Your jewelry-making adventure necessitates a trip to the store to stock up on beautiful beads, wires, threads and all the too necessary bead jewelry tools.
At first, it’s important to just forget about obtaining perfection and instead concentrate on learning how to bend, twist, and wrap the individual parts. The more you practice, the better your work will get. Ninety-nine percent of the parts needed to put together entire jewelry pieces can be created by hand. However, if you are not used to creating these items from scratch, we recommend simply going over our extensive collections of beads and findings.
Xinar offers extensive supplies of sterling silver round beads, copper beads, round and oval copper beads, plain and twist tube beads, rose gold-filled findings, and gold-filled beads are just a few of the many items that can be made from scratch.
Take inspiration from the designs in this book. It’s probable that you won’t be able to acquire the exact same beads that I did, so modify the designs to fit your style and bead collection. Decide on how you want to make jewelry. Find your muse, release your soul, let your imagination run wild, and enjoy the process!
Safety Tips When Working with Tools For Making Beaded Jewelry
Because of the small parts and sharp edges, safety is a top priority. Precautions should be taken:
• When dealing with wire, always wear safety glasses.
• When cutting wire, keep your hand above the cutters to keep the sliced pieces from flying around.
• Refrain from bringing food or drink into your office.
• Thoroughly clean up after each work session, vacuuming away small beads and wire parts.
• Keep small components, tools, and sharp objects out of reach of children under the age of eight.
• When working with adhesives, use ventilation and follow the manufacturer’s directions.
Bead Jewelry Tools
At a jewelry supply store, get the pliers, cutter, chasing hammer, jig, needle file, polishing cloth, jeweler’s vise, and small anvil. A cutting mat can be found at a craft store, and wire can be found at a wire provider or a bead store.
Chain Nose Pliers
Bend angular forms with this tool.
Flat Nose Pliers
Smooth wire wraps, form angular bends, and flatten wire using this tool.
Round Nose Pliers
To build curved shapes like jump rings and split rings, use this material.
Side Cutters
Cut wire with this tool. Squeeze forcefully while holding the pliers perpendicular to the wire. The sound of a clean cut is a sharp “snap.”
Crimping Pliers
Crimps “crimp” beads to keep them on the wire, commonly at the beginning and end of a creation.
Chasing Hammer
Flatten and strengthen wire with this tool.
Bead Sorting Tray
To sort beads and measure the length of bracelets, necklaces, and other jewelry, use a nice bead sorting tray.
Cutting Mat
Protects your work surface with a cutting mat.
Hammering Block
Wire can be hammered on this surface.
Jeweler’s Vise
Small pieces and wire for twisting are held in this container.
Needle Files
Smooth wire ends with this tool.
Mandrel
Form rings to desired sizes using this tool.
Jig
To mold wire into various shapes, use this tool.
Beading Tweezers
Features razor-sharp edges for creating and putting knots with precision.
Twisting Tool for Wires
Twists wire evenly and rapidly. Use a vise to hold it in place.
Size D Crocheting Hook
Wire can be hammered on a small anvil surface (like hammering block).
Beads
When you first start collecting beads and bead jewelry tools, you’ll be astounded by the enormous variety available. Glass beads come in a variety of styles, from factory-made to handcrafted.
Carved shapes, triangles, squares, rectangles, discs, faceted shapes, tubes, ovals, natural shell, and bone shapes are all available as beads. Beads are commonly measured in millimeters, such as 2mm, 4mm, or 6mm.
The size of a bead’s hole determines how it can be used. Some beads can be threaded onto 18-gauge wire (which is required for various crafts), while others have far larger holes and can be threaded onto leather. Fine-holed beads can easily be strung on 20-gauge wire.
Seed beads are the smallest beads, and they come in sizes like 6/0, 8/0, 11/0, 15/0, and others, with the sizes growing smaller as the numbers go greater. The letter “/0” is pronounced “ought.”
Delica seed beads have a more consistent size distribution than other seed beads, resulting in a smooth beaded surface. They’re great for loom beading and flat peyote stitch.
Wire is available in a variety of gauges, hardnesses, and forms. The most frequent gauges are 22, 20, 18, 16, and 14 (from lightest to heaviest).
It comes in three different hardnesses: full hard, half-hard, and dead soft. Use 18- and 20-gauge, dead soft, round wire to get started with the crafts in this book. Start with practice wire, such as brass or nickel silver, and then finish with gold or silver.
Because gold and silver are too soft as pure metals, they are strengthened by the addition of other metals. Copper is frequently added to pure silver in sterling silver. This metal tarnishes with time.
Nickel silver is a metal alloy that frequently contains nickel. It resembles sterling silver in appearance but is greyer in hue. It does not tarnish like sterling and is frequently used for low-cost findings.
The number “karat” (k) indicates how much of the metal is pure gold; 24k is pure gold, 14k is 14 parts pure gold and the rest is an alloy, and 14k is more durable than pure gold. Gold-filled wire is made by fusing gold onto a core metal and then drawing it out into wire.
