Stringing Pearls

[boo]

Hi!! I have been lurking on this forum for a while now and have learned so much from the many wonderful folks here. Not surprisingly, I became afflicted with a desire to increase my own limited collection of pearls, and so I found myself reading the posts in the Lowly Beaders Club forum more and more closely until finally I could resist no more. I made a few purchases on eBay and hunted down some meager supplies at Michael's. The result is (hopefully) posted below: my very first attempt at knotting, done using fingers only (no awl or tweezers). I will probably redo it at some point because I didn't have quite enough pearls for the length I wanted (which might or might not be related to my learning a Very Important Lesson about the wisdom of placing one's bead board far enough back on the coffee table that one's dog does not send it flying with his tail as he races to the front door in the hopes of eating the mailman who just rang the doorbell. Sigh - I think I found most of the pearls...). I was really just doing this as a practice piece using some unidentified thread out of an el-cheapo "bead stringing kit (with spring rings!)", but I was kind of pleased with how it turned out. So, does anyone have any constructive criticism for me?

As a side note, I have the greatest respect for those of you who manage to take nice photos of pearls. I took over a dozen and this was as good as it got!

Deb

Oops- I had to crop the photo way down to be able to post it - hope it's good enough to see.

 

[Taylor]

Hi all,
I'm hoping someone can share some secrets on starting and stopping a strand with the Back-through-the-last-2- or-3-pearls method. I know what I'm supposed to do just not how. I love small, single knots with pearls. They seem to magnify the gleam when they cozy up to each other. That seems to require thin thread E or F not doubled. I just seem to have a really hard time getting the thread back through even with this size. Tricks?
I've also lost a few knots in the pearls trying to get the knots small and the pearls close together, but they look better. I've used double knots only with big stones not with pearls. Help!

 

[Rosomane]

A chain is only as strong as it's weakest link and that goes for cord too. I would think somewhere there is information of the tensile strength of the various materials available for stringing/knotting - anybody seen that somewhere?

 

[Taylor]

Have any of you been brave enough to try no knots with your best pearls? After spending several hours digging out a small knot swallowed by a pearl, I'm giving thought to doing this without knots between the pearls, only at the start and finish, and using very thick thread instead.

 

[pattye]

Hi Taylor,
I have some strands that a designer did using great pearls with tiny 2-3mm gold spacers.Flat Like daisys. I think it looks really nice. I am going to try some with vermeil or oxidized ss. It keeps the pearls from wearing against each other. Even a tiny keishi might work, and from a distance look like a knot. The trick is to use really small ones. Sure makes for faster stringing! I am just learning, so I take a length of wire or whatever and "practice" to see if I like the combo. I'm not sure what others do. I'm not good enough yet to just know what works. all the best,
Pattye

If you want to see what I mean go to DruzyDesign on ebay and look at her necklaces.
I have some tahitians and ss from her. If I can figure out my digital I will post photos.

 

[Taylor]

Hi Pattye,
I'm new at this, too. As I understand it, knots serve 2 purposes. 1) to keep the pearls from rubbing against each other and 2) to save most of the pearls if the thread should break. I just love the look of the pearls right next to each other. The knotting isn't so hard. I like the 2 string method for consistently getting the knots even. But the push-with-next-pearl method to produce smaller knots on a single thread... however this seems to work well only if the pearls have consistently sized holes. No gulpers. On another thread, someone mentioned Japanese ladies like strands with no knots. I just wondered if anyone had experience with no knots.
Taylor

 

[kheri]

Its' all about practice. More you do better you get it.

 

[cyens]

http://jewelrymaking.about.com/library/weekly/aa062899.htm

Ouch... that is cheating indeed.... It must be so long to string. You need to make knot then put a pearl, and so forth...
I wouldn't see my self stringing this way

 

[perlas]

Hi Taylor,
Natural pearls were sometimes strung with no knots but on horsetail hair not silk and only if the pearls were small (under 5mm).

Is horsetail hair strong enough to string small pearls? I may just look for a horse and try it.

 

[Caitlin]

Hi
Yesterday I strung a necklace of 13-15+MM CFWP, 26" long with silk knots. It is quite heavy, 140 grams. After just a few hours of wear, the silk stretched on almost every single bead. I had it knotted very tightly against each pearl, so that is not the problem. It is the weight and the silk thread.

What to use instead?
I guess I'll have to string it on wire?

 

[perlas]

Hi Larry and Caitlin,

There are tough nylon threads from China which are more durable than silk. I have no experience in breakage of coated 7-wire strands. However, the ones I use are not in sterling silver, but steel wire, I guess.

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

Be wary though wire strands will kink and there is no getting the kinks out. I still feel its personal preference! for what to use.. if you mean contiuous daily wear everwhere from sun up to sund down then there may be a chance that the silk will break most definately stretch a little. I pre-stretch my silk then use it for my stringing.

 

[Satine De La Courcel]

HI Ash,
you get your silk wet to stretch it? How do you do you actually put the stretch on it?

