Long time no post! For the past days I got so hooked up with a lot of things namely my work, family business, and my beading business lately that I was not able to make any new post. But! During my short hiatus, I finally thought of a new topic to share. Thanks to my beading business, I now decided to share a few things that I know about the process of beading! So for those of you who are interested in beading and have plans of making bead jewelry/stuff in the future, read on and I hope you can learn something from what I am about to share! :)
Like any soldier about to take on a battle, you have to prepare your tools. There are a lot of tools used in beading. But as an aspiring beader, you must have these tools/materials:
Pliers. Pliers are a beader's best friend. There are different kinds of pliers used for different purposes:
a. Round-nose pliers for looping;
b. Flat-nose pliers (the one with teeth and without teeth) for holding; and
c. Cutter for cutting!
Pins. Pins are just as important as your pliers. There are three types:
a. Head Pins. Head pins looks like a nail minus the pointed end. This serve as a stopper - meaning there is no way for you to connect it to another unit. It's most commonly used in earrings, pendants, or charms. It looks like this:
photos grabbed from www.munrocrafts.com
b. Ball Pins. Ball pin is similar to a head pin, only the end is shaped like a ball. It serves the same purpose as the head pin, but you get an added design because of its rounded end.
photo grabbed from www.overstock.com
c. Eye Pins. Instead of a flat head, it has a loop on one end. This pin is used for chaining. The loops serve as a connecting point of the other unit. This is often used in bracelets, necklaces, rosaries, etc. It comes in different sizes starting from 1 inch to 2 inches.
Now that you have your tools, it's time to move on to the most important step in beading - LOOPING. Learning how to make the perfect loop is a bit of a challenge especially to beginners. But once you have learned how to make one, you can do anything you want with your materials from earrings, necklaces, and a lot more.
To make a loop, there are three things you need to remember:
1. Bend
2. Cut
3. Loop
I will explain more on the three steps on how to make a loop on my next post. But for now, I hope you enjoyed knowing the basic tools you need for beading!
Happy Beading! :)
