I have a batch of leftover electrical wire.  Does anyone know if its possible to strip it and use the copper wire inside for making wire jewelry?

I have never tried stripping electrical wire to get the copper out and use it in
jewelry, but if the wire is dead-soft and it's pretty cheap, it sounds like a
good alternative.

I found 12 gauge electrical wire at the hardware store—the price was great!  I removed the outer covering with wire strippers.  I’m not sure if its “dead-soft” or not but I can bend it fairly easily.  I would like to make a spiral bracelet from it. 

Lowes typically has 8, 6, and 4 ga wire...I have a friend who is an electrical
contractor and he gives me all his left over copper wire scraps. I anneal all of
the wire and pickle it just because you just can't be sure that it is dead soft.

Using stripped copper electrical wire to make jewelry with is safe and a great way to recycle! With the costs of jewelry making wire rising almost on a daily basis, it is economical as well. But before you go to all that work, see if you can find the copper wire offered by the foot without the plastic coating. I discovered this a few years ago when I was shopping in Home Depot, that they have a place where they sell copper wire (and other types of wire including electrical) by the foot, in some very heavy gauges from 12 to 8. I purchased several feet of 10ga and 8ga for making cool bangles. The wire is on huge spools, and they put it on this wall where you have to ask an employee to access it for you. They'll measure and cut it with HUGE nippers, price it, and there you have it. Probably needs to be annealed and definitely must be cleaned with superfine steel wool, but it is cheap and fun to experiment with!  To read more about copper wire jewelry visit my blog, Adventures in Copper Wire Jewelry.

I usually get smaller gauges at Thunderbird Supply-their copper is reasonable.  I go to Home Depot for the larger gauges that I use for bangles. It's bare. Ace does have a good selection of wire that is bare, and I’ve used a local hardware store that has a good selection of different types of wire (brass, copper, black annealed steel) that are bare. And they had a large selection of the ball chains in different metals, finishes, and sizes if you need inexpensive chains to go with pendants.

Many thanks for all the help regarding wire from hardware stores.  I just wasn't looking in the right place at Home Depot.  I found some great wire!  I also found that Ace has the tiny micro nuts and screws which look so great on jewelry as fasteners.