I don't use many crimp beads in my jewellery but when I do I have to admit that I don't cover them up, I don't think about how they can be hidden. This is mainly because until now the only way I knew of covering them up was by using crimp bead covers, and I really don't like how they look! Lorelei Eurto has solved that problem for me though, with a great post on some imaginative ways of hiding those sometimes ugly squashed bits of metal. You can find her tutorial here.
I find I rarely use them as well. I never trust them to hold! Although my knots do come undone sometimes as well.
ReplyDeleteI rarely crimp as I don't really work with beading wire, but I enjoyed lorelei's tutorial - just another way to make your jewellery really personal.
ReplyDeleteI do use crimps on many of my wires and found the tutorial very helpful. I have added crimp covers in the past to tighten up wires as she mentions she does. The other thing I have found is that crimp tubes can flatten even better than round crimps, and will slide right into the end bead of a piece, if pulled in tight enough.
ReplyDeleteOoh, jump rings to cover crimps! That's a very clever trick!
ReplyDeleteAs a beginner I do use beading wire and crimps a lot, because it brings such quick rewards. Lately I've mostly been going with the crimps by themselves and not really bothering with crimp covers because I just end up covering a small messy-looking crimp with a large messy-looking crimp cover! Such are the limitations when one's skills are still rather, well, in development.
Lorelei didn't mention calottes, which I guess would be another possibility, although again it does depend how you feel about them. I see calottes quite a lot on costume jewellery in shops but not so much on handmade jewellery.
Anyway - thanks for the link!