Every Beader Should Have These 5 Beading And Jewelry-Making Essentials

Whether beading and jewelry-making is a new interest for you or you’re a seasoned beader, there are a few fundamental tools that should be included in every beader’s toolkit. The primary thing is, of course, beads, which you most likely already have a decent supply of.

The portion of your jewelry-making experience where you collect a variety of beads has to be the most enjoyable. Beads come in a wide range of colours and materials, including coloured jade, glass and resin beads, gemstones, metal beads, seed beads, and much more.

Apart from beads, there are a few other products you should have on hand for your next jewelry-making project:

1. Handheld Instruments

Round-nose pliers, flat-nose pliers, and wire cutters are the most important tools for beading and jewellery manufacturing in general. Round-nose pliers are ideal for looping wire or headpins, such as connecting an earring component to an earwire.

Flat-nose pliers are frequently used to secure crimp beads and tiny bead connectors into place after they have been strung onto wire to finish a beading job. Wire cutters can be used to cut wire or chain into strips and shorten headpins. These tools are frequently sold in sets of three and will be an excellent addition to your beading equipment!

2. Wire, cord, and thread are the second and third items on the list

Depending on the style of jewellery you enjoy crafting, you may want to include a variety of bead-stringing materials to your kit. Stretch Magic is a form of transparent stretchy string that can be used to make stretch bracelets, for example. If you’re constructing a bracelet for a youngster, this is a good material to use because it expands to suit their wrist well.

Leather cord is ideal for heavy jobs because it is robust and long-lasting. Wire is available in a variety of gauges, and the thinner the gauge, the easier it is to flex and bend. Heavy gauge wire may be twisted into shape and hammered to produce some stunning jewellery items if you enjoy working with wire. If beadwork is your passion, your beading kit should include a variety of beading threads such as Nymo (as well as beading needles).

3. Findings in Beads

Findings are the “extras” in the world of jewellery and beading. Jewelry-making findings range from spacer beads, bails, and bead caps to connectors, clasps, and earwires, and you’ll need them all in your kit to put your products together.

You won’t need every type of finding possible, but having a nice selection in your kit to begin with will not only provide inspiration, but it will also eliminate the need to rush out to your local craft store when you really want to get started on your project!

4. Bead Organizer

Many bead storage systems are available to keep your beads and equipment organised. The majority are in the form of compartment trays, and there are others that stack on top of one another. If you have a lot of beads to keep, these are quite beneficial.

It’s worth keeping seed beads in their original containers if you have them in your beading kit. Seed beads are exceedingly small, and it might be difficult to tell them apart if they are mixed up with beads of a different size. Not only that, but separating them once they’ve been mixed in with another batch can be a pain!

5. Beading Table

A bead board is a useful tool for designing the design of your jewellery item before you start working on it. The indents on a bead board allow you to place your beads precisely where you want them, which is useful when you want to test if your jewellery design will work before you begin producing it. There are measures all around the outside so you can make sure your jewellery piece is the right length.