Creating Beaded Necklaces

Creating Beaded Necklaces with Beadalon Wire
Overview

Necklaces (and Bracelets) can be strung on many different cords or wires. However, over time, we have focused on making our own Jewellery using Beadalon brand stranded wire. Why is this? Well, Beadalon is very resistant to wear and tear (it will not fray like Silk or Nylon thread), it comes in many colours,diameters and is avilable in 3 levels of flexibility - 7, 19 and 49 Strand. Please see our guides on 'Beadalon Wire' for more information. For now, we will focus on just making a well-made necklace!

What do you need?

A length of Beading wire to suit the required length - plus approximately 1" for making the ends
(optional) 2 off Wire Guardians
2 off 6mm Jump Rings
2 off Crimps
1 Clasp of your choice of type
(optional) 50mm Extension chain
Making the Necklace

Choose your lengthEveryone one has their own favourite length of necklace, so cut a piece of wire about 2" or 5 cm longer than the finished length.





Create one end to attach to a clasp - or a Jump RingThe simplest way to do this is by threading a crimp over one end of the wire, loop the wire back on to itself, passing back through the crimp. Simply pull-up the slack so that the loop is about 4~5mm diameter, and then squash the crimp. guide to crimpingAn alternative way to make the loop, which gives a much neater, professional looking and far more durable result is to use aWire Guardian. Place your crimp on the wire, pass the wire through the Guardian and back through the crimp and crimp!





Thread your Beads!The hardest bit of making a necklace is always in deciding on your Beads and layout. This is very much a personal thing. You can seperate beads to leave gaps, holding them in place with crimps or Beadfix. You can also seperate them by 'looping' beadalon around each Bead. This is particulary good when using the the thinnest (0.010" or 0.012" Beadalon). Remember though, if you do this, you must allow for extra length of wire required - it can easily be trimmed later.Once your Beads are threaded, you can finish the other end of the wire. Just repeat the sequence as in (2), but as you pull the wire together, check the length. The finished length of the threaded Beads, with loops, needed to be about 12~18mm shorter than the finished length with clasp.





Attaching the ClaspOpen a Jump-ring - just enough to pass through your loop/Wire Guardian and chosen clasp. Thread the Clasp and loop into the Jump Ring and close it.





Completing the closureOn the second end, now open the second Jump Ring and thread the loop onto it. At this point, you can also thread your optional 'Extension chain' - typically this will enable you to expand your necklace by up to 5 cm or 2 ". Now close the Jump Ring and your necklace is complete.

We hope this brief guide has been helpful. Of course, all of the components used can be found in our Shop

We really appreciate your feedback and ideas for improving this guide. Please also take a look at our other guideswhich we hope to add to at your request :-)