Beading - Finishing Your Piece

When you're planning a piece of jewelry, it's loadsmiddle of the piece, and the end bar is used to
of fun to choose the right beads and work outfinish off the ends of the rows. You can also buy
how you're going to put them all together for thefasteners that are specifically designed for
final result. But there's another element you needmultirow jewelry. If you don't want to keep the
to consider - how are you going to finish off yourstrands separate at the end of the row, you can
piece?The bits and pieces that are used to finishpass them all into an end cap or cone to finish off
off pieces of jewelry are commonly known asthe strands.EarringsDepending on the design of
findings. This general term covers all sorts ofyour earrings, you might need earwires or ear
fasteners, connectors and spacers that you canstuds for pierced ears, or screw or clip ear
use to give your jewelry the finishing touch.findings for non-pierced ears. You can also buy
There are an enormous variety of findingsear posts and a matching scroll or butterfly and
available, so I will just cover the main types thatuse them to hold earrings in pierced ears. To
are reasonably common in shops.Findings aremake drop earrings you will need eyepins or
generally available in either gold or silver colors;headpins to support the beads, and you can also
sometimes as pure metals, sometimes as gold orbuy chandelier earring findings for more
silver plating. If you're making earrings, it's a goodcomplicated designs.CrimpsCrimps can be used for
idea to use either sterling silver or gold fora couple of different purposes, including attaching
earwires. Also, if you choose a magnetic clasp,fasteners to beading wire or thread, and also to
remember that this can cause issues forhelp keep beads in place in the design. You buy
someone with a pacemaker.FastenersUnlessmetal crimps for use with wire and tiger tail, and
you're using some sort of stretchy cord oryou can buy leather crimps or spring ends to use
making a very long piece, you will need a fastenerwith leather and cotton. You can use metal crimps
to put on or remove bracelets and necklaces.with thread or elastic, but you must be very
There are plenty of fasteners available, including:-careful that when you squash the crimp you don't
Trigger- Screw- Hook and Eye- Magnetic-cut the thread.RingsJump rings and split rings can
T-barShop around until you find one you like.be used as links, and for joining other items, such
These are just generic categories, and the rangeas fasteners, onto a piece of jewelry. Jump rings
available in each category can be quite varied andare a single circle of metal, and split rings are a
interesting.Spacer and End BarsThese are useddouble circle to provide extra strength and
for multistrand necklaces or bracelets. The spacersecurity.
bar helps to keep the strands separate in the