Wire and Bending Beads

1. You'll want at least two different types of wire. Surprisingly with wire the lower the gauge the thicker the wire. When you are just bending words or images 20 gauge wire flows smoothly through your hands, bends easily but still holds it shape, and it shows up well on a page. Unfortunately it is too thick to string seed beads.
2. The second type of wire you will need is 26 gauge or similar. It is a little more difficult to work with but it is thin enough for stringing small beads. You will use this wire for adding beads to a page or for writing and decorating with small beads. You'll also want wire cutters, needle nose pliers (in your tool kit), and nylon jaw pliers (for straightening mistakes) which are all located in the tools section of Basics in our store. The wire is under embellishments - beads and wire or in the embellishment kits in our originals section.
3. To make curls in wire try wrapping it around the handle of your dry embossing stylus then slide it off the end and flatten it out with your fingers.
4. Attach wire to your page with 26 gauge wire. Poke a small hole then make a loop of wire and hook it over the piece you wish to attach. Push the open ends through the small hole in your page then flip the page over and spread the ends apart being careful not to tear the hole. That should hold it but you can attach the wire to the back of the page with Scrappy Tape, Hermafix, or Glue Dots if you like. If you use Hermafix or Glue Dots put a little piece of scrap paper over the top of the adhesive to prevent the back of the page from sticking to other things. If you use Scrappy Tape you can just leave the backing attached.