Hi,

 I've bought Cynthia Wuller's book "Inspired Wire" and she talks about a certain wire that she uses/ less expensive to practice with- called Bead Smith wire.  I can't seem to find it anywhere.

It comes in Half hard or dead Soft.  Anyohe have any suggestions?  I've seen the Bead Smith Tools on Ebay.  Love Ebay@!!

Cheryl

 Bead Smith is the private label of Helby Import Company. A google or yahoo search for "bead smith craft wire" finds a lot of sellers.

I think that all the  craft wire products are very similar. Some are  German or English made plated wire. My own business, Rings & Things, carries an English made craft wire in silver and gold colors.

 Most on line sellers and many LBS carry one of the many types of craft wire.

I carry the copper and the German Silver Beadsmith wire. I find the copper to be about half hard so it acts like sterling wire. The German Silver is the same.

Many wrappers swear by the Silver. They say it can even be hammered and the silver stays. I haven't tried hammering it personally.

http://www.magpiegemstones.com/wire.html

Cheryl,

Try your LBS for the Beadsmith wire. I carry the silver and gold (German) wire in sizes from 14 ga to 26 ga. We teach our wire wrap classes with it so beginners aren't nervous about messing up the "good stuff" (sterling and gold filled) and it holds the shine and color wonderfully. A few of the other wires tend to turn grey/dull over time. I have several samples from our wire wrap classes on the cashier counter and they look great. Some of them are more than a year old. A month ago, one of our wire wrap classes was making a cuff bracelet and they needed 16 ga and 22 ga - the Beadsmith 22 ga hadn't been shipped, so they had to use one of the "craft" wires instead. The bracelet itself looks great, but the 22 ga coils on it are already dull and grey. Edited to add - what we have is half hard and works very well. The only negative about the gold wire is that the color is more brassy than the gold wire in other brands.

Hope this helps.