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- Aluminum wire is just perfect for making Ornamental creations: It is lightweight, inexpensive and tarnish resistant.
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- To
make aluminum wrapped votives:
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 1.
Create a spiral of wire. Here we used an 8 gauge aluminum wire
around a rolling pin. Any round item will work that is the size
of the votive you are wrapping. You can wrap directly on the
glass if it is strong enough not to break.
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 2.
Place the votive in the spiral. The spiral can be adjusted or
trimmed as necessary.
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 3.
The spiral can be further adorned with beads or other
decorations . Here we have a stone flower which is slid onto
a nickel 20 gauge wire. A tiny spiral on the end holds the flower
in place. A small drop of super glue or epoxy can be used to
secure it if needed.
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 4.
Small spiral twists will hold beads on the 20 gauge nickel wire.
The small twists can be formed around a nail.
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 5.
The finished votive .
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- The wire
will retain its silvery color for years with little cleaning.
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- Our soft aluminum wire and sheet
is the softest any metal will be for the thickness. It cannot
be softened any further.
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- Stiff metal can be softened
by heating up very hot and allowing it to cool...annealing.
- The thicker any wire is the
harder it is to bend in a tight curve
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- For something like delicate
stemware we suggest pre- bending it around a dowel that is slightly
smaller.
This way you can use more force - like rolling it up on a flat
surface or held in a clamp.
Then spiraling it on to the stemware- in an open coil and then
adjusting the coil. (see open coil in photo)
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- For
tools and techniques SEE ALSO: Flattening,
Bending & Forming Metal
- Softening metal
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