Learn To Bead Video #3: All About Stringing Materials

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Note: This audio transcript is auto-generated and may not be completely accurate.
Hi and welcome to Beadaholique.com's third video in our Learn to Bead Series where we explore the basics of creating your very own beaded jewelry. In this installment we'll be covering basic stringing materials. To begin let's take a look at beading wire. Now when you think of wire you probably think of something that's kind of stiff and bendable and able to keep its shape. But beading wire is different. It's comprised of tiny metal cables usually braided and given a protective coating so that it's soft and pliable for the beads to hang naturally and nicely. It comes in different weights and strength as well as different strand amounts. The better and stronger the wire the greater the strand count. So as a beginner it would be wise to work with less expensive types of wire and as you grow in your beading experience or if you decide to sell your creations you can advanced to some more high quality larger strand count wire. It comes in this right here is twenty four carat gold plated and sterling silver plated for your finer designs It comes in a very fine all the way up to a very heavy gauge so you can string larger beads. It also comes in many different colors and that's incase you want your design to show the wire like in this bracelet. So if you have just small seed beads or really light beads you want to string them on a very fine wire. And then heavier beads like the heavy gem stones you gonna want to string them on heavier wire. So that's beading wire. Now I'm going to talk a little bit about artistic craft wire or precious metal wire and that also comes in a variety of sizes and colors. The sizes are determined by what guage the wire is. Now the larger the number of the gauge the finer the wire. So this is a pretty thin piece of wire right here and this is twenty-four gauge. So a twenty-eight gauge wire would be even thinner than this. This piece right here is quite thick. This is twelve-gauge. Wire of this kind of the kind that can be bent and manipulated and made into round shapes is usually used for wire wrapping and we have a very handy video on our website about how to wire wrapped beads together. Now let's talk about chain. Chains are a very handy tool in jewelry making because really you can just cut a length of it and hang your favorite pendant and you're ready to go. Sometimes you need to put a clasp on it like this one. Or sometimes you can buy chains that are pre-made and already has a clasp. So you just chain your favorite pendant on there. Now it comes in once again all kinds of finishes in types of metals. It comes in sterling silver and gold filled and pretty soon we're gonna carry silver filled. Comes in an antique finishes and interesting shapes. Comes in aluminum with different prints on it. You can buy charm chain like this with little dangles off of it and that's really cute. Comes in very very large sizes and fun colors. This is a ball chain that's like a pale purple color. Now here we have the variety of materials that you can also use in your beading designs. These materials are ribbons such as these silk ribbons or grosgrain ribbon. You can use really any kind of ribbon. We sell velvet. This right here is a faux suede. You can use hemp. All of these come in a variety of colors and really so many uses. Just like the chains a lot of these materials come finished necklaces or finished bracelets. So you could buy pre-made necklace and hang your favorite pendant from it or you can make your own design. Here I have silk ribbon and I added a beaded length to it. Or you can really go crazy and cut multiple strands and hang charms from the multiple strands. There's so many things you can do with these materials. Now if you want to get into intricate work such as bead weaving. You're gonna want some very fine thread. And that thread comes in the form of K.O. thread or NYMO and they're both nylon based thread. They come in a variety of colors so that you can match your beadwork. You could also use crystal clear or black fireline or wildfire. These are both synthetic materials that are really strong and they also used for bead weaving. Finally I'm going to talk about stretch materials. Stretch materials mostly just come in clear. They're really good for beginners also because you can just cut a length, string your favorite beads and tie a secure knot and wear your design. We have a very handy video on our website once again for how to use and knot stretch material. So thanks for watching and join us next time when we discuss the various types of tools needed for basic beading projects. Go to Beadaholique.com for all of your beading supplies needs!