I was worried that the gold wire I have would be too weak to support the usual wear and tear on earrings. As it turns out, even though it's scary thin and scary flexible, it's also scary strong. It's not going to bend, warp or mutilate those beads off of itself in a hurry.
I am going to have to warn my customers that the strands may bend easily, and give them instructions on how to fix that if they're bothered.
Turning my cut strands into pins isn't that hard, but it is very fiddly. I anticipate many a long hour swearing at little bits of wire.
[Shown here: a spool of gold wire on a satay stick, held in a rectangular takeuout container. Wire cutters are in front of it]
This is my setup from yesterday. I was measuring lengths of wire against a prototype I had made and then re-straightened. I later added some boxes to stablise the satay stick and stop the spool going diagonal on me.
[Shown here: A cluster of pre-cut wire pieces in a rectangular takeout box. There is an empty rectangular takeout box beside it, and a pair of bent-nose pliers in front of it]
That cluster of wire bits is three hours' work.
This is my set-up for today. I'll be winding wire twice around one side of the pliers, crimping it flat, and then bending the rest to be perpendicular. I'll soon see how many hours it takes to turn all those wires into pins.
Beloved has promised to return to me, so they must have something planned. I have to be ready for anything, so I'd better go look after myself now.