. I followed the instructions in the book, but when it came time to assemble them, the spiral would not fit in the frame. I described my problems in this post. So - here is my Plan B.This weekend, I made new earrings frames, just slightly larger than the ones described in the book. They fit perfectly and if you ask me, it probably makes more sense to make the wire spirals first. I noted one other problem with the instructions while making these earrings. Stephanie calls for a 1.5 inch length of 26g wire to bind the spiral coils to the wire frame. That isn't enough wire to wrap around the frame as many times as she suggests. I think I used at least 2.5 inches of wire and it was still difficult working with such small pieces of wire (i.e. there was NO excess.). I'd recommend you use 3 inches the first time you wrap the spiral to the frame and adjust after making your first wrap. For this part of the project, I would not cut all of the materials in advance. I just ended up wasting those little pieces of wire (which I hate to do!).
One other tip - it was very difficult trying to hold the wire spirals in place and wrap the fine wire around them at the same time. I ended up using forceps
to hold the spiral in place so I could use both hands to focus on wrapping. I find forceps (also called hemostats) so important to have on hand for wire wrapping and stringing tasks. I have several different types: straight, curved, flat end, plastic and metal. I use them to hold the ends of necklaces when I am stringing or coming up with a design and to hold multi-strand necklaces before I put on the crimps. The forceps lock into place, freeing your hands to do other things.This is what forceps look like. Click on the link to see more of them at Amazon.com
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