Attaching New Wire free tutorial

When working with thin wire and coiling techniques, it is best to work with lengths of wire no longer than 2.5 feet long (not much longer than your arm's length). At some point during coiling, the wire will end.

I've received a number of emails asking me how to add new wire to a piece, so today I posted a new free tutorial in the Lesson's page, showing exactly how to do it. Click here to go to the Lessons page and then scroll down to the Easy section.

NEW! Attaching
New Wire
Free!

Eni's Tutorial challenge at Bead and Button

There's an Eni Oken Groupie Challenge going on at the Bead and Button Forum. The challenge objectives are to create a new style or design, based on any one of my tutorials, using the method of "progressions".

You must create 4 of 5 progressive variations, that is, start the first one with more or less the same results as the chosen tutorial. The second one is a variation on the first one. The third one a variation on the second one and so on.

This is an exercise I used to do with my fantasy design students, and usually is a great way to come up with new alternatives that you wouldn't have thought of.
The deadline for submitting all the variations is September 30, 2006.

You MUST submit it at Bead & Button Forum, NOT directly to me. Go to the forum and register for free if you are still not a member of that community. Here is a direct link to the topic where the discussions are being posted: Eni Oken Groupie Challenge.

After September 30, I will be judging each progression and will award one of my pieces to the one that I feel was the most successful.

Important to remember, even if you are a beginner, that the goal is NOT to make it more complex, but yet to DEVELOP A NEW STYLE AND DESIGN. The winner will be the one that can manage to have the best balance between design, balance, technique and creativity -- not complexity.
Here are some of the parameters I will be using to judge each progression:

Was the progression able to really create a brand new style, or not?

How balanced and harmonious is the final design?

Creativity versus execution: how well did the progressions manage to create a brand new design, without stretching/compromising execution and technique?

Technique: is the execution clean and well made?

Are the progressions really linked to each other, that is, can you clearly see the influence of the previous one over the next?

I always like to encourage beginners to participate. So I will pay particular attention to the PROGRESSION and ability to create a new design, and not to the level of intricacy of the initial tutorial chosen. You can select any tutorial you like.

What have you done with my tutorials?

When it's late at night and I'm too tired to work on commissions, sometimes I surf the net to find out what other people have done. And sometimes I find works they have done with my tutorials in their blogs or web pages. It's really cool to see what they did...

Jewely Speak

Newest Addition to my Joolry family

Marie Cristine Jewelry

Marie Cristine Jewelry 2

Helmiharakka

Maria Apostolou 1

Maria Apostolou 2

Desiderata Designs: Medieval Nights

Musings

ES Designs

Musings 2

ES Designs 2

Kab's Creative Concepts

Purplerhianyoj

Silver Lotus

Helmetti

To Bead or not to Bead

Mixed Media n' jewelry

Bead Culture

Really pretty abacus

Organizing wire

I've received an email asking a question about how to organize wires:
I have those plastic folders with various pockets, the kind used for receipts, and just added tags with the various gauge numbers. Each orll of wire goes into the proper pocket. This way it's easy to carry and they don't get mixed up.