Something like 22 years ago, I learned a very basic technique for turning a cabochon, or marble, or just a rock out of the yard into a pendant. It used wire and was called wire wrapping.

This is the very basic technique I learned all those years ago. This image is from a book titled “All Wire Up” by Marc Lareau.

This is my take on the basic technique. I would trace the actual cabochon that I had made and plan out where to put the wraps. This also let me figure out how much wire I might need.

This is the final product. Even though I made this many years ago, it only just this week made it into our Etsy Shop, jewelrybysyzygy.etsy.com It’s a Chrysocolla matrix cabochon with a Tiger’s Eye accent.

Between then and now, the techniques of wire wrapping have evolved into a real art form. I’m constantly amazed at what today’s artists contrive and build.

Image courtesy of Handcrafted Wire Wrapped

I got to wondering if maybe I could do something like that. Sure, I can make a really nice wrapped loop and turn a nice spiral, but for many years I focused more on the lapidary end of things along with silver smithing … both hot with flame and cold forging.

And then I put even that aside to write novels. I still have one in the works. We won’t talk about that.

Bernd and I have a backlog of jewelry that we’ve made over the years and so in February of this year, we opened an Etsy Shop. I was busy for quite a while getting all that stuff into the shop … well most of it. And then suddenly, I was hit with a desire to create new things. I hadn’t worked on the novel in a while and the urge to make wasn’t being wholly satisfied by crocheting scarves and blankets.

I began watching jewelry making videos. That’s when I really came to appreciate how the art of wire wrapping had grown.

Image courtesy of Etsy

So, it’s taken me some time, but I finally decided I’d done enough refresher work with wire to try my hand at something more like the current style of turning cabochons into pendants. Or making pendants wholly out of wire, for that matter.

What I’ve learned is that, while I love the look of the newer styles, I don’t really have the patience for implementing all of the techniques. Tedious is the word that comes to mind. What I’ve come up with is a synthesis of what I learned decades ago and what I’ve learned recently.

Petrified Wood and Copper. I really like the way this one turned out.

I’ve simplified here and there and substituted and come up with a style that is all my own. Which is not to say that someone else hasn’t also done something similar. But for me, this is new.

It’s inspiring. It leads to sleepless nights of lying awake and visualizing new ideas. One thing leads to another and I’ve created in my mind a whole suite of new pendants or earrings or bracelets.

I’ve bought a lot of wire recently. I plan to make good use of it.

The main take away here is that I will always be in the process of learning something new. It’s what keeps me going.