Creating Patterned Wire with a Rolling Mill

This is an update to my last entry where I posted images of an experiment I made of patterning metal with a rolling mill using handmade paper.  I decided to try patterning wire using the same techniques.  I chose heavier gauge wire since any pattern on thinner gauges - such as 20 or 24 gauge - probably wouldn't show very well.

The Paper

Here's the paper I chose for both tests.  I wrapped each section of wire in two layers of the paper before running it through the rolling mill.

White Fiber Paper

Sterling Silver Square Wire

For this run, I used 18 gauge sterling silver square wire to see whether the wire would hold its shape.

18 gauge Sterling Silver square wire

The square wire held its shape pretty well, the edges displaying only slightly rounded curves.  The inside strip did pick up a slight pattern, but nothing very dramatic.

Copper Round Wire

For this second run, I chose 12 gauge copper round wire.  I used the same style paper I used on the silver wire above.

12 Gauge Copper Round Wire

The pattern on this wire was much more dramatic than the smaller 18 gauge.  This wire showed much more flattening than the lower gauge wire, however.

Conclusions

The heavier the wire - like most applications I've tried for texturing metal - the better the texture shows in the design.  Heavier wire flattens more readily than the lower gauges, so you may have to select which feature you need for your project - heavy patterning that's flat, or light patterning which retains the shape of the wire.

If you've tried you own experiments along these lines, let know how they came out!  Post a comment below or send some photos and/or urls, and I'll post them. 

Thanks,

Teresa