Beading Basics

Tools

	Crimping pliers are for just what their name implies, crimping! The back slot puts a seam in the middle of the crimp tube, separating the ends of the flex wire and trapping it firmly. The front slot rounds out the tube and turns it into a small, tidy bead.
	Chain-nose pliers are the most useful tool in your entire toolbox. For holding, opening and closing jump rings and bending sharp angles.
	Round-nose pliers are intended for turning round loops. They do not work well for holding or grasping since they tend to leave a small dent.
	Flat-nose pliers are a wire power tool. They are excellent for turning sharp corners, holding items and for opening and closing jump rings.
	Wire flush cutters leave one flat side and one pointed side on each cut. Using flush cutters is especially important when working with heavy gauges of wire (20-gauge or smaller). One side of the cutter is flat and the other is indented.
	Nylon-jaw pliers can be used to harden or straighten wire.
	Jeweler’s hammers have fine, smooth curved heads to leave a clean impression. The round peen side works well for texturing wire and metal sheet.
	A bench block is a flat, smooth piece of hardened steel. Hammering on top of a block flattens out and hardens the wire. Bench blocks are also used for stamping metal to get a clean impression.

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Materials

	Eye Pins are wires with a loop on one end and a straight portion of wire where beads can be strung. Length and gauges vary; most earrings use 24-gauge eye pins from 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 inches.
	Head Pins are a piece of wire with a stop end like a fine nail head. A bead slides onto the head pin and stops on the head. Lengths and gauges vary; most earrings use 24-gauge head pins from 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 inches.
	Jump Rings are one of the most versatile findings used in jewelry-making. They come in all sizes, gauges and metals. They are measured by diameter (width) and gauge (weight).
	Ear Wires come in many different styles. Regular fishhook style are the most common and the easiest to make yourself. Recommended weight for ear wires is either 22- or 20-gauge.
	Crimp Tubes are small soft metal cylinders that can be flattened or formed around flexible beading wire to secure the ends. They are an essential component for bead stringing projects.
	Wire comes in many sizes or gauges. Gauge is the measured diameter of the wire. The higher the number, the thinner the wire. Wire can be tempered soft, half-hard or hard, which refers to its stiffness. Copper, silver and gold-filled are most commonly used for jewelry.
	Flexible Beading Wire comes in several weights from .010 - .026-inch diameter and is designed for stringing. It is available in precious metal and several colors and is made from 7 to 49 strands of steel wire, twisted and encased in a flexible plastic coating. Ends are finished with crimp beads using either crimping or chainnose pliers.

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Basics Step-by-Step

Creating your own beaded jewelry is easy and only takes a few tools. Practice these techniques using less expensive metal findings. Once your finishing techniques are perfected, use real sterling silver or vermeil (real gold plating over sterling silver) to add elegance to your beadwork.

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Opening & Closing Jump Rings

Jump rings are one of the most versatile findings used in jewelry-making. They come in all sizes and gauges.
Use two pairs of smooth chain-nose pliers (bent or flat-nose pliers work fine as a second plier). (Photo A)
Push ring open with right plier while holding across the ring with left plier. To close, hold in the same way and rock the ring back and forth until ring ends rub against each other or you hear a click. Moving the ring past closed then back hardens the ring and assures a tight closure. (Photo B)

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Making and Eye Pin or Round Loop

Eye pins should be made with half-hard wire to make sure they hold their shape. 22-gauge will fit through most beads, with the exception of many semi-precious stones. Most Czech glass beads and 4mm crystals will fit on 20-gauge wire.

The length used for the eye loop depends on how big you want the loop. Here we will use 3/8 inch for a moderate size loop. Flush trim end of wire. (Photo A)

Using chain-nose pliers, make a 90-degree bend 3/8 inch from end of wire. (Photo B)

Using round-nose pliers, grasp the end of the wire so no wire sticks out between plier blades. (Photo C1)

Begin making a loop by rolling your hand away from your body. Don’t try to make the entire loop in one movement. Roll your hand 1/4 turn counterclockwise. (Photo C2)

Without removing pliers from loop, open plier blade slightly and pivot plier back toward your body clockwise about 1/4 turn. (Photo D)

Close plier onto the wire and roll the loop until it comes around, next to the 90-degree bend. (Photo E)

Open and close eye-pin loops the same way as jump rings, by pushing open front to back. (Photo F)

