Well, I didn't find a store in Northern VA, so I broke down and ordered what I needed online. I'll have to wait for it to ship, but it should only be a few days. Since I'm just getting back into this, I went with cheap wire... copper and brass instead of gold and silver. I'll move back into gold and silver once I've practiced more and gotten used to half-hard square and half-round wire again. It's very different in how it handles from the copper-filled craft wire you get at AC Moore or Michaels, or even the German Silver wire they sell there.
I ordered from
Brandywine Jewelry Supply and got:
1 x Brass Wire: 18ga Half Round Half Hard 25ft @ $4.69
1 x Brass Wire: 21ga Square Dead Soft 25ft @ $4.99
1 x Brass Wire: 21ga Square Half Hard 25ft @ $4.79
1 x Copper Wire: 20ga Square Half Hard 25ft @ $5.99
1 x Copper Wire: 20ga Half Round Half Hard 50ft @ $4.89
1 x Pin Vice: Double Ended @ $2.99
150 feet of good quality wire, and a new pin vice, all for under 30 bucks. It came to $33.84 with shipping and handling and should be here by Friday or Saturday. When I'm ready, I'll also be able to order approximately 36 feet of half-round half-hard 20ga sterling silver wire for $25.99, approximately 14.6 feet of square half-hard 20ga sterling silver wire for the same price, approximately 38.5 feet of half-hard half-round 20ga 14/20 gold fill wire for 47.99, and approximately 17.18 feet of half-hard square 20ga 14/20 gold fill wire for the same price. As prices for jewelry wire go, that's not too bad, though I might continue shopping around to see if I can find better deals elsewhere.
I also picked up a new book yesterday, to help me get back into this stuff again:
Wirework: An Illustrated Guide to the Art of Wire Wrapping by Dale Armstrong. I'm also planning to eventually order another couple of books:
Jewelry Studio: Wire Wrapping by Linda Chandler and Christine Ritchey and
Contemporary Wire Wrapped Jewelry by Curtis Kenneth Leonard and William A. Kappele. The first I saw in a store the other day, and the latter I used to own back when I was big into wire wrapping. Very very good books. If you want to get into wire wrapping, I recommend looking for books that talk about this style of it and explain things like the difference between half-hard and dead soft wires, and when to use half-round wire and when to use square wire. There are other books out there, such as
Wrapped in Gems by Mai Sato-Flores and Jesse Flores that teach, IMO, a far sloppier and less elegant style of wrapping, generally using full-round wire. Full round wire has its places, but in many cases can be more elegantly and decoratively replaced by twisting square wire into the round.
Eventually I'm also planning to pick up another book I used to own,
Jewel Tree Making Course by Dale E. Ellis but that's a lower priority. It is, however, FAR superior to a more recent imitation:
How to Create Beaded and Wire Trees by Sal Villano. If you're going to get one of the two, get the Ellis book. I'd swear the design on the cover of the Villano book is taken from there, plus it has more designs than the Villano book. Another good book on making gem tree is
Gem Stone Tree and Picture Creations by Bev Carroll. It's hard to find, Bev passed away in 2003 and the book was self-published by her and her husband Hugh. I had the pleasure of meeting them both once at the Lost Dutchman Gemboree in Lebanon, PA and was lucky enough to get the 6th edition of her book, published May 1996, and I can say that it was invaluable. Possibly the book to get if you're into crafting wire gem trees.
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