Hello all-I justed joined-Need advice about heavy stone/chain necklaces......

[recrudescence]

Hello everyone,

I was stopping by to see if anyone could tell me if I am on the right track.
I am beginning to incorporate, mostly rough cut, heavy nuggets into my necklace designs.
I am looking for the ideal nugget to chain wire that will hold up to the weight of stone to chain connection. Does this make sense. I was considering 18-12 gauge wire thickness. I hope for longevity of wear without the wire connection opening. I prefer to not solder each connection but I can if this is the only way to ensure the traditional loop "connection" will not separate.
If anyone has advice or can point me in the right direction it would be much appreciated.
Quality is very important to me. I think I know what I am doing but would like a second opinion.
Many thanks

[BlackHawkCreations]

Hey Andrea, new here as well....
If your wanting to do a wire thru the nugget, looped on either side, I'd use the 18, then forge the loop flat, it will work harden it, and prevent it from popping open.....I do this with sections on some of my necklaces....IE: 6mm copper bead, 12 mm round turquoise or nugget ,and do these in sections of 3 ......so the 18 g with forged loops are holding 5 copper beads, and 3 hefty chunks of stone....none have been sent back yet due to failure, and Ive been at this a long time
Good luck
Steve

[BlackHawkCreations]

I'm using 18g copper, but also have done this with sterling as well.

[recrudescence]

Thank you so much for the advice! I posted this question in 2 other teams.....with no response.
I will definitely try out your tested technique-thanks so much for sharing.
-Andrea

[BlackHawkCreations]

Quite welcome Andrea

[Former_Member]

Yeah, I'd suggest the same, flattening will work-harden it & keep it from springing it apart. You could go as high as 16, but I think 12 will be too heavy. From a historical perspective, I took a great class at a local event last summer (yes, I'm a SCAdian) on rosaries - prior to the industrial age, they didn't do a lot of wire work because it was expensive & time-consuming to use wire, so a lot of beads were strung on cord, reeled silk being one of the better ones as it doesn't really fray as much. Hope that helps!

[Former_Member]

Okay, I'd like to recant the historical perspective from my last post - I know that a lot was used in chain mail, but wasn't seen as much in jewelry pieces, to my knowledge. Just dawned on me that my prior post may have come across a bit too strongly in that regard ;) Plus it also hit me that the source was the same one who stated the common (but very wrong!) misconception that glass still "flows" because stained glass pieces from the medieval were thicker on the bottom - hello! it's a combination of structural integrity and how it was made - in discs that were thicker closer to the rod they were being spun off of.