TIPS AND TRICKS

warrenfeldby Warren Feld
blog.landofodds.com

Occasional insights into beading, jewelry making, and business…

CURRENT TIPS AND TRICKS BLOG ARTICLES

Crimping:
Follow These 4 Steps To Perfectly Crimp Every Time

Your Crimping Pliers has two sets of notches.

Steps 1 and 2 are done with the bottom pair of notches -- those closest to your hand (ditch on one side of the jaws, and a ditch with a pyramid on the other).

Steps 3 and 4 are done with the top pair of notches -- those furthest from your hand (ditches on either side of the jaws).

Bottom Notches: ditch on one side, and pyramid on the other
Step 1: Crush onto wire: A firm full squeeze on the pliers and then let go. Let go of the pliers. Keep holding the tail parallel to the spine.

Step 2: Turn over 180 degrees, and crush again. We do this because in Step 1, the side of the crimp bead closest to your hand pushes down, but the opposite side, furthest from your hand, actually flares out a little bit. We want to push this flared part down.

You end up with a flat pancake. On one side of this pancake, you'll see a scoring line created by the pyramid.


Top Notch: Ditch on either side
Step 3: Hold crushed crimp vertically inside the two ditches, and crush, to fold this flat pancake in half along the scoring
line. A firm full squeeze on the pliers, and let go. Again, keep control of your tail. You now have half a flat pancake.

Step 4: Use the top notches to gently force the flat crimp back into a round shape again. If you look at either end of the crimp, you’ll see a circle again, rather than a rectangular slit. You want to reshape this half a flat pancake, so that it looks like a tube or round bead again.

Manytimes, your crimp bead will be longer than the width of the jaws on your crimping pliers. So, you will have to work both ends of the crimp independently, in order to re-round them.

Look from the loop side, and look from the tail side. If you see a round circle opening on each side, you're done.

 

Instead of Step 4, you can use a crimp cover, and slide this over the crushed crimp to hide it, instead of re-rounding it.

 

 

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