First Ever Make It! Monday-How To Close a Crimp Bead

After having so much fun with my feature on lovelylovedesigns, I can't wait to do my second feature, Make! It Monday! Today, I am going to teach you how to close a crimp bead when making jewelry such as a bracelet or a necklace with a clasp at th end. A crimp bead is used to end a bracelet or necklace and make a loop for the clasp to hold on to. You will need crimp beads, obviously, some string, such as Tigertail, and crimp pliers. Crimp pliers are a special tool for closing crimp beads. When you close the crimp pliers, you can see that there are two holes. The end hole is an oval shape and the second is the shape of a pair of lips.

Crimp Bead

Crimp Pliers

1. First grab some string, such as Tigertail or beading wire, and string the crimp bead onto the end of the string.

2. Next, take the end of the string and loop it back through the crimp bead.

3. Put the crimp bead in the second hole (the pair of lips) and close the crimping pliers. The crimp bead should curl into the shape of the hole.

4. Then put it in the first hole (the oval) on its side. Close the crimping pliers and you should notice that the crimp bead is now an oval shape.

5. Now you are almost done! All you need to do now is to trim off the extra string . You can trim it almost all off, or you can leave it longer so that you just string the beads on the extra string.

Congratulations! You have just finished closing a crimp bead. I hope this Make It! Monday helped you learn how to close a crimp bead.