Jim McIntosh has authored three books on wire art – “Wirewrapping: The Basics and Beyond”, "More Wirewrapping: The Basics and Beyond" and “Wiresmithing – The New Look of Wire Art”. He has always been interested in pushing the art of Wirewrapping to its limit. "Over the years, I have made everything from simple earrings and bracelets,to handmade prong-set rings", reports Jim, "Each piece has had to pass a very strict quality control team (my wonderful wife) before I ever display any of my finished pieces, and boy are they critical".
He has had an interest in the arts since childhood. At an early age he became interested in jewelry design," I can remember a ring that my mother purchased at a Cherokee Trading Post when I was a kid. I loved the way that the artist designed the piece and the color of the turquoise against the silver."
As an adult Jim renewed his interest in jewelry art when he became burnt out in the corporate world. " This prompted me to look for some course to make silver jewelry", he recalls. "In this quest for knowledge, I came across a web site that gave instructions on wire wrap jewelry. I had never heard of this type of jewelry, so I started to do more research. It was so unique and not like anything that I had ever seen before. My search opened a whole new world to me. I discovered that there were a lot of people that did this type of jewelry art."
In the years since learning wire art Jim has been devoted to creating new designs using these well established techniques. He's also developed a passion for educating jewelry artists around the world on the possibilities of wire art. "We've only scratched the surface of this art. There is so much more
that can be done with wire".