Gold Jewelry Techniques: Wire

Starting with a rod-shaped ingot, the gold is hammered out to a smaller diameter and then pulled through a draw plate to the desired thickness. To begin, the metal is stretched with a hammer and then the ends are filed to a taper. This is necessary to be able to pull the wire through smaller holes in the draw plate. First, the wire should be annealed, or softened with heat, in order to stretch the metal more easily. The wire is pulled through increasingly smaller holes, becoming thinner and longer. After pulling the wire through two or three courses, it should be annealed again, as it will become work-hardened. This continues until the desired thickness is achieved. There are many simple techniques to create different visual effects with wire. Wire can be twisted by doubling over the wire, fixing one end in the vice and turning the other a chisel creates a pattern on the surface of the wire, which is often used to mimic granulation. The raised bead-like surface that forms between the chisel marks reflects light much like a granulated surface does, and it's much easier to do.