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Making Wire-Wrapped Loops

Practice wire wrapping with either 22- or 24-gauge wire. Harden slightly by pulling on one end with the other end clamped in a vise or pull one or two times through nylon-jaw pliers. (Photo A)

Make a 90-degree bend about 1 1/2 inches from end of the wire using chain-nose pliers. (Photo B)

Using round-nose pliers, grab wire about 3/8 inch away from the 90-degree and roll your hand away from yourself, toward the bend until a loop is halfway formed. (Photos C1 and C2)

Without removing plier from forming loop, open the jaw and rotate plier clockwise about 1/4 turn. (Photo D)

Grab the end of the wire with your left (nondominant) hand and pull it around the rest of the way until it crosses itself and completes the loop. (Photo E)

Switch to chain-nose pliers, holding across the loop. Wrap tail around wire under loop with your left hand. If you are using a heavy gauge of wire, it is often easier to use a second plier to pull the tail around instead of your fingers. (Photos F1 and F2)

Flush cut wire as close to the wrap as possible. Tuck end down if needed, using chain-nose pliers. (Photos G1 and G2)

To create a wrap on the opposite end of the bead, leave a gap equal to wrap space on first end. Grasp to the right of the wrap space and make a 90-degree bend. (Photos H1 and H2)

Repeat from Photo C–H to complete.

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Hammering Wire

Hammering hardens and flattens round wire. This can be especially important when making ear wires or clasps that need to hold their shape. Always use a smooth, hardened steel surface to guarantee a clean finish. Any marks or scars on a bench block or hammer will impress on the surface of wire or sheet metal.

Create your shape from wire. Keep hammer flat to prevent marring wire. Flip over after a few taps and hammer on opposite side. Don’t get carried away, if you hammer too much metal becomes brittle and breaks. (Photo A)

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Crimping

String a crimp bead onto flexible wire. String clasp or ring and pass tail of flexible wire back through crimp to form a loop.

Hold wires parallel and make sure crimp is positioned correctly. Using front slot on plier, shape crimp into a small oval. (Photo A)

Put oval into back slot of plier and squeeze to make fold in the center with one wire on each side of fold. (Photo B)

Return to front slot, and squeeze again to tighten crimp. Do a few more rotations and squeezes to solidify and shape crimp bead. Trim wire tail. (Photo C)

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How to Make a Crystal Bead Figurine

Beading is becoming a popular craft. It has left the world of flat two-dimensional jewelry and clothing direction and entered the world of three-dimensional figures. Some designs are very interact and complex, while others are very simple and perfect for kids crafts. Here is a simple doll for beginners.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• 6 3 mm Swarovski Bicone
• 2 5 mm Swarovski Bicone
• 6 6 mm Swarovski Rivoli
• 6 8 mm Swarovski Rivoli
• 40 mm eyepin
• 0.3 mm Nonelastic thread
• Polymer clay doll head or large round or bicone bead.

Making the Doll

1. Step 1

   Cut a piece of thread about 5 or 6 inches long, or longer if that makes it easier to work with.
   
   Thread two 3 mm bicone beads to mark the center of the thread.
   
   On the each side of them thread one 3mm bicone bead and one 3mm bicone bead.
   
   Re thread the end of the thread through each 5 mm bicone bead respectively.
   
   Add a 3 mm bicone to each respective end of the thread.
   
   Knot the thread and cut off the excess as close to the beads as possible.

2. Step 2

   Cut a piece of thread about 5 or 6 inches long, or longer if that makes it easier for you to work with.
   
   Thread six 6 mm rivoli beads in a row.
   
   Knot the ends, forming a circle, cut the left over thread as close to the beads as possible.
   
   Repeat Steps 1 through 3 of this section with the 8 mm rivoli beads.

3. Step 3

   Slide the circle of 8 mm rivoli beads on the eyepin followed by the circle of 6 mm rivoli beads then the bicone arms.
   
   Last, slide the doll head, or the bead you are using for the head, on the eyepin.
   
   Using the round nose pliers, roll the end of the eyepin down towards the head/bead to create a loop

Tips & Warnings

• Sometimes the thread knots will come loose, a good way to prevent this is to dab them with clear glue or clear nail polish. It is not impartiality to make these figurines with Swarovski crystal beads, less expensive glass or even plastic beads will work just as nicely. To make things even easier, instead of assembling all the needed bead supplies yourself, try looking for prebagged kits. These kits will contain all the items needed to make the figurine except the tools and are found at local craft and bead stores. For the tools, any local hard ware supply store will have what you need, also local craft stores as well as beading and jewelry supply stores.

