a sweet subject for wire and beads. :-) But there is one thing about how the instructor starts the wrapping. While his method may appear practiced and reasonable, it has definite drawbacks. This man is young - you can tell by the smoothness of his hands. Winding wire by holding and turning a small area of it is incredibly tough on your joints - in this case, his thumb. People are often surprised at how much their hands hurt after working with even soft wire - methods like this are one reason that happens. In my opinion as a long time teacher and wire worker, it is far more masterful to conserve one's tools - in this case, his hands. Leaving a short length at the end and learning to turn the coil with one's pliers is far less damaging to the joints in fingers. He'll probably figure that out when he is older and his hands hurt too much to wrap wire when he wants to. He is also holding a small nub of wire under his thumb very firmly, which has the potential to poke him.
It isn't worth the cost of 6 to 12mm of wire "waste" (even if it were platinum) to over-stress or risk injury of any kind to the tools we can't replace - our hands - especially when there is no need to do so. That is simply being penny wise and pound foolish. :-) Learning to use our tools to accomplish what we want is more useful. As usual, a wonderful post, Pearl!
I am always amazed at the patience people have who do this sort of work.
It is definitely a gorgeous finished product!
February 2, 2015 at 1:33 PM
Sea horses are such delicate and fascinating creatures. And an irresistible challenge to make with wire and beads. I featured a wire wrapped sea horse tutorials before. Here is a video demonstration by Atelie 42, a Russian bead store. It is an especially lovely one with a curling tail, sea glass and metal beads which is why I wanted to share it.
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I call it a tutorial only in its loosest terms as the video often speeds up rapidly to save time. Some steps are slowed down. So this how to is best viewed as an inspiration and for general steps. Those with some wire experience will know how to proceed. Beginners should check the tutorials in that past post above.
Use 20G wire for the frame and 26G wire for the wire wrapping.
The instructor had a very practiced way of starting the wire wrapping. It may not be obvious but his left thumb is the one that was wrapping the wire tail while it looked like all he was doing was using the rest of the wire to rock the work to and fro!
"Another Wire Wrapped Sea Horse Tutorial"
4 Comments -
WOW !! I wish I could make something like that ! Anyway , thank you for sharing .... It is so nice !
February 2, 2015 at 9:19 AM
I *love* seahorses!! They do make a sweet subject for wire and beads. :-)
But there is one thing about how the instructor starts the wrapping. While his method may appear practiced and reasonable, it has definite drawbacks.
This man is young - you can tell by the smoothness of his hands. Winding wire by holding and turning a small area of it is incredibly tough on your joints - in this case, his thumb. People are often surprised at how much their hands hurt after working with even soft wire - methods like this are one reason that happens.
In my opinion as a long time teacher and wire worker, it is far more masterful to conserve one's tools - in this case, his hands. Leaving a short length at the end and learning to turn the coil with one's pliers is far less damaging to the joints in fingers. He'll probably figure that out when he is older and his hands hurt too much to wrap wire when he wants to.
He is also holding a small nub of wire under his thumb very firmly, which has the potential to poke him.
It isn't worth the cost of 6 to 12mm of wire "waste" (even if it were platinum) to over-stress or risk injury of any kind to the tools we can't replace - our hands - especially when there is no need to do so. That is simply being penny wise and pound foolish. :-)
Learning to use our tools to accomplish what we want is more useful.
As usual, a wonderful post, Pearl!
February 2, 2015 at 11:20 AM
Awesome tips, Perri. Yes, we often abuse our hands only to find we pay for it much later. I so agree is not worth saving small amounts of wire.
I also find men have stronger fingers than women so maybe he is able to do this easily. I would use tools for sure!
February 2, 2015 at 1:07 PM
I am always amazed at the patience people have who do this sort of work.
It is definitely a gorgeous finished product!
February 2, 2015 at 1:33 PM