Handmade Glass Beads

www.rubywings.com

Choose your foundation based on the size of the beads, the flow you want for your design, and the durability you need.

——-

Beading Wire, Beading Cords And Beading Threads

Beading wire, cords and thread are the underlying foundation of your beading projects. You can add to the decorative beauty of your work as well as ensuring durability of the piece. Choose well. Careful selection of beading wire, cord or thread is necessary to ensure longevity and security of your work, especially as some beads (mostly those made from natural materials) may have sharp or abrasive edges.

Stringing Products - Usage and Description

Cording and Leather Thonging, available round or flat, gives an ethnic, casual or fun appearance to your jewelry. Use it to string beads with larger holes or donut beads. Good quality thonging is usually available in a range of natural tones or brighter colors in a variety of thicknesses.

Flat Leather Thonging - Wider 3.00mm thonging, usually made from kangaroo leather for softness and strength, is also available in a large range of natural tones and bright colors.

Braided Leather Cords - Round cords made by braiding thin leather strips are usually available just in natural tones. Waxed cord, a cheaper non-leather substitute, is less pliable.

Imitation Leather Thonging - A very uniform, strong and less expensive substitute to genuine leather. It has a woven look and knots easily but lacks the “feel” of leather.

Synthetic Rubber Cord - Use for a colorful, modern twist in your work. It’s very strong and durable with a huge range of colors and thicknesses.

Stretch Elastic - Use for very quick, simple and easy projects. Great for kids’ bracelets. Simply string on the beads and secure with a double knot for a very casual relaxed style. Available in clear or bright colors.

Threads
Silk Thread - quality silk thread is considered essential for knotting fine gems and pearls. The silk creates a graceful drape which is very hard to obtain with other threads. It is available in a very large range of colors, thicknesses and spool lengths.

Polyester Thread - A specially woven, no-stretch polyester thread designed for knotting and threading beads. It is an acceptable substitute for silk thread when knotting pearls. To secure use a charlotte crimp, placing the knotted ends inside the crimp.

Bonded Nylon Thread - This thread has exceptional durability and is resistant to fraying. It is available in three weights: light, medium and heavy, with a range of colors from natural tones to bright modern ones.

Flexible Wire

Memory Wire - A thin hard-tempered pre-coiled stainless steel wire. It is rigid and maintains its shape permanently and is very quick and easy to use. Simply loop the end of the wire using round noes pliers, thread all your beads onto it and secure the end by forming another loop. It is not necessary to use a clasp and will work well for rings, bracelets and chokers.

Beading/Craft Wire - Bendable wire made from stainless steel, copper, brass or sterling silver. It is ideal for crochet, wrapping and creating individual beaded items.

Beading wire is available in three hardnesses:-

* Dead soft - extremely malleable, easily bent; does not hold its shape under stress.
* Half-hard - very malleable; will maintain a shape under moderate stress.
* Full hard - still malleable but much firmer; will hold its shape under stress.

—  Here is a demonstration of a bracelet made with beading wire:

——————————————————-

Precious Metal Wire - Available in two metals: gold-filled and sterling silver. It is manufactured in four shapes: round, half-round, square or twisted, with the same selection of hardness as beading wire.

This beautiful but expensive wire can be used to make your own individually designed jewelry components. Form the wire around a wire-wrapping jig to create uniquely shaped pieces.

[Lois from www.abeadedaffair.com recommends using copper wire as a less expensive but beautiful alternative to gold or silver.]

Colored Stainless Steel - multi-strand pre-made necklace and bracelet lengths come complete with clasps. Very strong and easy to use.

Specialty Metals - New metal alloys, like Argentium(TM) and Nobium(TM) are becoming available to jewelry makers. These new materials have their own beauty and provide benefits such as tarnish resistance and a natural hypoallergenic quality.

The main issue you will encounter is choosing from the vast array of these versatile materials. Ultimately, your choice will depend on your vision of the style and function of the finished piece, whether you want the stringing material to be visible or indeed a featured design element, or simply an effective base for your choice of beads.

By: suegold

Article Directory: http://www.articledashboard.com

Author Mary Johnson runs the beading craft website where you can get a complete and comprehensive beading ebook for both beading beginners and pros and 2 quality bonuses when you get the ebook. She also provides access to beading supplies at low prices.

 Mail this post

Tags: Beading Jewelry, how to make beaded jewelry, wire beading

This entry was posted on Tuesday, December 30th, 2008 at 3:15 am and is filed under Beading Jewelry. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.