Wire Wrapping: The Basics And Beyond

As an artist and lapidary (I cut and polish gemstones), I’d delayed learning wire wrapping for years, because it was something I ‘needed’ to do, not wanted to. But what else am I going to do with all those pretty cabochons? I’d tried to wire wrap a few times, and always met with failure, because you must learn the basic steps before crafting a masterpiece. Using some books and how-tos printed off the Internet, I got exactly nowhere.Until now. Jim’s book (Plus his handy-dandy tutorials on YouTube) are what you need if you want to learn to wire wrap cabochons. You will be frustrated, your fingers will be sore, and you will go into the uncanny valley of frustration. How can that darn little wire not move when you push it? But you will finish your first ugly piece, then the second and so on. Each piece will be better. Keep practicing.Pros: Jim’s ‘voice’ is friendly and avuncular, hundreds of photos clearly illustrate the steps, and he stresses (Several times) you are to learn his rules, then make up your own creative designs.Cons: lack of color photos, which the Internet fixes. Jim’s advice to use silver wire to start may be overly optimistic. I’m using cheap stuff and am I glad!Takeaways:1) Wire wrapping looks hard, and it’s harder than it looks, but the right teacher can get you through.2) Wire wrapping tools are simple; the materials complex. Pay attention to what gauge and material of wire you are trying to work.3) Don’t skip to the hard projects, no matter how gorgeous the photos are. Learn the basics first.Five stars

This is a little bit of a different take on wire wrapping than I've seen in some of the other books on this subject I've reviewed, so this book definitely has a place in my collection. (I'm finding that no book is complete, but that by buying several, I am starting to get the coverage of the topic I want.)If you are getting into wire wrapping because you want to learn about how to use cabochons in your pieces, look no further. This is the book you want. Pretty much every project involves setting cabochons. The variety of projects is decent. There are some pendants, some bracelets of different sorts, a few rings, and even earrings. (Within sub-categories, though, there is some repetition. The first project is a pendant and the second project is almost the same except you bend some wires at the front of the cabochon in a more decorative way.) The author encourages you to vary the designs, sketch your own designs, etc. I feel like he is making more effort to get his readers to explore and practice on their own than some of the other authors I've read on this subject. (In my mind, this is a good thing.)The instructions are mostly clear and generally easy to follow, though do pay attention to what is going on in the pictures and logically to where the project is going because there appear to be a few errors in the text.One thing I particularly like is the discussion of how to figure out how much wire you need for a given project. And, even though the author says that one continuous piece of wire is best, he gives instructions for making unseen joins that I haven't seen elsewhere.I do have to point out that this book does not look as though it was professionally published. (I see this is from CreateSpace, so I guessed correctly.) It looks like it is a print-on-demand book based on the paper quality. All the images are black and white. They are mostly clear. Unlike some other wire wrapping books, they are quite large. However, there is something lost when rendering them in black and white, and some details are difficult to see (especially any of the steps involving tape). The text is not formatted the way print books typically are (it has spaces between paragraphs and lacks indentations, which is a style you see online). And the tone is quite conversational, with some excess words and an unusual philosophy of organization (some background information, such as a discussion of cabochon shapes, appears *after* all the projects in the book).After going through this book, I have no doubt that the author is knowledgeable and enthusiastic about the topic. I kind of feel, though, like information necessary for beginners is not there in some places. (Also it seems weird to me that he says he owns a tumbler for work-hardening but doesn't own a bracelet mandrel. Bracelet mandrels are about 20% of the cost of tumblers...and because he has a tumbler, there is no discussion of other ways to work-harden wire.) Although one project is suggested to be made of copper wire, there's little information about using copper wire in the book (e.g., oxidation, preventing discoloration when it comes into contact with skin, etc.).I do believe I will get plenty of use out of this book. It has more thorough instructions regarding the use of cabochons than any other book I have, and it is much appreciated for that reason. But, I think there is a lot of unrealized potential as well. This could've been a 5-star book with clear color photos and an editor.

I was extremely disappointed when I received the book and saw the entire book is in black & white. Nothing in the description states this. And I missed the reviews that mention it. In addition, the paper used isn't a fine quality so the photos are grainy. So when following step by step, this is difficult to see the detail. I got two books by Sarah Thompson first, and compared to those, this looks like a handwritten notebook. It's hard to get excited by a project when the finished product is ho-hum.The other weird thing to me is the publishing part... usually you look at the page behind the title page and it gives all the "bibliography" info like the publisher, year published, etc. This book has nothing. The only info I (finally) found is at the end, at the bottom of a page, it says:Made in the USACharleston, SC03 March 2015Since Amazon lists the publication as much earlier, this must be a printing date, not publication? Just all seems very strange. I'm wondering if I received some kind of bootleg copy...

Wow, I am amazed at how detailed this book is compared to all the other wire jewelry tutorial books I have bought! This is a pretty thick book too, and gives step by step instructions with a picture for each step to help guide you along the way. I am very impressed! This author doesn't give you partial information, or a picture or two, he goes all out to really show you with many pictures numbered along with each step explaining to the point that even someone who has had zero experience working with wire for jewelry would totally get it! I highly recommend that if your thinking about buying a wire jewelry book and it's your first time working with wire, get this book first! Even if you are an intermediate wire worker, this book helps you to understand how to make very precise measurements with your wire to avoid waste. It will show you how to make the coveted prong and square cabochon type rings that so many people have wanted to know, but couldn't figure it out.

Really informative book, lots of instruction and techniques explained. I love the way he makes the bails for the pendants. His work is really beautiful. Other reviews have complained about the photos not being in color but that didn't bother me as you can still see what he did and it keeps the cost of the book lower. I thought his steps and explanations of how to produce the pieces was very good.

I love this book. So well written and the instructions are easy to follow. It’s a shame that all the pictures are in black and white.I have learnt more from this book than any other book I’ve bought.

Lovely book

Excellent Book

I was a little reluctant to buy this since all the reviews said the pictures were black and white and hard to see. This seems to have been corrected and now the whole kindle edition manual has coloured, high resolution pictures.This book is covers a lot of the common lessons in a concise, practical way- by showing you how to do simple projects incorporating wire wrapping techniques. This is a manual for practical uses and isn’t filled with glossy pictures of complicated jewelry. It’s not meant for inspiration beyond teaching the basic abilities needed to create your own wire wrapping pieces.

This book was exactly what I was looking for! It fills in so many gaps that I couldn't figure out from you tube and such. I just wish the pics were in color since it's a $40 book. And the weird thing is that I downloaded the sample before I purchased the book and the pictures are in color on the sample.4 stars - simple because the pics are black and white but 5 stars for content.