Metal Wire

• Wire comes in a variety of materials (i.e.: copper, silver, gold, niobium), shapes (i.e.: square, half-round, round), gauges (i.e.: 20g, 22g, 18g) and hardness/malleability (i.e.: dead soft, half hard, full hard- see below).
• The higher the number, the thinner the gauge. The lower the number the thicker the gauge.
• Dead Soft Wire is easiest to work with and is suitable for wire wrapping projects where strength and pulling is not an issue.
  
  Half Hard Wire will spring back and maintain its shape when pressed against. Great for French ear wires and clasps.
  
  Full Hard Wire is even stiffer than half- hard and probably overkill for most basic jewelry making.

Beading Wire

• A twisted stainless steel wire with a plastic coating appropriate to string most beads, especially those with sharp holes (metal or stone).
• Available in a variety of thicknesses (i.e.: fine, medium, heavy), colors and flexibility.

• Some brand names are Soft Flex™, Beadalon™, Accu-Flex®, FireLine™, Acculon or Tiger Tail.
• No beading needle required.
• Begin and end with crimps.

Memory Wire

• Rigid, pre-coiled stainless steel wire available in a variety of diameters for easy to string beaded rings, bracelets and choker necklaces.
• Finish with a loop on each side or glue on end caps.

• Use heavy duty cutter, as this wire damages regular cutters.

Bead Design Board

• Use the grooved channels to lay out your beads in the design prior to stringing.
• Use other compartments to sort beads and findings.
• Marked measured increments help guide you with placement and overall length.
• Available in single channel (for single strand designs) and multiple channels for multi-strand projects.

Center Drilled Hole Bead

• Hole is drilled plum down the center of the bead.
• This is the most common way stones are drilled for beads.

Top Drilled Hole Bead “Top Drill”

• Hole is drilled horizontally and closer to the top of the bead.

Crimping Pliers

• Used to fold tube crimps in half, so they become smaller and less obtrusive on the ends of a jewelry project finished with beading wire.

Crimps (Tube style)

• Used with beading wire designs to secure the clasp to the end by doubling back through the crimp and smashing the crimp, with either chain nose pliers or crimping pliers.
• Two crimps are used (one on each end).

• Available in a variety of diameters and wall thicknesses to accommodate beading wire.

Crimp Covers

• A small “C” shaped hollow bead used to hide your crimp.

Head Pins

• A straight wire with a variety of tips: flat, balled, fancy.
• Used to make earrings and drops.
• 22g, 20g and 18g are commonly used for earrings and pendants.
• Available in different lengths (i.e.: 1”, 1 /1”, 2”, 3”)

Stringth™ Bead Cord

• Used for bead stringing projects finished with bead cup knot covers.
• Synthetic fibers. Less likely to stretch/fray/break.  
• Coat the cord end (1”) with GS Hypo Cement glue to form a self needle. 
• Other brand names available also made of silk/nylon/ blend.

Knotting Thread (Pre-needled)

• This nylon cord comes with a needle already attached to the end.
• Available in various colors.

GS Hypo Cement

• Used to saturate knots in thread at the end of bead cord designs.

• Better than Superglue because it is less brittle and more durable.
• Great needle nose tip for precision application.

Small Scissors

• A good pair of sharp, tiny tipped scissors will be useful for snipping the bead cord.

Awl

• Used for sliding knots exactly where you want them.
• Helpful for knotting pearls.

• Useful for untying knots in bead cord.

Tweezers

• A good pair of pointy- tipped tweezers are indispensable for pearl knotting. Place your tweezers exactly where you want the knot to be.

• Also come in handy for untying knots in bead cord. Use care not to cut your cord with the sharp edges.

Bead Reamer

• This handy tool is used to enlarge holes in pearls and softer gemstones.
• If the bead hole is just a little too small for your stringing material, gentle but firm twisting pressure will make a hole a larger.

Wire Coiling Gizmo™

• Use this tool to coil wire into continuous loops.
• Coil loops can be coiled into beads or snipped for jump rings with a good blunt flush cutter.

permission to use image by CFox

Flush Cutter

• Makes a blunt cut in wire.
• Ideal for snipping coils into jump rings.

Bead Tip (clamshell style knot cover)

• Used for bead cord designs.
• Hide your glued knot within this clamshell shaped finding.
• Hook your clasp into the loop and close the loop with round nose pliers, squeeze the clamshell closed with chain nose pliers.

Bead Tip (bowl style knot cover)

• Used for bead cord designs.
• Hide your glued knot within this bowl shaped finding.
• Hook your clasp into the loop and close the loop with round nose pliers.

Clasp

• Available in many different styles (i.e.: lobster, toggle, spring ring, box)

• Choose a clasp that is in proper scale and functionally appropriate to your design.
• “Hook and Eye” clasp shown.

Earring Finding (shepherd hook French wire)

• This finding slips through the hole of your pierced ear.

• Dangle components from the loop on the bottom.

French Wire (Gimp Wire / Bouillon)

• Super tiny coiled wire that protects the fiber bead cord from scraping against the clasp.
• Traditionally used in older pearl knotted jewelry.
• Another option to Bead tip knot covers.

Cone

• Used to create a tapered end to a multi-strand design.
• Two cones for each project, one on each end.

Jump Rings

• Perfect circles of wire with a blunt cut split.
• Used to attach two or more components.
• Make them in different sizes, materials and gauges.