Beading Necklace

Seed Bead is a generic term of any small bead and typically solid-coloured. The shape is usually round.  Its history can be traced back to ancient Native Americans and South Africa tribes.

In the modern days, they are primarily from the Czech Republic and Japan, China, Taiwan, and India.  Japanese seed beads are more precisely cut and more expensive. Delica by Miyuki, Treasures by Toho, and Aiko by Toho are well known. Czech seed seeds have brilliant colors and are less expensive.

A hank is textile unit of yarn and twine. Some bead manufacturers, especially from Czech, use it as a unit measurement. A hank is unit bundle of strands of beads, that are usually 12 strands of 20 inches of strung beads in each hank of 11/0 beads.  Different sizes and types of beads may be sold in hanks which have different numbers and lengths of strands.

Crystal beads from Austria are primarily manufactured by Swarovski.  In the late nineteenth century, Daniel Swarovski developed a new method for cutting crystals, and though the company makes a large number of products, their crystal beads have become essential jewelery components in the world of beading.

Bali, in Indonesia, is well known for its skilled metal artisans. Bali beads are at the top of the list when it comes to quality and fine craftsmanship. These artists use silversmithing techniques, including granulation, appliqué, and etching, to handcraft each bead individually. Because of the popularity of these beads, the Bali legacy had inspired numerous knockoff beads over the last few years.

Crimp beads are placed just before the clasp or in between beads, and are used to secure the ends of the wire, and sometimes to secure the placement of beads (aka “spacers”). They are usually made of metal because they are compressed in order to hold onto the wire.

Like beads, they also come in a variety of colours, shapes, lengths and hole sizes. They typically come in a round or tube shape. The round shape flattens to a circle which may look better, but I find the tube shape easier to handle. As for the size, you should pick the crimp bead with the smallest hole size that fits the wire.

There are specific pliers made for crimping different sizes of crimp beads that you can buy for over $15 each, but if you’re a poor university student like me, a small pair of standard pliers will just have to do!

Notice that most pliers have ridges at the tip and a flat area near the joint. I try to use the flat side so that the ridges don’t appear on the crimp bead.

Once you are done stringing the bead(s), crimp beads, and your clasp (optional), loop the wire back into the crimp bead(s) and a centimeter or two of the beads. This will give extra security and prevent any unpleasant scratching from the wire ends.

Push the beads up near the clasp/loop, but remember to leave a little room for the beads to move around on the string as well as room for the loop to move around the clasp! Take the pliers and flatten the crimp bead closest to the loop. Don’t be afraid to press hard! The tighter the crimp bead is on the wire, the less likely it will slip off after your piece has been worn for a while.

From this…

To this!

This is the tricky part: carefully use the flat part of the pliers to hold on half of the pressed crimp bead. Brace it against something flat and push so that the crimp bead forms a U-shape.

Use the flat part of the pliers to press the U-shape together, trim the extra wire…

… and you’re done!

If you want to give your beads extra security, you can crimp more than one bead at the end.

~ Ava Arie