I have a rather large supply of telephone cable and I was delighted to cut open one of those ugly, beige, linear lumps of heavy plastic to discover a treasure trove of beautifully coloured wires. Talk about great up-cycling!
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| Near the bottom of this picture you can see a Green & white entwined wire and a blue & white one. The other wires are single. (and looking to get married - lol) |
How to get at your wires You just snip the end of the cable and tear away enough to get access to the wires. With needle-nose pliers you can gently pull out one, or as many wires as you need.
Different cables yield different wires. The fat one below and to the left houses an incredible assortment of colours. The thinner cables have double entwined wires like green&white, yellow&white, red&white...
I also made some new paper beads using 140lb watercolour paper and watercolour paints. I sealed the beads with gel and glossy medium. I used them in the bracelet below. I was really pleased when I discovered brass-coloured wires and I liked how they looked with the beads.
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| Paper and glass beads using telephone wires. |
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| Glass beads and wire |
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| Bracelet made from beads of 3 different necklaces. I used copper coloured wire to attach the pretty pendant bead. Beads used: coloured jade,brass,brown glass. |
I am in the process of reconstructing many vintage necklaces to harvest their beads and create new pretty things.
How to get at your wires You just snip the end of the cable and tear away enough to get access to the wires. With needle-nose pliers you can gently pull out one, or as many wires as you need.
I love the way you used telephone wires! Who knew they were such pretty colors? I guess I never stopped to look...
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a kid--jr. high aged--a friend of mine showed me how cool the inside of these bulky wires were...we made little twisty bracelets by creating a spiraled bead of the colored-coated wires tightly wrapped back on themselves. it was an interesting little technique that I see in beading catalogs now...who knew Gigi was so gifted!?!
ReplyDeleteLove your jewelry!
When I was in Jr. High, a friend of mine showed me what was inside those bulky wrapped wires. My parent's bought me a spool of wire to keep me from cutting valuable wires in the house. :)
ReplyDeleteGigi showed me how to tightly wrap the wire back on itself to create cool little rings! Who knew Gigi was so avant garde?
Great jewelry with tele wires! :)
Thank you for sharing!!