Art Bead Scene Blog: Tutorial Tuesday: Wooly Wire Wrapped Beads

Check out Heather Powers' post on Art Bead Scene Blog for making WoolyBeads - beads made with WoolyWire!

Art Bead Scene Blog: Tutorial Tuesday: Wooly Wire Wrapped Beads

Making WoolyWire

I often get asked what goes into the creation of WoolyWire. What may on the surface seem like a simple product actually entails many steps, from processing the raw fiber to the final application on wire. Here's a little sneak peak into the process...

Obtaining and Preparing Fiber

The first steps involve cleaning and preparing fiber. Most of the fiber comes from wool, from sheep like the one in the photo below.  I obtain fleeces from fiber shows, and I also reserve fleeces every year from sheep that I know produce good wool. The ones I like to reserve are at Nistock Farms in Northern NY. My two reserved sheep are Pearl, a full-breed Cottswold, and Ash, cross-breed Cottswold / Border Leicester (I don't have pictures of Pearl and Ash, but below is a picture of Duke from the same farm). When sheering time comes, I am guaranteed fleeces from my reserved sheep. I also use other fibers, like angelina, bamboo, and silk.

Fleeces ready to be processed.

Once I have cleaned the fiber, I sort it and prepare it for dyeing. In addition to wool, I dye other fibers as well, such as bamboo and silk.

Next, I sort all my dyed work start assembling color and texture palettes. This is preparation for making an Art Batt...

Making a Art Batt

Here's a picture of my drum carder; the fiber is placed either in the tray in which the smaller drum will pull the fiber onto the larger drum or the fiber can be placed directly onto the larger drum. Typically finer fibers such as angelina, bamboo, or silk will be placed directly on the larger drum:




This is the fiber gathered in preparation for making the batt; it is helpful to plan a color scheme ahead and have all of your fiber ready next to the carder:

Here is what the fiber looks like once I have it all on the drum carder; it is a lot like painting!




Here is what the batt looks like having just been taken off the carder:




Here is the batt being prepared to be rolled for neatness:




Finally, here is the batt in its final stage, ready for spinning:

Spinning WoolyWire

I don't have a picture of the above batt made up into WoolyWire... but here is a different one I made and the Woolywire I spun from it:

My trusty spinning wheel... and my mom's pup Casey. =)

Next I felt the WoolyWire so that the fiber stays put on the wire. Then finally, comes cutting and packaging.  Lots of steps from sheep to final product, but so much fun to see the end result.  I especially love working with color. I hope you enjoyed this little behind-the-scenes glimpse of WoolyWire!

Hey everyone,

NEW! Available NOW at www.WoolyWireEtc.etsy.com: WoolyWire Medley Sets - these are collections WoolyWire organized into palettes. Each set contains FIVE 24" pieces of WoolyWire, and is priced at a bundled discount. And we are having a special introductory sale: 15% off now through Sunday! Use code "MEDLEY". Even better, the discount is good for the entire shop

In addition to the new Medleys, we have 7 yummy NEW COLORS... You can use your 15% coupon code "Medley" for these too. Come see!

Woolywire "One-oh-Fun" - More Details!

More details about the WoolyWire class being offered at BeadFest this summer (post from Genea):

Wooly Wire "One-oh-FUN" by Genea Beads- Class at Bead Fest Philly August 22, 2014!

Hello friends!

I am super EXCITED to announce I will be teaching my first BIG class at Bead Fest Philly in August! Not only will we be vending again this year, but I will be teaching you the secrets of working with Wooly Wire! Class is held on August 22nd from 4:30-8:30pm. Cost for class is $110 along with a special show price kit fee of $55(valued at over $110!).

You can click on the link Wooly Wire "One-oh-FUN"! to get signed up for class! You will need to scroll almost ALL the way down the page to get to the link, but I promise it's there! ;)

So what will you learn in class? Well when asked most of you were pretty intimidated to pick up Wooly Wire. I want to ease your mind about working with this FABULOUS new wire! You work with Wooly Wire just like you would any other wire except it's fuzzy and colorful. You just do a little felting and tucking of the end of the wire to secure it, but it can do just about anything else you normally do with regular metal wire. Here is a link to my "Finishing the ends of Wooly Wire and wire-wrapped bead" video tutorial.

I will be teaching you to: wrap, coil, spiral, and finish the ends of Wooly Wire! You will learn to: make a Wooly Wire bail, a corkscrew spiral necklace, and weave a pair of earrings! I will even be showing you how to make one of my recycled sari silk necklaces! I am very confident when you leave class you will not only feel super comfortable working with Wooly Wire, but you will be ready to DIVE into pushing the limits of your design!

For the class I thought you all would love working with my stone textured beads and who doesn't love that pinky purple?!

I chose a simple yet funky design for the necklace. I wanted you all to learn some basic and fun techniques with an "everyday" style necklace to wear.



My "Ancient Tapestry" earrings were VERY well received so I decided to also include the creation of these fabulous earrings to the class! The black and rainbow goes with just about every outfit!



Delightful, no?!

Well don't delay! Hop on over and get signed up now as we may fill up well before the show!

I can't wait to see you there!

xo Genea

WoolyWire Class by Genea at BeadFest Philly this Summer!

Guess who is teaching a WoolyWire class at BeadFest Philly this summer????? WoolyWire Whisperer Genea Crivello-Knable of course! Check it out!!! https://www.eiseverywhere.com/ehome/79000

They're HERE! The Spring 2014 WoolyWire Collection.

Nellie has created an amazing palette of yummy new colors. To celebrate, we are running a 20% off sale off ALL items in the shop (with minimum purchase of $15): use coupon code SPRING2014. NOW until Tuesday Midnight.

These and MORE, available here:

https://www.etsy.com/shop/WoolyWireEtc?section_id=14800054&ref=shopsection_leftnav_1

Space Age Pod Earrings - Bead Design Studio Magazine Tutorial

"WoolyWire Whisperer" Genea Crivello-Knable of Genea Beads, has done it again. She created these fabulous "Space Age Pod Earrings" and wrote a tutorial so that you can create your own!

The tutorial is available in the current issue of Bead Design Studio (available at http://beaddesignstudiomag.com/issues/current.shtml):

The WoolyWire is available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/176331973/space-age-pod-pink-woolywire-two-24-inch?ref=shop_home_active_1

And Genea's gorgeous lampwork headpins used in the tutorial are available here: https://www.etsy.com/listing/175515279/space-age-pods-handmade-lampwork-bead?ref=shop_home_feat_4

Be sure to get your issue of Bead Design Studio and try this out this fabulous project - and have fun!

~ Happy WoolyWiring....  :)