Linda's Lowly Beading Adventures

I'd love to see those sapphires too, Linda! And maybe a peek at that reaming tool to smooth rough bead drill holes. I bought one that ... doesn't work at all. And I have 2 strands of Tahitians intermingled with tiny brown diamond beads that have been restrung about 4 times now, and is still ... broken :(
 
CathyKeshi said:
I'd love to see those sapphires too, Linda! And maybe a peek at that reaming tool to smooth rough bead drill holes. I bought one that ... doesn't work at all. And I have 2 strands of Tahitians intermingled with tiny brown diamond beads that have been restrung about 4 times now, and is still ... broken :(
Click to expand...
Sadly a diamond dust covered reamer is not very effective on solid diamond beads. I gave up and just wire wrap them now...
 
Here are the beads, with the bit that I've done. The reamer is diamond dust covered, and I doubt its effectiveness
sapphire_beads.jpg
with diamond beads.
 
Thanks Linda and Marianne, I doubt the effectiveness of my diamond crusted bead reamer too ... in fact, it's useless on most anything. If the diamond beads didn't look SO good with the white baroque Tahitians with silver and gold highlights ... I searched for 2 years for those beads ... bought from a gem friend who later passed away during Covid ... and these 2 strands were already on wire, which also broke! Strung each time by professionals; not their skill, it's those diamond beads grrrrr ...
 
Not my expertise but would not a diamond drill bit in a drill (handheld or otherwise) not be a better plan? What you need is what drilled them in the first place. What drills a diamond?
I never use reamers.
 
Thank you, BWeaves and A Breaker! Yes, I definitely like the idea of pearls and turquoise! My reamer is, well, OK. I have a hand set and an electric one. If you have a Dremel or similar tool you can probably get reaming tips for it.
IMG_20240611_155656144 (1).jpg
 
I have that BeadSmith hand set. It's not great, but it sometimes does the job.
 
Perfect! I was looking at a little drill...but the round diamond file seems like what I need, when I just need them a touch bigger. Hemostats are the best...if only I could figure out where I stashed them. (My ER nurse mother and the other staff would give away the UNUSED metal "disposable" ones, when they were first using them. The ER's little effort to keep things out of landfills and beaches and help fly tiers, jewlery makers and others. ) I am using several needle nose pliers that have a total flat part. Holds the needle to pull.
 
I got some wonderful citrine and amethyst beads, and decided to make mother/daughter necklaces, because my daughter's favorite stone is citrine and mine is amethyst. I added some small but lustrous pearls and some silver and gold beads. I've finished one of them, and it looks wonderful:
lilibets_citrine_amathyst.jpg
 
I love the little diamond beads .. I've done pieces with little black spinel as well. As Sarah commented the fine beading wire is probably the best on those little sharp holes. And you don't need a needle - just poke it through. It drapes pretty well.. not quite like thread but pretty good and you get a certain tiny amount of stiffness anyway when you are stacking the beads and there are no knots..same as with pearls.

well done on all the projects !!
 
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