Swarovski Charms and Settings with Crystal Stones

June 27, 2012 at 8:41 am | Charms, Charms Bracelets, Swarovski Crystal Beads

Every home jewellery maker loves a Swarovski Bead, a tiny one to use as a sparkly spacer bead, one of the designer shapes for a pendant or earring, maybe a traditional facetted round (Swarovski style number 5000) for a classic necklace design. But Swarovski do not only make beads for jewellery makers. They make stones and the settings to put them in and they make charms, plated in sterling silver with the stones already set into them, for those of us who want it already done for us. Who wouldn’t, sticking fiddly little stones into tiny little cup settings is a time consuming job.

Swarovski Charms

Little charms in the form of hearts, rings and simple flowers settings are available, there is a good colour choice of the stones. We like to use them for more delicate charm bracelets and simple earrings.

Check out the sizes of the charms before you order, things always look bigger on the screen!

The 10mm flower pendant has a solid back and is silver plated, the one in the photo is peridot (light green), we also stock fuchsia, aquamarine and crystal. Use them on a charm bracelet for a bit of extra sparkle.

They look really good mixed with an array of bright beads on a chunky chain as a charm bracelet. Swarovski use different sized stones in the multiple stone settings appropriate to their size. Plating is high quality as you would expect!

Find our range of  Swarovski Charms set with stones for jewellery making.  here and give them a go next time you want something a little different for your beady hobby!

Bead and Jewellery Stringing Wire and Threads.

June 8, 2012 at 1:07 pm | jewellery making, Stringing materials for jewellery making

Tigertail, Beadalon and Flex-rite jewellery threading wires are strong, flexible, nylon-covered wires which are used for stringing necklaces and bracelets. There are stiff enough to use without a  needle and  hold their shape. The thicker wires are ideal when threading on heavier beads and can be finished with crimps, about which more below. The more strands a wire has the more flexible it is.  So 19 strand is the more flexible than the 7 strand and slightly more expensive but gives a luxurious drape to your necklaces. I prefer to use at least 0.018″ diameter and at least 7 strands across all the jewellery wire stringing brands. Plenty of colours are available in most of the wires so they can be used to thread matching beads for floater style necklaces, where you leave the wire bare between bead stations anchored in place by crimps. A crimp is a tiny metal tube about 1.5 mm in diameter which is threaded on to the wire and then squashed closed with a pair of flat nosed jewellery making pliers or a set of crimping pliers.  Other threads such as silk and nylon sometimes incorporate a needle which is snipped off after the jewellery piece is completed, but with the stringing wires a needle is not required as the wire is stiff enough to go straight through the hole, this is particularly useful when making jewellery from pearls which have really tiny holes and often cannot be threaded with a needle and the resulting doubled up thread. We stock the most beautiful sterling silver beading wire by beadalon which is  just perfect for designs which are made entirely of silver so that they pass the assay test (important if you are selling your handmade jewellery designs). If you are making a special piece of  jewellery as a gift, and don’t want to use the basic steel wires then opt for the silver one for a lovely touch of luxury, particularly if you are using extra special beads or just one big central bead or pendant.

Beadalon sterling silver wire

We also stock a crinkle beadalon wire, which gives a wavy effect will lend body and drama to you design to your designs. It is available in gold, silver and copper colours. It’s  perfect for a nice gently wavy floater necklace made with lightweight beads such as tiny crystals or seedbeads. Crinkle wire comes on a 15 feet per reel and .018″ diameter 7 strand with 4.5kg breaking strain.

Pictured above is a 10 foot reel of sterling silver beadalon  ogf 7 strand flexibility.

Time to get threading those beads fellow beady jewellery makers.