Your Beginner's Wire Jewelry Tool Kit

As a beginner to wire jewelry making, you may be a little overwhelmed by the huge variety of tools available for jewelry makers. Many newbies to jewelry making -- and even some of us who've been doing this for awhile get a bit intimidated when it comes to the world of tools.

Costs often range from a few dollars to $70 a pair for pliers that seem exactly the same, and one book seems to say you need a thousand dollars worth of tools to get started, while another touts an entirely different set of tools entirely!

Of course, as a beginner, you want to get started as frugally as possible because this might not be the hobby for you at all once you get into it.

As a thrifty minded gal myself, it actually pains me to see people throw their money away. So if you want to get started with quality tools where it counts, but don't want to waste your hard-earned cash needlessly, here's the tool kit list for you.

Before we get into it, let's briefly talk about what you need tools for. As a wire worker, you need your tools to perform a small number of basic functions. You need shaping tools, cutting tools, flattening, texturing, and hardening tools, and finally you need tools for smoothing sharp bits and polishing and cleaning tarnish and oxidation.

Christine's best beginner tool list (and a frugal minded one at that) for wire work jewelry:

Shaping tools: A wire worker uses her pliers more than any other type of tool, so spend your money here. You'll need each of these - a pair of flat-nose, chain-nose, round-nose.

Cutting tools: You'll never regret spending a little extra here as well. Give yourself a little love and get a good jeweler quality pair of side flush cutters.

Flattening, texturing, and hardening tools: As a beginner, you may not see the value in these tools yet, but trust me, you'll love what these can do for your jewelry quality and the worlds they open for design possibilities. And because these are so inexpensive, you'd have to be a fool not to get these.

• A good, smooth steel plate (scavenged freebies are the best kind - this is a terrific substitute for a steel bench block)
• Your basic hardware store hammer
• A small nylon or rawhide mallet
• Smoothing and Polishing:
• A fine flat file (can find this at either the hardware store or a hobby store)
• Some fine steel wool (for cleaning and polishing)

And that's it! Happy Shopping!