I poked a hole in my finger and bled whilst practising what appeared to be a simple wire-wrapping technique. Note to self: Do not practise with 20g steel wire. It’s much too stiff and horrendous to work with.

I didn’t realize that wire wrapping would be so difficult.

Even something as simple as making jump rings takes a lot of practise. After making dozens of jump rings and not having them close properly, I figured out that my cutters just weren’t ‘cutting it.’ Well, they actually were cutting it, but they weren’t creating perfectly straight cuts (I’m using half-hard sterling silver wire, which is quite soft.) I finally ponied up the money for a jeweler’s saw which I have yet to use. Hopefully the cuts will be much cleaner. Meantime, I’ve bought a bunch of sterling silver jump rings on Etsy.

I also found out I was closing the jump rings using the wrong technique (I was moving both of my hands.) Here is a helpful video on how to close a jump ring properly, which involves keeping one of your hands stationary.

Now, off to the basement to poke some more holes in my fingers. Arghhh!