Forming Silver Wire.

I am a beginner and really struggling to form silver wire.

I have been making hoop earnings with a thickness of 2,5mm.

I find it really difficult to pull both ends of the wire together so they sit perfectly. I am also struggling as the wire is still quite stiff after annealing.

Does anyone have any easy ways to do this without spending ages just forming the circle.

Thank you!!:o

Hi Jay and welcome to the forum.
If your wire is stiff, it is not annealed well enough. It needs to be heated (in a dark corner) so that it faintly glows all over and then quenched either in cold water, or straight in pickle, (provided you have a heatproof pickle container)

Next wind it twice around a mandrel, which can be any metal or wooden rod or rolling pin, that is slightly too small, because the wire will spring back a little. It is helpful to have excess length, because the very ends will not bend well. Then cut it to make two hoops.

At this point I prefer to solder the ends to make complete rings, because I can then tap them on a mandrel to be as perfectly round as possible.
Lastly cut away, or bend about 8.00 mm to make room for the ear lobe, and add an ear post. The ear post is hardened by twisting it gently with pliers.

Finally, a gentle word of caution. it is best to invent a user name for the forum, in case your email address attracts spammers. Dennis.

Not too many easy ways with jewellery although it becomes easy after a lot of practice and mistakes,
sounds like you are not annealing correctly if properly annealed Silver wire becomes soft almost to the point of being unnerving, if it still has any "spring" then it is not annealed
a hoop earring is just making a really big jump ring, push the ends past each other so when you align them there is a little bit of resistance to keep them in place, also use some form of former to get the shape
something like a rolling pin, pill bottle or a drink bottle depending on the size
To anneal just in case, heat until just a dull red appears it may help to do this in a darkened area

You beat me to it Dennis

Hi Dennis,

I cut the wire before I even tried to form it so this makes sense!!! It was glowing red but as you said it is the ends that I cant seem to manage!

Thank you so much for your help! I will also create a username!

Thanks again for your help Dennis!!

Jay :D

Thank you!! I think I'm a little impatient - Practise makes perfect!!