Read on if you’re ready to give it a try. When you use a variety of different types, colors, or sizes of beads, it’s a good idea to use a bead board to plan out your pattern. By rearranging beads on the board, you can try different color combinations and motifs before you start stringing, saving you a lot of time removing beads from the beading wire over and over again. You can string just about any bead on beading cable: large or small, glass or gemstone, round or shaped. However, it’s best to avoid extremely heavy beads or beads with jagged edges, both of which may wear down your cable and cause it to break prematurely. For my project, I am using 94 4mm round Czech fire polished glass beads in Raspberry Mint Ice Cream Hurricane.
Beading wire in an appropriate size for your beads (the example uses 0.015", 19-strand Beadalon in “bright”) Two crimp beads or crimp tubes in an appropriate size for your beading wire (the example uses 2x2mm sterling silver crimp tubes) Crimping pliers - the easiest is the Omtara crimp pliers Two pairs of chain nose pliers (or one pair of chain nose and one pair of flat nose pliers) Round nose pliers Wire cutters A ruler or yardstick End findings and a clasp of your choice (the example uses a 10mm sterling silver lobster clasp and two 6mm, 16-gauge sterling silver jump rings) Optional: A pendant or other adornment of your choice (the example uses a silver clay pendant)
In the example, I’m stringing a necklace that will be about 16 inches long. I estimate that my clasp will take up about 3/4 inch (0.75 inches) of the necklace. To calculate how much beading wire to pull and cut, I did the following: 16 minus 0.75 = 15.25 inches (this will be the length of the beaded strand) 15.25 + 10 = 25.25 inches of beading wire You could also add the jump ring before putting the wire tail back through the crimp to be sure it will fit. Very gently grasp the crimp using the notched/round indentations, but do not squeeze down the pliers just yet. The crimp should now have two channels (or little pipes), one on each side. One strand of wire should be inside each channel. Tip: If you’re using an extra-long crimp tube, such as a 3mm or 4mm tube, you may need to squeeze the tube more than once to make the initial indentation. Reposition the pliers as needed to indent the entire length of the tube. The crimp is now secured. Tip: Make sure that the crimp does not open up during this step, rather than folding over. If you notice it starting to open, go back to Step 7 and squeeze down the first indentation again, this time using more pressure. However, many beaders prefer to leave an inch or so of wire tail and hide that tail within their beads. This gives the crimp a little extra room to slip if it becomes loose, without falling off the strand entirely. In the example, I decided to trim the wire tail all the way up against the crimp. Many people find these crimp steps tedious and difficult. Crimp tools such as the Omtara that make these multiple steps unnecessary. For the example necklace, I knew that I wanted to string a pendant along with my beads – and my pendant bail will not fit over the beads. To make sure the pendant was centered, I estimated the center point of my necklace ahead of time. First, I divided my total strand length of 15.25 inches (see Step 3) by two, to arrive at a little over seven and a half inches. After stringing on seven and a half inches of beads, I strung on the pendant. Then, I counted the number of beads that were already strung (47 beads) and strung on another set of the exact same number. If you’re using the same size beads, you can estimate how many beads you’ll need to string by referencing a beads-per-inch chart. You can then divide that number by two to find your center point. Use your fingernail to scoot the crimp down to about one millimeter away from the last bead. This extra space helps to make your jewelry flexible, and it reduces strain on the crimps. Then, pull the wire tail (as needed) to bring the loop back down to its correct size.
