I’m looking for fine black braided stainless steel wire similar to
Soft Flex beading wire used to string beads but without the nylon
coating. I’ve noticed cable necklaces that use what appears to be
exactly this material, though I’ve never felt it or gotten really
upclose so it may be nylon coated, I don’t know. Any direction would
be greatly appreciated.
I don’t know if what you want is an actual braid or a cable
construction. Malin will have all types of material in cable
construction and they should know if anybody makes a true braided
small line.
To be a little more precise about the wire; It isn’t braided, it is
a twisted cable. The reason I like the Soft Flex wire is because it
doesn’t kink badly and is more like cord than wire, holding it’s
shape and supporting heavy beads without too much slumping over.
What I want to do with it is laser weld it to gold and maybe silver.
The nylon coating, though not unworkable makes a lot more work. I
need it to be blackened to match the blackened silver I use.
If you mean twisted stainless cable, then a home improvement center
(like Lowes or Home Depot) or a hardwaare store (like DeNault’s)
sells it uncoated by-the-foot. It’s inexpensive, and a variety of
thicknesses are available (though not nearly as thin as SoftFlex).
It’s uncoated and probably equivalent to 16 ga. and thicker.