Last week, my mother came to me with a plastic bag full of
loose and partially strung beads. I recognized it immediately: it was a
necklace I had made for her a few years ago, broken in multiple places and
hemorrhaging seed beads into the bottom of the bag. The damage was bad enough
that I had to remove and restring the entire necklace in order to repair it.
While I’m confident that the repair job will last, I’m certain that Mom will
come to me with another bag of beads not long from now, and another, and
another. It’s not because she’s careless with jewelry, far from it. It’s
because I was careless with how I strung the necklaces in the first place.
The material you use to string your beaded jewelry is
incredibly important, though it may not always be evident while you’re making
the piece. Some advantages and drawbacks can only be seen years down the line,
once the piece has been subjected to considerable wear and tear. I’ve made a
lot of choices in this department, both good and bad, so allow me to give you a
rundown of the common stringing materials for beads and how they are best used.
Sewing Thread
If you’re completely new to beading, this is likely the
material you had on hand for your first project. Sewing thread comes in a
million different colors and comes in a range of materials and thicknesses as
well. However, it’s not usually the best thing to make a necklace with. Sewing
thread is fairly delicate, and it breaks easily under the strain of heavy beads
and frequent usage. Quilting thread fares a bit better, as it is sturdier, but
similar problems apply.
I would only ever recommend using sewing thread for a
project if you need to pass a great number of threads through a single bead.
Bead weaving and bead netting are examples. Having multiple threads and anchor
points somewhat mitigates the weakness of the thread. Use quilting thread if
you can, and never use quilting/sewing thread with medium or heavy weight
beads, or with single-stranded beadwork. It will break, and you will be
unhappy.
Uncoated Wire
Another material that may have other uses around the house,
thin uncoated wire can also be used to string beads. Usually made of steel,
these wires are composed of a single strand of metal that has been drawn out to
a fine gauge. They can be shaped and twisted, but they easily sag under the
weight of heavier beads. Wire like this is good for bead weaving if you want
the resulting piece to be firm and not very flexible. Thread is better for
pieces that need to drape.
While uncoated wire can be very strong, it has some
weaknesses that make it unsuitable for many types of beadwork. If you’re not
very careful while working with it, wire will kink, and this kink will remain
as a point of weakness in the wire even after you straighten it out. Long,
unanchored strands of beaded wire can also kink as a part of daily wear, and
that results in breakages. Additionally, depending on the type of metal that
has been used, wire may rust or develop a patina that can discolor the insides
of transparent beads. I saw this on the necklace I just repaired: the light
blue seed beads that had been in contact with the wire had a dark grayish
residue on the inside of the hole.
Beading Thread
Now we’re getting into materials that are made specifically
with beading in mind. Beading threads are often made of nylon or polyester, and
are much stronger than sewing thread. Depending on the brand, they can come in
a wide variety of colors. It is usually thin enough to thread on a needle and pass
through a seed bead multiple times, making it suitable for bead weaving .
Beading thread is really a great all-purpose choice for
making beaded jewelry. It is strong enough to hold up to heavier beads (though
unevenly distributed weight may cause the necklace to hang oddly), but drapes
nicely even when used with delicate seed beads. My only gripe about this stuff
is the price: it can get pretty expensive to bead with specialty thread,
especially if you’re working on a project that requires a lot of yardage.
Nylon Filament
Much like wire, nylon filament is one continuously drawn
piece of material. Only instead of metal, it’s... nylon. I sure hope you didn’t
expect it to be made of something else! These filaments have multiple uses,
from fishing line to ukulele strings, but they can also be used for beading!
Nylon is incredibly strong, so it can safely be used for
stringing even very heavy beads. It tends to have a bit of stiffness to it, so
delicate beaded pieces may not drape as nicely as with something like thread.
Nylon is usually only available in while, clear, or a small range of other
colors, so it may not be suitable for projects where the threading material
will be very visible. It is also difficult to knot or tie, so supplemental
materials such as crimp beads are a necessity for a lasting piece of jewelry.
Coated Beading Wire
A distant cousin of the uncoated wire, coated beading wire
should be saved for your heavy-duty projects. It’s composed of a multi-stranded
twisted or braided wire, covered in a polymer coating. Unlike a single stranded
wire, this beading wire doesn’t kink and won’t discolor your beads. It’s
incredibly strong and difficult to break: it will hold up to even the heaviest
of beads. However, this strength comes at a price. I’ve only ever seen beading
wire in one color (steel), so you don’t have many options there. It’s also very
stiff, more so than nylon. If you don’t have any heavy beads to weight it down,
it’s not going to hang correctly on a necklace. And because beading wire is so
thick, you won’t be able to do bead weaving or any delicate beadwork that
requires multiple passes through a single bead.
You can use virtually any string-like material to make
beaded jewelry, but these materials are the ones I’ve used the most. If you’re
looking to start beading, I hope this guide will help you pick the best thread
for your project!
