Cliff,
Short answer- It will work
I made and used brass wire cut from brass sheet with tin-snips for my first attemps and it will indeed work. There are some problems though and some issues of logic to take into account.
The actual amount of $$ saved in making wire from sheet stock is very minimal being the most imoportant aspect to me. Basically you may save $20 to $30 on wire cost to do 4 or 5 projects but that savings will most likely come at the expense of lower quality workmanship.
The hardness of the wire plays a signifigant role in it's workability. Too hard and it'll be nearly impossible to get scrolls without kinking the wire, especially in tight curves.
Too soft and it will become a chore to hammer the wire into place without deforming and/or rolling the wire over. These problems will rear their ugly head when "rolling" a scroll in a 2-dimensional pattern around the 3-dimensional surface of the wood.
I do hope this explaination is understandable.
That being said though it may very well be possible to anneal brass or copper to end up with a more agreeable wire. I have had the thought of doing a three colored design with brass copper and silver but any attempt at that will be down the road quite a ways.
These are just my thoughts from limited personal experience and talking with others who have much more knowledge than myself on this subject.
I was ready to go and too impatient to wait on silver wire to ship so I got brass sheet from the K&G display at the local Ace Hardware and went for it. That is really the only reason I didn't use silver wire from the begining
-Josh
