| Finishing Beadwork |
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It's not the most fun. It's not even the most rewarding. But it is one of the most essential and finishing your beadwork in a professional looking manner, with good high-quality clasps, will increase its value and give you an excellent reputation as a designer and as a craftsperson.
One sure way to mark your work as inexpensive or even a bit shoddy is the use of cheap or ill-fitting clasps, especially is they are improprerly applied to the beading. That's not to say that inexpensive closures should never be used; they do have a place on certain pieces of jewelry. However, if you want to impress, use a nice clasp and attach it properly.
One great invention for beadworkers is the product called bullion and is also known as French coil and, less often, as gimp. Bullion is flat, tiny gauge wire, coiled into a hollow spring shape so that you may pass a needle and thread through it, thus creating a metal-covered piece of thread. This way, your thread will not have to sit bare against the metal of a finding. If you just attach the finding or clasp with thread, no matter how strong the thread, the metal of the finding will eventually abraid the thread and cause it to break. Covering your thread with bullion will create a secure and attractive finish.
I have recently taken to covering even SoftFlex and other stringing media with bullion before I crimp it to a finding as I think it looks much more "finished" than the bare stringing media does. The only time I may not use the French wire is if I'm using colored wire and want it to show; such as in a braided necklace with space between the elements.
Crimping can be another "deal breaker" in your beading. Bad crimping leads to broken beadwork. Unless you use good quality crimp beads, your work will show it after a while as the brass will show through the silver or gold coating and look discolored.
Before you crimp, be sure to leave a "tail" of wire to string back through a few beads
if at all possible. Doing this will help keep the stringing media from possibly sliding out of the crimp bead should the crimp loosen. I've found that the best crimps can be made by using a Beadalon Brand Micro-Crimper, but using it with regular-size crimp beads instead of the smaller crimp beads it was designed for. I get a beautiful and secure crimp every time I use that tool with the standard size crimp beads. It seems to fold them better and the crimps certainly look sleeker. Unfortunately, this tool does not work with the tube-shaped crimp beads.
If your beading is very heavy, you can use two crimps on each end, just for the extra security. Cover them with the new crimp covers and they will look just fine. And, before you even begin stringing, make sure you are using the proper stringing media for the job. See the "SoftFlex Product Information" to find the best stringing medium for the job.
The best all-around clasps I've found are the toggle clasp and the fishhook. These great clasps are easy to close; a big point if you are selling your beadwork. Nothing can be more frustrating to a customer than owning a beautiful piece of beadwork and not being able to put it on! Toggle and fishhook clasps can be found in a variety of metals and finishes and many are beautiful enough to be central to your design, bringing the closure in front or to the side.
As important as the right clasps and their application can be to your beadng, don't forget to give a good, close look to your beading before you place it on display. Check all ends, trim and litle bits of wire, weave in ends and make sure nothing is puckered or twisted. Check the cut ends on your bullion under a magnifying lens if at all possible. There can be tiny protruding ends that will irritate skin if you don't trim them carefully. Close attention to these little details will add value, elegance and sophistication to your designs. Good workmanship coupled with great design will assure you referrals and many happy repeat customers.
