I have only ever used silver plated wire for making jewellery before, having only just started and being unable to make anything spectacular yet!
However it's my mum's 65th birthday and I've finally managed to make some beads I might be happy with, so I'd really like to make her a nice necklace with sterling silver.
Just looked for some and I'm confused already ??? fine, soft, half hard, hard, round, square, oval etc. I assume the guages are the same but otherwise I'm a bit lost!! Obviously the shape of the wire is self explanatory but I'm not sure of the effect it would have in making loops etc.
Can't afford to order the wrong stuff!!
I would recommend half hard, round 0.8mm for most general purposes. I think 0.8mm is 20 gauge - but please correct me anyone if I'm wrong! Round is easiest for making loops IMHO.
I agree that round half hard wire is the best for most projects, however i would not use anything as thin as 0.8mm with lampwork beads, i would use a minimum of 1mm but 1.2mm would be preferable
And once you go above 0.8mm, you really don't want half hard any more - it's far too hard to manipulate. Dead soft is better - the only reason for going for HH for smaller gauges is to get a little bit more 'shape' in the wire.
There are lots of neat tricks for using thinner wire with lampwork though - double looping and double wrapping in particular are very effective.