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If you are not use to crimping metal spacer beads and metal tube endings, I would suggest you practice before putting crimp tubes
onto your creation. Be careful not to smash the metal of the bead into your stringing material as it could cut through the stringing material.
Photos above, top one is photo of spacer beads that I also use as crimp beads. The lower top one shows crimp tubes with a loop. If you look to the photos along the left
side of this page ... the first one is of a natural Unakite bead bracelet with lots of spacer beads. This is a stretch bracelet, ie
for ease of putting it on I close the toggle clasp and just slip on
over my hand. You can't tell in the photo, but one of the spacer beads between two unakite rectangle beads is used as a crimp bead to
secure the two ends of the plastic stretch stringing
material that I used for this bracelet.
The next photo shows a necklace of natural dark blue lapis beads and Swarovski crystal beads. I strung these beads onto a delicate gold plated chain and used
tube style (each with a loop end to attach the clasp) as the crimped beads.
The lower two photos on the left show examples of how I covered spaced beads that I had crimped. I put a white arrow of the bottom
two photos to point to where I had used (1) a crimp cover
over top of a crimped spacer bead and (2) the lower photo shows where crimped spacer beads then worked an open-work bead over top of the crimped bead.
The bottom two photos on the right side of this web page shows cover beads (before they are put over top of a crimped bead and are pushed closed).
Add a crimp bead onto the wire or cord. Crimp the crimp bead with the crimping pliers.
There are two crimping areas in this crimping tool.
The inner portion (close to the hinge) of the tool puts a crease down the middle of the bead. So be sure your crimp bead is centered in the tool.
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Crimping Pliers
Click here to view large view of crimping pliers.
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You want the two ends of your stringing material seated to wind up such that the crease will separate the two ends of the stringing material. If both ends of the
stringing material turns out on one side of the crease that usually isn't a problem. But if the stringing material is caught in the crease, the creased
metal will often cut the cord, plastic stringing material or wire, ruining all your work.
Second part of the crimping tool (outer portion of the pliers) folds the crimped bead back onto it self, supposedly making it look round as it originally was. Again
doesn't always come out perfect. That's the time to use a crimp cover to hide any messy looking crimped bead.
Best always to practice, practice and practice again before crimping beads on your finished jewelry project. I had to experience with numerous stringing material, I suggest on your practice
pieces to pull the string material once your crimping is finished to ensure the stringing material holds, ie doesn't slip through the crimped bead.
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