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Make Old Plastic or Overprocessed Matte Glass Beads Look New Again New Life to Your Scuffed Beads

I love to find new uses for household and personal care products. Something in my personality is gratified by using double-duty items; my clothes are all separates, I re-use just about every jar, coffee can and old box, and recycle everything I can. So, of course, I'm especially happy when I find a product that will do double duty; such as this product created for hair that gets all frizzy in humid weather when you want it to lay straight and glossy. It's called Biosilk Silk Therapy and is manufactured by the Farouk Systems, Inc. located in Houston, Texas, U.S.A.

I actually received my first bottle of this product so long ago, it was actually really inexpensive; something like $2bottle. Not, it is considerably more expensive, but they have refined the formula and it works better than ever on face, nose, ears, and lips. I've even used it to blow-dry my hair; a rare event, and never terribly successful, but one I still practice every so often just to keep up with being all girly.

I still can't remember how I connected the idea of using this product on plastic beads, but I must have overheard something about some tire product containing silicone and retained it in my own peculiar, odd mix of a filing cabinet of memories.

I had purchased these very cool vintage beads made of black plastic and set with rhinestones. These beads looked as though they had once been gorgeous but, over time, had become scuffed and looked a bit "underloved" when they should look as if they had been long enjoyed, worn, passed down and while nowhere near "perfect" vintage, then at least "cared-for though used extensively" vintage. That's my favorite kind of vintage; vintage with a story, vintage that has had a life. It has been worn by the various owners over the years, it has been loved, well cared for, enjoyed, maybe had an accident or two, gotten scuffed and dull over the years, has a few scars, but is still just as beautiful.

These beads needed a bit of the attention they had not received prior to becoming my beads, and would need to soon be worked into a piece of jewelry to be worn, loved, tossed around a little bit, maybe nabbed by the cat once or twice when he was collecting shiny things, as he does occasionally, and generally been allowed to live. So, I thought of the method I use to clean glass beads, grabbed the window cleaner, gave them a spritz and - yep, they turned a sort of white/gray and horrible looking. Washing, soaking, and a final, desperate scrubbing did noting but add that faux "worn vintage" look I had so wanted, but still they were discolored. I put them away in a drawer, sad but not yet out of hope.

A few days later, I received a shipment of sample beads from a favorite bead seller, the unspeakably cool resin beads from Natural Touch Resin Beads makes of the most gorgeous resin beads I've ever looked upon.

Naturally, having been shipped, imported, prepared for various shows, shown at shows indoors and out, some of these beads had become a bit grimy, in need of a good soapy bath. So, I drew a sink full of very hot water, added soap, then the beads, then walked off for about an hour to do something else.

I was sure that my resin beads were goners. they were goners. All of them, strands of resin beads, beautiful, fabulous, handmade resin beads, all that beauty, a dull whitish sort of cast, with almost no color remaining.

I had also pulled out some of those little glass globs - the type that are used in flower arrangements or in some stained glass projects - that looked like they had been tumbled to give them a matte finish. It looked like they were covered in some kind of dust, completely obscuring the color of the globs. When they were wet, I could see that these globs had a blend of clear and purple glass and were very cool looking, but I had to do something about the powdery finish that made the glass almost occluded. So, I applied the Biosilk, and what do you know - gorgeous! Still matte, but with a sheen, so that the colors inside the globs is visible.

Of course, I know that the application of oil or grease-based products will do the same thing to glass or plastic that has surface irregularities that give it a dull appearance, but I don't care to use oil or grease on beads. It not only attracts dust and dirt, but it rubs off on clothing, smears, and, in some cases, can even go rancid, making the beads smell awful. The Biosilk product does none of that. Once I put it on the beads, it seem to soak in/ A bit of buffing removes any leftover product from the immediate surface, so it will not transfer to fabric or skin. It does not attract dirt and has, so far, not "turned" or gone bad, I and I first used it on plastic beads about five years ago.

I cannot say for sure that Biosilk is perfect for every bead made. I'm not even sure which ingredient makes the glass and plastic/resin look good, since I'm not a chemist. I do know that, unlike some silicone-based products, it does not seem to alter the plastic or dissolve it, making it gooey or sticky; it just seems to moisturize the beads, giving them a nice sheen.

