I started off using Bead Smith 24 gauge copper wire - no troubles. Then I ran out, bought 24 g copper wire by Jewlelry Essentials and had an awful time. Ditched that wire for this project and bought 24 g copper wire by Artistic Wire Ltd - so smooth - very nice to work with.

Hi Chloe_s_Mom,

This is good information to have, thanks for your reply!

Jane

monsterslayer.com has a wide variety of copper in all sizes and is very affordable - costing far less than your typical packaged wire you find at retail stores.

Thanks jWolfe!

Well for practice and for inexpensive items, I really like the silver plated (with a non-tarnish coating) wire made by the Paramount Wire Company. The round comes in different colors and gauges, but the Half Round only comes in 18Ga Silver (which is what I use the most) and the Square only comes in 21Ga Silver and Gold. The wire only comes in Half Hard, which is fine for me, but may be too hard for others. What I really like about it (asided from the price) is that: 1) the plating holds up well against tool marks and 2) the non-tarnish coat gives the wire a very nice satin smooth finish. Since the base wire is copper instead of brass I just throw any unusable scraps and bits into my copper recycling jar.

The company has an online store (min order $25) and their S&H in the US is okay, but not great...still they do ship fast and their customer service has been good to me in the past.

Hope this helped.
Lee

Thanks Lee, it does help!
Jane