Beading Wire

[dragonfly1977]

Hi all,

I fancy making my own beaded bracelets and bag charms/mobile phone charms for family and friends this xmas and was just wondering if someone could point me in the right direction as to which type/size of beading wire to use.

This may be a complete disaster but i am looking forward to the challenge so any advice would be greatly appreciated

Thank you in advance

[zebady]

Hi and to the forum!

It kinda depends on what sort of beads you are planning to use, and how heavy they are. Also what sort of style bracelet you were thinking of?

Do you have anything in mind yet?

Debs

[dragonfly1977]

Hi Debs, thanks for the reply

I was thinking of using swarovski crystals & few spacers first, and will experiment with other beads etc as i go along. A few bracelets i have seen on the web contain these and they look lovely.

[zebady]

Hi again

I prefer to use Beadalon for most of my work, so for bracelets with swarovski's I'd probably use a 19 Strand wire (possibly a 49 strand if using big beads) from beadalon. I have used softflex 19 strand in the past aswell and that would also be ok. You don't want anything to thin else the beads will either be too heavy for it to hang right or they will eventually cut through the wire. I'm assuming you are talking about bracelets with some kind of clasp?

You could use memory wire aswell, thats fairly easy to work with. Bit of a knack to make the loops at the end, some brute force needed and always use memory wire cutters so you don't wreck your other tools.

Palmer metals have beadalon at a good price, but I've read on another thread they are slow to deliver at the moment. I also use Jillybeads (especially for my 49 strand as they are the cheapest) and their swarovski beads aren't a bad price either.

Hope that makes things a bit clearer!

Debs

[dragonfly1977]

Great advice Debs ... much appreciated, thank you.