For the crochet work that I have been doing lately, I have found that 0,3 mm is a nice dimension of metal wire. In the jeweller training, which I did in French, this was referred to as “trois dixième” (3/10 or three tenths). That’s between gauge 28 and 29 if you’re not in the metric system.
When annealed, it is flexible enough to crochet with without too much effort, and it can still hold the shape fairly well after it has been hardened.
Metal wire below: copper, brass and sterling silver.
If you need to make finer wire, you can pull it through a wire drawplate and gradually go down in diameter.
After pulling a few times, the wire gets hardened and needs to be annealed before proceeding. I am happy when I can buy the dimension I want, as this is a pretty time consuming process. It’s nice to do it all yourself, but it also takes time.
The finer the wire, the more careful you have to be when you anneal or do solder work. If it gets too hot it will melt, and with fine wire, that can happen very quickly if you don’t pay attention.
galeriaredelius 
It does seem like delicate work, but my youngest once made me a bracelet out of metal wire and gemstones. When it fell apart I kept it in a jar because of love.
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Ah, wonderful story! That’s one of the things that fascinate me with jewellery: it always has a meaning, and especially so when someone has made it for us! I still have a pasta necklace my daughter made in kindergarden when she was very young. Pasta penne on a string, with some paint on. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to throw it away.
So if anyone claims the opposite, we can prove that IS possible to store love in a jar! 😉
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Have you ever had a project get ruined because of melting? It seems like such delicate work I can see where that would be easy to do. I’m just curious. While I don’t work in metal, I’ve had many a craft project go south! Weekends In Maine
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I don’t think I ever had an entirely project ruined (luckily), but I remember ruining a sheet of silver while annealing it, because I went to long with the burner. The surface melted and got very ugly, with air trapped underneath.
The exam piece in the jeweller training was a clasp for a collar. We were all nervous every time we did solder work on our pieces, because every time there was the risk of ruining the work already made. I was lucky I could do mine in gold, which is easier to solder than silver.
But I also think we learn from these mistakes, right?
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Absolutely, mistakes help us to grow. Still painful when they happen though!
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