diamonddustshoe in jewelrymakers

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Jan 25, 2012 13:32

I would like to ask the audience here for opinions/experience as to what the best kind of stringing material would be for a knotted gemstone necklace. The beads are ~6mm tiger eye and hematite, and the holes are good for about 20ga wire to give you an idea of the size. The necklace will be a touch heavy, as you might guess, and will be worn almost ( ... )

Comments (9)

fatcook

Griffin Silk, size 3 (I think, can't tell more without seeing the holes)
You will have to repair it more often (about once a year, depending on wear&tear), but it will hang better.

If you love your hands, DO NOT use nylon thread. That stuff will chew the H@^%& out of your hands and it WILL stretch.

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arielstarshadow

If you aren't wedded to the look/idea of knotting, I'd suggest doing wrapped loops for each bead. VERY durable. Here's a good tutorial:

http://www.firemountaingems.com/beading_howtos/beading_projects.asp?docid=652T&doccat=video%20tutorials&sact=search

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hannahsarah

I second this. Gemstones will gnaw their way through silk really fast. Imagine using a jagged piece of broken glass to cut your way through a piece of cotton twine. That's what beads do to silk when there is daily wear and friction from movement.

Another option is using a coated steel wire like Beadalon, and if you like the knotted look use 2mm spacer beads in between each one. DOUBLE crimp each end, and use pretty crimp covers to finish it off.

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diamonddustshoe

Here's the problem...This is for a male. If it were for myself, I'd redesign the whole thing, but this is what he had before, and I don't know how much redesigning I can do. He wears it constantly, which I hadn't really planned on anyone doing with that particular necklace, since it has such a heavy center stone.

Here is a picture of it.

While I agree on wire for the non-fraying, I'm pretty sure he'll break a crimped necklace pretty quickly. This is a tough one...

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fatcook

The picture helps, thank you.
If I was re-stringing this I would use the largest silk I could find for the hole size,(black 6-8 or maybe gold for contrast). That way there would be very little rub on the thread, with bead tips for the ends. But, it will still stretch a bit, those are heavy stones.
Let him know that he will need to get it re-strung about once a year or so with constant wear.

I wish you luck. I've been knotting for 30 years and that looks like a real bear.

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Thread (7)

hamhock62

They say that silk is the strongest thing that you can use. I've strung a lot of pearls and size 6 Griffin silk make a nice big knot. But...if it's to be worn very frequently I think that 49strand coated wire size 0.19 with small spacers is the answer. I've got three crimpers and none of them makes a very pretty crimp that would show. My arthritic hands can't hold a crimp cover so I only put crimps at the ends where I'm going to put a clasp. I've had larger hole beads that the crimp disappears into so I put a coordinating seed bead size 8 onto the wire before I add the crimp. Just be careful not to break the glass seed bead. The only place I've ever had my wire strung beads break is at the crimp bead when I have been to enthusiastic in closing the crimp.
Good luck. This looks like a really attractive piece of jewelry.

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diamonddustshoe in jewelrymakers

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Comments (9)

fatcook

arielstarshadow

hannahsarah

diamonddustshoe

fatcook

hamhock62

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