Well, you’re pretty much done with using the Crimp Bead Pliers now. What you need to do now is to trim off the tag end of the wire with some sharp nosed cutters. Now, some people like to cut the tag end extremely close, basically flush against the crimp bead.
I like to leave a little bit sticking out, maybe 3mm or so, for three reasons. The first is that when you string beads down onto the wire, you can have them go over the trailing end and it will actually be more “snug” and will not tend to move around a lot. The 2nd is aesthetics again. You can sort of see the ragged end of the “cut” wire sticking out near the crimp bead if it is not strung through the beads.
The 3rd reason is to give a little bit of breathing room just in case the wire somehow does shift a little. Leaving a little bit sticking out means that if it DOES get pulled it most likely won’t come off. But if the wire is cut flush there is no room for error; if the wire gets pulled just a little bit, there goes the crimp bead.
Ok, now all that’s left to do is start your project by stringing your starting beads onto the wire. Slide them down toward the crimp tube and push them directly over the tag end of the wire that you’ve left sticking out. That’s all there is to it and you can now put whatever beads you want on the wire.
Now, closing up the whole job requires another crimp bead at the other end of the necklace or bracelet. It is basically the same technique as discussed above. Hmm…thinking about it though, this might require another article to talk about what to do with the trailing end of the wire on the finished end of the crimp. I would say of all the crimping techniques that was probably the most difficult thing (and still is for me) - finshing a necklace with a crimp bead.
Whew, ok then back to the camera and lightbox… I’ll have some photos of that procedure up soon in another article.