Nope I just fiddle with the silk and stretch it dry. slight tuggs up and down the length I have. so there is still some stretch and play bu tnot nearly as much as before...

Wire and me not a good combo.. I thought so for durability but not really. Silk actually works beter for me and in a pinch so does Nymo or silamide... However most of the stuff I make to be gifted in my hobby people are like you they love wires for their braclets So I have a small stash of softflex 7& 19 but the 49swire is getting harder and more expensice ( here for me) so I am as always looking for an alternate supply source

I like wire., especially for bracelets. I use SoftFlex 7, 19 & 48 wires depending on how heavy the beads are. I have never had it kink on me.

Delton is new to me I am willing to give it a try depending on several reviews.

TO each their own I guess about stringing materials. use and find what you like beast is probably the safest thing to say..

Chers
Happy Friday all!

 

[J. Larry Railey]

Detolon

Detolon

Thanks, everyone.

As to the Accuflex sterling wire's breaking, we found out that it was only 7-strand instead of the 49-strand we should have been using. Are bonded nylon threads and bonded polyester threads better than those that are not bonded?

Regards,

JLR/jag
J. Larry Railey
Railey & Associates
jlr@houston.rr.com

 

[Caitlin]

Hi Larry
The 19 (or 21) strand wires (depending on brand work really well, too.

I haven't tried Dandyline yet, but it is braided cord and supposedly does not stretch.

I don't know the difference between unbonded and bonded threads, but I am researching at the moment. I am going to try c-lon too. I may or may not use the use the threads I test, but I do like to try them out and the market has gotten ahead of me.

 

[knotty panda]

Stringing pearls

Stringing pearls

Hello all. I?m new and so glad I was directed to this site. Knots are my specialty, hence the name.

Thread: I use YLI 1000 denier carded silk 20 meters to a card. It lasts forever, is very inexpensive, very strong (haven?t had a strand break yet and I sleep in my pearls) and it comes in colors. A word about colored thread, for some reason, dyed threads don?t have the same texture or ?hand? as undyed thread.

I don?t normally stretch my thread as I condition it in natural beeswax so much that it?s like stretching it. A good way to stretch thread is to take the length you need for your piece and thread it through your needle, wet it, string on your pearls, and let it dangle on a clothes hanger in the closet until dry. The weight of your pearls will stretch the thread. Then remove the beads, condition the thread to keep it from becoming unruly and knot using your favorite method.

One more word about the carded thread which has the needle attached which was mentioned here, it?s not thread at all but cord. Keep that in mind. If you use it to knot, use the smaller size 1 or 2.

I don?t use bead tips or clam shells, I use bullion.

I?ve tried every kind of knotting there is (except the Tri-Cord) from the old Japanese ?tie the line to a button on your shirt? trick to running two needled threads through the bead and using an overhand knot.

I use a straight pin as an awl with great results.

One method I haven?t seen discussed here is the ?carrier line? method. This is good for heavy pearls where the silk will stretch no matter how much you condition it. String the design on a wire (I use SoftTouch). Now, run a needle and thread the length of the necklace through each bead and make a larkshead knot between each bead. The wire takes the pressure off the silk and the silk separates each bead. No one can tell the difference.

And one last knotting trick, which really isn?t knotting at all, string a Delica seed bead between each bead in your design to simulate hand knotting. The look is fantastic!

Happy knotting!

 

[jerin]

Hello all. I’m new and so glad I was directed to this site. Knots are my specialty, hence the name.

One method I haven’t seen discussed here is the “carrier line” method. This is good for heavy pearls where the silk will stretch no matter how much you condition it. String the design on a wire (I use SoftTouch). Now, run a needle and thread the length of the necklace through each bead and make a larkshead knot between each bead. The wire takes the pressure off the silk and the silk separates each bead. No one can tell the difference.


Happy knotting!

Hi Knotty Panda and welcome to the Forum!

Thanks for the good advice. I have a question regarding the heavy pearls:
If You have them first on wire and then try to go through the pearls with the silk - is the drillhole large enough? As You know the fwps all have very small drill holes....

What number of Soft Touch are You using on the heavy pearls?

 

[knotty panda]

I have found drill holes to be of varying sizes. Obviously, you want to test what you can get through the hole before you string so you can make adjustments if necessary. Try the smallest size first and work up from there.

 

[Caitlin]

Welcome Knotty Panda

and thanks for sharing. I liked the wire plus thread tip too. Never thought about combining them, though I use a lot of wire and a lot of thread.

I use wire on the heavy pearls because the silk streches no matter how much I stretched it before. I think I have some pix up where I used #12 or so seed beads between the klonks. Love the look.

 

[knotty panda]

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Thank you for the warm welcome.

Caitlin: When you mentioned fishing line, I thought, gee, I should have mentioned all my little tricks. I use kite line. (65# test in case I want to hang a bowling ball around my neck.) Then I realized your fishing line and my kite line are both made by Spectra. I wonder if they are the same product just packaged differently for different audiences. Here's to ingenuity!