Guide for florist wires
Florist wires are used in a wide range of arts and crafts projects. They come in a variety of gauges. The gauge indicates the thickness of the wire. It is important to know what gauges means, so that you can select the correct florist wires for your project.
Floral wire comes in ranges between about 5 gauge - about 0.201 inch (5mm) in diameter to 32 gauge about 0.008 inch (0.2mm) in diameter.
The higher the gauge number the thinner the wire.
To give you an indication of stiffness, the 5 gauge (4.5mm) wire is really stiff and hard to bend. Whereas, the 32 gauge wire (0.20mm) is very floppy.
Florist wires gauge 1 - 3
1 gauge, 7mm in diameter
2 gauge, 6.5mm in diameter
3 gauge, 6mm in diameter
The photo shows florist wires of gauge 3
Florist wires gauge 4 - 6
4 gauge, 5mm in diameter5 gauge, 4.5mm in diameter
6 gauge, 4mm in diameter
These thick florist wires can be used to make very thick flower stems of nylon flowers.
Florist wires gauge 7 - 9
7 gauge, 3.6mm in diameter8 gauge, 3.2mm in diameter
9 gauge, 2.9mm in diameter
These florist wires can be used to make the flower stems of large nylon flowers, such as peony or lotus flowers.
Florist wires gauge 10 - 12
10 gauge, 2.6mm in diameter12 gauge, 2.0mm in diameter
These florist wires can be used to make the flower stems of medium sized nylon flowers, such as roses and calla lilies.
Florist wires gauge 14 - 16
14 gauge, 1.6mm in diameter16 gauge, 1.3mm in diameter
These florist wires can be used to make the flower stems of small nylon flowers, such as small chrysanthemum and plum blossom.
Florist wires gauge 18
18 gauge, 1.0mm in diameterThese florist wires are quite thick and stiff. They are used for making very large petals.
Florist wires gauge 20
20 gauge, 0.8mm in diameterThese florist wires are used for making the petals of medium sized flowers such as roses and calla lilies.
Florist wires gauge 22 - 24
22 gauge, 0.6mm in diameter24 gauge, 0.5mm in diameter
These florist wires are thin, they are used for making petals of small flowers.
Florist wires gauge 26
26 gauge, 0.4mm in diameterThese florist wires are very thin, they are used for making petals of very small flowers.
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