In today’s video, we’re going to show you how to finish off a strand of small beads that have been strung with Cotton.
I’ve added a bit of glue at one of the ends to help it thread through easier, I’ve also threaded on a crimp bead followed by a wire guard so it’s up one side of the guard and down the other, and since I’m going to use a soldered ring as a closure I put that through first.
Then what I do is I thread back through the little crimp bead back through, I like using crimp beads because it holds things in place, next I’ll pull the end of the thread to bring the beads up close to the crimp beads and this also helps make it easier to tie off the ends later.
Next, I’ll crimp the bead down, tie a knot and add a crimp cover. I’ll just do one side to show you. Crimp down with a pair of pliers that way it holds everything in place, I like using it but you don’t have to, some people are very good at tying knots I’m not one of them. Then what I do is wrap around it and tie a knot right below the crimp bead, I tie another knot. Just make sure you leave enough room so that the knot tying is easy for you. Next, trim the excess thread off and put a dab of crazy glue on it.
If your thread happens to be nylon you can just use a lighter to melt the end a little bit to secure it. Always with silver findings wait until the glue has vanished before putting on the crimp cover, rub on it because sometimes crazy glue will fog up the silver or plastic.
In doing this don’t push all the beads up together so that is so tight in a straight line because when it curls as you wear it it will look stiff, so what I like to do is curl it in several rounds so I know that if the person decides to wear it as a bracelet it will be loose enough, you want enough room between the beads so that it doesn’t look stiff.
So you have to adjust it and do the same thing on the other side. Go through the bead, down and back again. If you’re going to use a soldered ring, which you don’t have to because the wire will serve as the loop and so you don’t actually need a soldered ring.
What I like about using a Wire Guardian is that it stops the thread from fraying, often times when you have small beads that come already threaded with multiple threads and appears pretty sound, these have been threaded on 4 threads, then I don’t want to re-thread it on softflex which is very durable but if you don’t want to you don’t have to, then this is another option.
Watch the video here:
