Finishing Bead Stringing Chain Using a Bead Tip from abeadstore.com

Our store-within-a-store featuring sale and closeout gemstone, glass & pearl beads.

Shop for Deals!

Using Beading Tips with Beading Chain

As an alternative to crimp end loops and soldering, you can finish bead stringing chain with a bead tip.

Finishing Bead Stringing Chain Using a Bead Tip

Bead stringing chain can be used to show off special beads quickly and elegantly. Using a bead tip with a standard crimp bead to finish the ends of beading chain is a fast, effective and inexpensive alternative to soldering the ends or using a specially designed crimp end loop. This technique works equally well with Sterling Silver parts or Gold Filled parts.

crimp on beading chain

For the centerpiece of this necklace we used a fancy lampwork bead and accented it with India silver spacers and faceted Czech glass, but gemstone beads work equally well on bead stringing chain, and metal beads as small as 2mm can be used, so the possibilities for this style of necklace are limitless! To create this piece, we used:

16" Sterling Silver Bead Stringing Chain
2 Clam Shell Bead Tips, Closed Loop
2 2x2mm Crimp Tubes
1 Fancy Chinese Lampwork Bicone as a focal bead
4 India Silver Star Spacers
2 4mm Faceted Czech Round beads
2 6mm Faceted Czech Round beads
1 6mm Split Ring
1 6mm Spring Ring. While we would recommend using a spring ring or small lobster clasp to compliment the delicate look of the chain, you can certainly use another style of clasp.

Tools you will need:

Bead Crimping Tool. Because the crimp must be closed tightly enough to fit inside the bead tip, crimping pliers are recommended over flat or needle nosed pliers for this.
Wire cutter for Light Weight wire to cut the proper length of bead stringing chain.
Flat or needle nosed (non-serrated) Pliers for opening and closing the bead tips and clasp parts.

Simple Instructions:

Cut a 16 inch piece of Bead Stringing Chain. If you want the necklace to be exactly 16 inches, then you will need to adjust the length of chain to accommodate the length of the clasp you have chosen.
Insert one end of the chain into a 2x2mm tube crimp. Using the crimping tool, close the crimp around the chain. Crimp hard. You can also reposition the crimping tool a few times which will make the flattened crimp more round and compact.

Figure 1 - Crimp closed tightly on beading chain

String a clam shell bead tip onto the chain so that it will enclose the crimp bead.

Figure 2 - Bead tip ready to enclose crimp

Close the bead tip gently using flat or needle nosed pliers.
String the beads you want to feature onto the beading chain.

Figure 3 - Featured beads strung on chain

String the second clam shell bead tip onto the loose end of the chain so that it can enclose the end of the chain.
Insert the loose end of the chain into the second 2x2mm tube crimp. Using the crimping tool, close the crimp very tightly around the chain.
Close the bead tip around the crimp bead using flat or needle nosed pliers.
To finish the necklace, attach the spring ring to the connecting loop of one of the bead tips; attach the split ring to the connecting loop of the other bead tip.

Figure 4 - Clasp detail

Tip:

Because split rings can be attached to closed loops, they make a secure and inexpensive clasp ring when working with findings with closed loops like the clam shell bead tips used here. Open jump rings aren't ideal to use as clasp rings because they can unexpectedly come open with repeated use. If you use a lot of split rings in your projects you may want to invest in a pair of Split Ring Pliers.

Use the same technique with Gold filled beading chain - just use Gold Filled Tube Crimps and Clamshell Bead Tips.

» Send This Page to a Friend