[Jewelry making - Article 00371] - Re: [Orchid] Crimp question

[Jocelyn Broyles]

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Jan,

    I'm not sure how heavy a necklace you strung, but anything you think
    is heavy should be strung on Softflex (not beadalon) .019, or .024
    if the beads are really heavy and have large enough holes. I would
    recommend Softflex for all of your beading, not beadalon. You should
    use the smallest mm crimp that your wire will fit through double --
    this prevents slipping. Always make sure you double check your crimp
    with a pair of needle nose pliers and light pressure. I also always
    tug hard on each end before I snip of my tail of softflex. If you
    crimp bead doesn't set a good crimp, the best thing to do is
    restring. Selling a piece that breaks the first few times a customer
    wears it is much worse than the time spent restringing before you
    sell. 

>     I used beads between the crimps, but was not able to use a long
>     piece of wire to string through additional beads in the necklace, 
>     because the beads were too small. 

    I'm not sure I understand: did you string your necklace, string on a
    crimp, string more beads and string a clasp?  And you wanted to run
    your wire back through the first few beads instead of cutting the
    wire off at the crimp? 

    That's definitley a good security measure, but isn't always
    neccessary. Then again, if you have a heavy necklace that you are
    unsure about, you might need to redesign it so that the beads by the
    clasp have large enough holes for the tail of the wire to run back
    through. 

    -usual disclaimer on softflex vs. beadalon. Just personal preference
    and the way I was taught. 

jocelyn

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