The wife of one of my coworkers makes beautiful braided wire coils. Twisted, simple braids, chain-link braids, etc. They look stunning.
Back when I was a teen I could *easily* braid plastic lace in various styles for keychains, bracelets, etc. Boxes, spirals, etc. any mix of colors or width/length and even changing the color of the lace mid-weave. I still remember how so figured I would try my hand at weaving some 28 gauge kanthal. lol, what a fucking nightmare. Besides it wanting to spiral back up (even though I've had it stretched straight for 2 days) resulting in kinks, I could not pull it tight at all. It looked like a rats nest. Gave up after 5 mins when one of the strands broke from trying to pull it tight.
So, how do people do it?
Do I have to resort to something like a small clamp to hold the wire and tweezers/needlenose to weave it tight without having to pull on it at all? Or is there some other trick to braiding it?
I'm sure a thicker wire would work better, but then too low resistance might become an issue.
Back when I was a teen I could *easily* braid plastic lace in various styles for keychains, bracelets, etc. Boxes, spirals, etc. any mix of colors or width/length and even changing the color of the lace mid-weave. I still remember how so figured I would try my hand at weaving some 28 gauge kanthal. lol, what a fucking nightmare. Besides it wanting to spiral back up (even though I've had it stretched straight for 2 days) resulting in kinks, I could not pull it tight at all. It looked like a rats nest. Gave up after 5 mins when one of the strands broke from trying to pull it tight.
So, how do people do it?
Do I have to resort to something like a small clamp to hold the wire and tweezers/needlenose to weave it tight without having to pull on it at all? Or is there some other trick to braiding it?
I'm sure a thicker wire would work better, but then too low resistance might become an issue.