Jewellery Making Tools @ Jewel Info 4 U
(Making Beaded Jewellery Part 2)
By: Binasaji
Now that you have some information
about the
pliers required for making beaded
jewellery, this article provides
some more data about some of the
other tools needed to handcraft your
special piece of jewellery.
Tweezers: Professionals in
every industry have discovered the
importance of Tweezers - Beauty
Salons, Hospitals, etc. In jewellery
making too, tweezers have found
their place of importance. This
simple tool is great for picking up
and holding small items! Several
varieties of tweezers are available
for different purposes - Locking
tweezers for grasping your jewellery
as you work with it; Bent End
Tweezers with angled or bent ends
for a better grip on small objects;
Knotting Tweezers with sharp tips to
knot thread to the bead. While these
are some of the more important
tweezer types, it is common to find
variations designed for specific
purposes.
 Bead
Storage Box: Working with tiny
items like beads is difficult and
keeping track of all the tiny items
used in jewellery making - head
pins, beads and other tiny items can
prove to be a challenging task. A
storage box to store all these tiny
findings is an absolute requirement.
Bead storage boxes to suit every
requirement can be bought or you
make your storage box by collecting
small boxes and putting them
together in a larger box, but make
sure you do have a bead storage box
which will save you the time wasted
on looking for findings while making
your jewellery. A good storage box
should be transparent, offer large
open tops for easy access to the
stored items and have separate
sections to keep each item.
Beading Awls / Stoppers:
Mistakes are a part of learning but
undoing knots is an annoying task,
even for the most patient beader!
The beading awl is ideal to undo
irritating knots with great ease. It
can also help in knotting and making
small loops or winding wires and
threads. Another ancillary tool is
the bead stopper which grips the end
of the beading thread, preventing
beads from slipping out.
Cutters: If you are using
thread to string the beads, a small
pair of scissors or a sharp thread
cutter/ nipper for snipping of the
ends neatly is required. Make sure
the implement is sharp and can cut
the thread without fraying it. Some
artists prefer to burn the thread
ends using a thread end burner. This
is especially good for plastic
threads. For metal wires, a sharp
wire cutter or Flush Cutter is
perfect.
Bead Reamers: Sometimes bead
holes may not be cleaned properly by
the manufacturers or have small
untidy bits sticking to the edges or
the hole maybe too small for the
wire to enter - for this purpose the
bead reamer is helpful. It can be
used to clean out the bead hole and
to increase the size of the bead
hole also. The bead reamer set has
two parts the handle and the
needles. A set will have several
needles (for dealing with different
types of beads) of varying sizes
which can be interchanged on the
same handle depending on the
requirement. Separate needles can
also be purchased without the
handle.
Flexible Beading needles:
These are indispensable while making
beaded jewellery. Threading beads
with large holes is easy but if you
want to craft a delicate piece with
seed beads a beading needle makes it
easy to string the tiny beads.
Beading needles are available in
various sizes and remember a lower
needle number signifies a needle
that is thick and vice-versa.
Beading boards are another
great item to purchase if you plan
to continue making jewellery.
Beading boards have marked lengths
which keeps track of the length of
your chain or bracelet. Some boards
even have deeper indentations so you
can to place your findings along
with the beads. Another advantage of
using the Beading board is that
making multiple strand jewellery
becomes easier.
Wire Rounders/ Cup Burs:
Wires have sharp points and the wire
rounder softens the edges of the
wire making the wire safe to work
with. Cup Burs also serve the same
purpose by smoothening out the ends.
The same effect can be achieved by a
simple file also - although it is
likely to take a longer time.
Miscellaneous Tools: A ruler
or measuring tape to measure lengths
is also required. If your beaded
jewellery required soldering or
hammering wires, a pair of safety
glasses is handy. In fact sometimes
even small eye pins or headpins can
fly if not gripped properly; the
safety glasses essentially protect
the eyes against unseen mishaps.
Artists working with tiny beads can
buy magnifying glasses or Loupes to
ensure their eyes are protected
against excess strain. A loupe also
makes it easier to follow the
beading pattern and wire the beads.
A small hammer comes of use when
making metal beaded jewellery or
working with wires where wires or
findings to be straightened out or
flattened.
Glue: Finally, Glue is
sometimes needed to join uneven
beads or surfaces for a better
finish for your jewellery. Most
manufacturers do not sell glue
online but it is easily available at
local stores. For plastic beads, a
simple epoxy glue or even craft glue
will do the trick but for metal
beads, an epoxy is essential. Some
jewelers use Hypo-cement for joining
the beads together.
Professional jewelers use hi-tech
tools like vacuum wands (an
electronic gizmo which creates
suction at the tip to pick up and
drop tiny objects), solders, gem
setting pliers, stone setting pliers
etc. Their tools are highly
specialized and include expensive
tools not essential for an artist
working from home or a hobby
jewellery maker. Many manufacturers
offer complete kits with essential
supplies for different levels of
expertise.
As the amateur designer becomes
confident and graduates to
professional jewellery design, it is
advisable to invest in the
specialized tools for jewellery
making.
Making Beaded Jewellery Part 3
Making Beaded Jewellery Part 4
Making Beaded Jewellery Part 1
Making Beaded Jewellery Part
2
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