Daisy Mountain Studio designs and creates handcrafted wire-wrapped jewerly using gold, gold filled and silver wire along with precious gemstones, designer cabochons, and bead embellishments.

The ultimate in master craftmanship, these exquisite creations are hand made---one of a kind, in historic Jonesborough, Tennessee's oldest town, by Bill Bergquist, wire wrap artist/jeweler.

At your leisure, enjoy yourself and browse through our beautiful works of art. We are dedicated to making your visit/shopping experience pleasant, fulfilling and fun! Whether your taste is traditional, contemporary or eclectic, our jewelry is designed to make you feel special, because you are!

Our business philosophy is simple---treat our customers as friends, use only the best quality raw materials and guarantee each piece of jewelry from Daisy Mountain Studio for our life time.

Enter Here

Email If you would like to know when new things are added to this site, or have a question please Email us

History of Wire Jewelry

The following pages were compiled for my own personal benefit based upon the best possible information available to me at the time of writing. The information contained in this document will change in the future as additional facts and or findings are found or determined.

In all that I have learned, one outstanding thought is paramount no one knows an exact time line for the development of wire jewelry as we know it today. It would seem that for every beginning there is an end and for every end there is a new beginning. All that occurs between these two points depends on understanding, interpretation of events and translation between then and now.

To start this journey we must understand what jewelry was, its purpose and what it was made of in primitive times. For some of this we must speculate based on known facts and findings and common sense.

Jewelry refers to the ornaments people wear as personal adornments or as symbols of status or wealth. It is logical to believe that the first items used for jewelry were organic and available to primitive man. Such items may have included vines, wood, grass, nuts, and seeds. At some point items such as bone, shell, stone and metals were added. From “Encyclopedia.com referencing Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, Copyright © 2005, the oldest examples discovered to date are about 75,000 old. Found in a cave in S. Africa in 2004, they consisted of pea-sized pierced shell beads that were probably strung into a necklace or bracelet. Other African beads have been found dating back some 45,000 years.”

It is unknown which metal primitive man found first, COPPER or GOLD. A page from COPPER.org states “Copper was first used by man over 10,000 years ago. A copper pendant discovered in what is now Iraq has been dated about 8700 BC.” Both copper and gold can be found in its native form, not combined with other elements. Both metals can be and have been cold worked.

Again from COPPER.org “Early copper artifacts, first decorative, then utilitarian, were undoubtedly hammered out from “native copper,” pure copper found in conjunction with copper-bearing ores in a few places around the world. By 5000 BC, the dawn of metallurgy had arrived, as evidence exist of the smelting of simple copper oxide ores such a malachite and azurite”.

It seems that gold did not appear on the scene until about 4000 BC though dating is questionable. In a publication from the USGS on gold which I found in 2002 stated that “Gold was among the first metals to be mined because it commonly occurs in its native form, that is, not combined with other elements, because it is beautiful and imperishable, and because exquisite objects can be made from it. Artisans of ancient civilizations used gold lavishly in decorating tombs and temples, and gold objects made more than 5000 years ago have been found in Egypt. Particularly noteworthy are the gold items discovered by Howard Carter and Lord Carnarvon in 1922 in the tomb of Tutankhamun. This young pharaoh ruled Egypt in the 14 century B.C.” It is sad that that prior to the 18th century and the development of the science of archaeology that so many treasures of the past have been lost do to looting, that gold in what ever form had no intrinsic value beyond the value of the metal, so it was consistently melted down by previous civilizations for personal gain.

According to The World Book Encyclopedia “Wire is a long, thin, flexible metal rod which has a uniform cross section. Only ductile metals, or metals that can be drawn out, can be used for making wire. The chief ductile metals are copper, iron, brass, platinum, gold, silver, and aluminum.” The following was taken from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. “In some cases, strips cut from metal sheet were made by pulling them through perforations in stone beads. This causes the strips to fold round on them selves to form thin tubes. This strip drawing technique was used in Egypt by the 2nd Dynasty. From the middle of the 2nd millennium B.C., most of the gold wires in jewelry are characterized by seam lines that follow a spiral path along the wire. Such twisted strips can be converted into solid round wires by rolling them between flat surfaces or the strip wire drawing method. Strip and block twist wire manufacturing methods wire still in use in Europe in the 7th century A.D, but by this time there seems to be some evidence of wires produced by true drawing. Square and hexagonal wires were possible made using a swaging technique. In this method a metal rod was struck between grooved metal blocks, or between a grooved punch and a groove metal anvil.”

The first actual reference of wire being used that I have been able to find comes again from COPPER.org. “Copper probably first came into use as the earliest non-precious metal employed by the Sumerians and Chaldeans of Mesopotamia, after they had established their thriving cities of Sumer and Accad, Ur, al’Ubaid and others, somewhere between 5000 and 6000 years ago. These early peoples developed considerable skill in fabricating copper and from these centers the rudiments of craftsmanship spread to the river-dwelling people of Egypt, where it continued to flourish for thousands of years long after their own civilization had degenerated.” “The Sumerians were masters of sculpture and some splendid examples of their art may be seen in London. Thin copper sheets were beaten and shaped on a wooden background with a bitumen lining-a favorite design was a bull’s head. These figures were attached by copper clamps to the walls of buildings, notably at al’Ubaid (c.2800 to 3000 B.C.): sometimes they were fastened by nails or copper wires set in bitumen.”

It is some where in this time period that it is likely the first wire jewelry as we know it today, made without solder came into being. The best example I’ve been able to find comes from the Learning Co. Inc.1998. The item from the Phoenician culture looks to be a pin or decorative ornament like a flower, Circ. 750 B.C.

Certainly as the accent world grew and empires fell the use of wire expanded not necessary in the form of jewelry. The Roman Empire was drawn to the bold and heavy more traditional gold and silversmith techniques. During the Medieval period conquering armies moved wire in various forms across Europe. Early exploration moved wire around the expanding world.

In the 1800’s the Bohemian culture made wonderful necklaces and bracelets using wire to connect beads and stones. These jewelry items were a favorite with European aristocracy for over a half -century.

Our modern day form of making jewelry with out solder or castings can be contributed to an English business man named C.G. Oxley, who had a jewelry making business in England dating back as far as 1903. “Using mainly glass beads and plain wire designs, C.G. Oxley built a viable business that employed 20-30 men. Many First World War vets were introduced to the art form as occupational therapy, and by the 20s and 30s wire art was so popular that you would find it in department stores, often with an artist working at the counter.” The above was taken from “ (WIRED) Wire-Artist’s international resources, educational development, Published by Wire Artist Group, Vol. 2- February, 1999.”

RSS

Gemstone and Jewelry Care and Cleaning
Birthstone Chart | Jewelry Buying Tips
Bracelets | Earrings & Pins | Necklaces | Pendants | Rings
History Of Wirewrapping | Links | Email

Sold Gallery

Search Query

Website Ranking

All contents copyright Daisy Mountain Studio

Privacy Statement

Graphics © Rain Silverhawk 2004-2007. All Rights Reserved.
Hosting by Silverhawk's Creations