Try it yourself. Pick up a small bottle, pull out few matte glass or scuffed plastic or resin beads, and give them a wipe. I bet you'll be pleased with the results.

You can purchase Biosilk in 2 oz. bottles which, if you're using it strictly for beads and not for hair, should last a good long time. I've had my bottle (the 5.64 oz. size) for well over a year, using it for hair, mostly, and have used less than an ounce. You only need a tiny bit of this cool product to rejuvenate your old plastic and resin beads. There are other products much like it. I can't vouchsafe them, as the only one I've tried is the Biosilk, however, since the ingredients are basically the same I'm sure the others would work as well.

Thanks for visiting biconebeads.blogspot.com. Keep visiting us for latest update about bicone beads.

Bead a Beaded Bicone Bead Using Flat Round Peyote Stitch

I was trying to design a cone shaped sea shell and came up with these beaded beads instead. Apparently I've forgotten most of what I learned in geometry class because I was surprised to find that you don't get a cone when you roll up a triangle! Finally I figured out that what I was missing was a rounded edge and that any portion of a circle short of a whole one makes a cone when you put the straight edges together, duh. Ok, now what? How do I get a pie with a slice or two taken out? Well to make a whole circle I usually use flat round peyote so I figured I'd try it with some of the sections removed. My flat round peyote graph is for a six bead start, so it has six sections. I decided to use 3 sections or a half circle.

The following graph is what I used to make the bead shown. Notice I had to add an extra row in order to make it come out right, otherwise there would be an odd number of columns.

To use this graph simply treat it as though it were a whole flat round peyote graph. Start with three beads tied in a circle. For the second round add two beads between bead one and two, two beads between beads two and three and two beads between beads 3 and one. Continue adding rows as described in this tutorial for Flat Round Peyote Stitch until you reach the end of the graph. At this point you'll have half a bead. Now start working back toward the center of the graph skipping the outermost row. Instead of doing increases every third row, do decreases in the same spot instead. Try to keep your tension as firm as possible to avoid ending up with a mushy bead. These beads are light enough to be strung on regular heavy beading thread so go ahead and stuff your bead with fiberfill if you need to.

One neat thing about this is that you can change the size and shape of the bead you end up with by using more of fewer sections and/or more or fewer rows. Using more sections makes a wider less "steep" cone and more rows makes the bead longer from hole to hole.

Here is a graph for a much larger bead.

And of course, some blank graphs for designing your own beads! :-)

Two Sections (makes a very skinny bead)

Three Sections

Four Sections

Have fun!

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24 Swarovski Crystal Beads Bicone 4mm Crystal Clear, Pack Of 24

Info About 24 Swarovski Crystal Beads Bicone 4mm Crystal Clear, Pack Of 24

Few crystals catch the light like Swarovski® crystals
do. Our genuine Swarovski® crystal beads are
expertly cut and polished glass crystal, sure to give
all your work that extra sparkle and colour boost!
Swarovski® Bicone beads are multi faceted glass
crystal beads. Their surface is cut to an extremely
high-precision, making them sparkly when they come
into contact with light.

Thanks for visiting biconebeads.blogspot.com. Keep visiting us for latest update about bicone beads.

24 Swarovski Crystal Beads Bicone 4mm Indian Sapphire, Pack Of 24

Info About 24 Swarovski Crystal Beads Bicone 4mm Indian Sapphire, Pack Of 24

Few crystals catch the light like Swarovski® crystals
do. Our genuine Swarovski® crystal beads are
expertly cut and polished glass crystal, sure to give
all your work that extra sparkle and colour boost!
Swarovski® Bicone beads are multi faceted glass
crystal beads. Their surface is cut to an extremely
high-precision, making them sparkly when they come
into contact with light.

Thanks for visiting biconebeads.blogspot.com. Keep visiting us for latest update about bicone beads.

24 Swarovski Crystal Beads Bicone 4mm Amethyst, Pack Of 24

Info About 24 Swarovski Crystal Beads Bicone 4mm Amethyst
Few crystals catch the light like Swarovski® crystals
do. Our genuine Swarovski® crystal beads are
expertly cut and polished glass crystal, sure to give
all your work that extra sparkle and colour boost!
Swarovski® Bicone beads are multi faceted glass
crystal beads. Their surface is cut to an extremely
high-precision, making them sparkly when they come
into contact with light.

Thanks for visiting biconebeads.blogspot.com. Keep visiting us for latest update about bicone beads.