Which wires to start with?

I received the following question via email:
"Could you recommend 3 or 4 different gauges of wire that would allow me to do the most of your designs? I would, of course, like to be able to work with all the various gauges, but my budget won’t allow it. "

My answer:
"I recommend the following gauges as a 'starter' kit when working the techniques on my site:

18ga: for underlying thick structures
24ga: for more delicate structure and thicker rosary chains
26ga: to make very delicate rosary chain and to use doubled up as frame for coiled bezels
28ga: for most coiled and woven work.
You will find that the 20ga and 22 ga are alternatives for the 18, in those cases when the bead holes are just too thin, but they are not indispensable to start with. "

If you need recommendations of where to find silver and goldfilled wire, go to my Materials page.