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Today I'd like to talk to you a little bit about memory wire and show you a
couple of finishing techniques.
The memory wire comes in three sizes, this is the necklace size, this is the
bracelet size
and you have a ring size as well.
It also comes in coils of twelve coils and thirty-eight,
in silver
and gold color.
For the memory wire, you only want to use one kind of shear. These are memory shears.
Memory wire is a very hard to kind of wire. In fact it gets its name,
memory wire, because of the fact that it really keeps its shape. It has a
memory.
So,
please just use these shears because you might ruin another pair of snippers.
The first technique that we're going to show you is how to make a loop in the
end of the memory wire coil.
and the reason for this is if you'd like to hang a tassle on the end,
this is a good technique to use. We're going to be using to round nose pliers
and just simply
if you want a little
bit of
roundness here, you just use these pliers, grip the end and just turn
like this.
That's it, you're done. It's a really easy finishing technique.
For the next finishing technique we're going to be using some
beads that were specially designed for memory wire.
What they have is a hole on one side and they don't have a hole on the other
side.
They come actually in two different sizes, small and large and
in silver and gold plate and stainless steel.
For this technique we're going to be using five minute two-part epoxy.
I'm just going to break off the ends here,
like so,
and
you just want to evenly press on the syringe from both sides and
get out an equal amount.
I like to keep my glue standing upright like this so it doesn't pour out.
The nice thing is that these
two parts don't really turn into a sticky glue until you mix them together.
So I'm going to go ahead and really mix them well. You want to make
sure the're really mixed in
like so.
And after this, what I'm going to do is I'm actually going to use the end of the
memory wire itself
to scoop up the glue because of that is really what fits
into the hole of the bead well.
Find the hole here
and just gently
move the glue in.
You want to go in and out for a little while like this
until you have some glue inside. It doesn't take a whole lot really.
Just like that.
What you are going to want to do,
is
get a little handy wipe and you will want to wipe this
going in this direction, because if you wipe in the other direction
your bead is going to fall off.
You just want to take the excess glue off
like this
and then
find someplace that you can prop
the bracelet on like this so that
your finding can dry for five minutes. Of course you string on your beads
and put on your
other bead cap at the other end. Memory wire has a lot of great uses. These watch
bands are a good example. They just look so good on your wrist.
Thank you for joining us at the Fire Mountain Gems & Beads studio. My name is
Arbel and
happy beading.