Week One: CraftyFingas Academy's First Official Challenge The Concept: Pick something you already know how to make - a coil, a gem setting, a component, even a full pendant. And now make it smaller! Smaller wire. Tighter settings. Less room for error. That's it. That's the whole challenge. Why This Works: When you shrink the scale, you can't hide behind sloppy technique; every wrap, every tuck, every transition has to be more precise just to physically fit. Making it smaller forces your hands to slow down and your eyes to pay attention to details you'd normally skate past at a bigger scale. This is how you build real muscle memory and finer motor control, not by doing more of the same size, but by doing it smaller and cleaner. How to Participate: Comment "I'm in!" below Pick your component: coil, setting, link, pendant, whatever challenges you Share your starting piece (or your "usual size" for reference) Post your progress through the week, or just once at the end of the week, Works in Progress (WIPs) count, not just finished pieces Help at least one other person in the thread feedback, encouragement, or just hype Timeline: One week, starting today. The Only Rule: No judgment on where you're starting from. A "smaller" version of your first-ever coil is just as valid as a jeweler's-scale masterpiece. This is about your growth, not comparison to anyone else's.

Ok, so i k own we have the map where ppl can drop a pin but its so impersonal... have to click the pin to see who and were... I figured as "us" the OG, starting crew would benifit more to have a thread where we can see a face and location... Me, im from cambridge/KW... a city thats an hour away from Toronto in Ontario, Canada... Where are you from?

Thank you for the add, I'm looking forward to seeing your techniques.

Hi y'all! Im Kevin from Canada eh. Lol I fell in love with wire wrap like 4 or 5 years ago... I lurked the pages, I watched tutorials, filled my camera roll wirh screen shots, purchased stones, tools, wires and submerged myself in it for a good year or 2 before taking the plunge. I've always had an artistic background so I figured this was something I would pick up fairly naturally... well I was humbled quickly. Lol Dec of 2023, a year or so after my "lurking/interest/obsession" started, I saw a tutorial from Raftak that I absolutely loved! For some stupid reason I thought I was going to be able to pull of this ridiculously intricate peice my first go... I obviously failed and didnt really touch wires again until the beginning of 2025... continued to lurk, study, watch tutorials, learn what inspired me, etc etc.. Feb 2025 I purchased an easier tutorial and completed my first piece... I joined this academy for the exact words in its introduction... I dont want to follow tutorials, I want to create... yes, when learning a new element and incorporating it into a piece I prefer to use a tutorial so I can atleast learn the foundation of that element as well as end up with a finished product but I really want to take what ive learned/learn and let it become mine... time isnt always on my side either so rather then spends days to learn by failing and getting nowhere, a tutorial atleast gets a finished peice and some skills learned in what little time i have available.. but I want to get to the point Brian spoke of, "not even think about the peice or use your brain, just let your hands and wire do what it knows and wants to". This academy just has such a great thought process and philosophy to it and one ive already adapted to myself years ago so it naturally resonated with me ... Anyways, look forward to this journey growing with you all... attached is my first completed peice I spoke of. 2nds is My latest completed peice. 3rd is my favorite peice... that Raftark tutorial that stopped me in my tracks years ago... well I came back to it a few months ago and got er done! so its my favorite peice as it has meaning to me. Lol

So, I didn't end up actually doing the micro challenge this week because sometimes when creativity sparks you have to just jump on the moment. I rarely feel personally creative so I had to just go with it. I have to be honest, my OCD bothers me when I see pendants that the back doesn't match the front. I'm coming to understand more that the way framing works with some of the more complex pieces that have multiple attachments that hiding the back just kind of isn't possible really. However my brain wouldn't let go of the matching front and back so I created this instead. This is an Oregon Sunstone with an Augite accent on the bail. I used copper and created two separate pieces that I then wired together. This is 20g base wire, 26g weave wire and 32g wire to bring it all together. What I didn't take into account is that two separate pieces, one with three base wires and the other with four, gives you 14 total base wires to deal with once it's all wired together and the stone is in place. This became a exercise in taking it very slow, backing up when I needed to, and in the end I clipped off a few of the base wires ends and hid them behind the wires that wrap around the base of the bail. The only part I don't really like about this piece are the wires that wrap around the bail. I couldn't get them to lay straight and flat against each other no matter what I did, this is the one part where I finally just said forget it and moved on. To fit with the micro theme, this is one of the smaller pendants I've ever made. It's about 2 inches in diameter, I have big fingers so I typically tend to work in the 3 inch range. It's not the smallest I'm shooting for, but it is one of my smaller pieces.