After seeing the Anatsui and Calder shows at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, I just had to get my hands on some metal. I was also motivated by the fact that I joined a blog challenge called PedalToTheMettle and, so far, I've been terribly non-participatory.For a long time, I have thought about trying to make I-cord with wire. I-cord, for those of you who do not knit, is a piece of tubular knitting. It is very easy to make, thus the name which stands for Idiot-cord. Perhaps as a child, you had a "Knitting Nancy" - a little round wooden thingy, often red and painted to look like a girl, with nails stuck around the top. It was used to make I-cord. I have something similar; it's just way bigger, and heavier (made of some sort of steel), and it is operated with a crank. I use it to make the I-cord that often frames my fiber work.
So, I tried using my I-cord maker with wire. At first things went swimmingly, and I did get a nice length of tubular knitted wire. I assume it must be similar to Viking knit. Soon enough, things got sticky and I ended up with a wire mess. I like the cord I have, so I'll probably experiment some more. I know that I can pull this wire through a draw board (I think that's what it is called) and it will get better and better. I've already done some pulling and it has improved considerably, as well as gotten longer. A draw board is just a board with holes in it -- of different sizes. You pull the item through, progressing to smaller and smaller holes.
So, there you have it: my experiment with metal. Now, back to the green and yellow bracelet I was working on, except I think I'm going to make it into a necklace instead.
Oh - if you're are interested in playing with metal, using fiber techniques, then go visit Karen Cole's blog, as well as Deryn Mentock's jewelry challenge, which is based on Mary Hettmansperger's fabulous book Wrap, Stitch, Fold and Rivet.