Wire, Cording and Ends, Oh My!

The last two Facebook Live Videos have been bursting with information about designing jewelry! Wyatt took on the biggest challenge - explaining Beadalon Bead Stringing Wire, German Style Wire, and Craft Wire. Lucky for us, he is an expert on all things Wire related. I highly recommend watching his video - it's a primer on jewelry construction like no other. I love how he broke down the approximate cost of using each construction of Wire in making an 18 inch necklace: 7 strand (25 cents), 19 strand (67 cents) and 49 strand (97 cents). You can really see the benefit of using the best wire outweighs the cost. The added flexibility and durability you get for an extra 72 cents is definitely worth it to me!

Wyatt also spent time breaking down the Hardness Scale that Beadalon developed to help show the differences between all of the Wire Wrapping Wires. Your designing needs will determine what kind of Wire you'll chose to work with. Beginners should start with Dead Soft Artistic Wire for learning and practice. Once your skills are developing, German Style Wire is Wyatt's choice for Wire Wrapping. Don't forget that Beadalon offers lots of different types of German Style Wire - Square, Half Round, and Fancy in Silver Plated, Gold Color, Copper, Hematite, Antique Brass and Satin Brass in many gauges.

The Beadalon Website has so many amazing resources for beginners and seasoned beaders alike. I know I reference our charts often when I want to verify a specific size, diameter or use for a particular material. The Artistic Wire Reference Page , German Style Reference Page and Beadalon Bead Stringing Wire Reference Page spell it all out for you. I would suggest pinning these charts for reference - or do it old school like me and just print them out and post them in your work space. If you're anything like me, you'll find yourself referring to them over and over again.

I love hearing Wyatt talk about Wire. His passion is inspiring and we're lucky to have him share all of his knowledge and expertise with us!

After so much talk about Wires, I wanted to move on to non-wire stringing materials like Stringing Cords for this week's Facebook Live. We have lots of Cord Ends that you can use to finish off the ends of cording and provide a place to add your clasp. I like showing some of the lesser known findings and techniques that you either might not know about, or haven't used in a while, to help make your designs a little more unique. The Glue-In, C-Crimp, Fold-Over and Fold-Down Cord Ends are all calibrated to work with the different stringing materials that we offer. Confused about which will work with which? Check the inner diameter or size column in the catalog or in the description on the website, and make sure it's close to but less than the diameter or size of your cording. It's as easy as that!

There is a lot of information in these two videos, and I hope that Wyatt and I answered more questions than we created! As always, feel free to shoot us a message or a comment through Facebook or www.beadalon.com. See you next time!

Happy beading,
Meredith