Adornments by Lynn

A friend of mine, Linda was one of the girls I introduced to beading. She introduced her sister, Leslie and now claims that I have ended up costing Leslie a lot of money… Leslie is wonderfully addicted too!

Anyway, I had lunch with Linda yesterday and she was telling me about some findings I had not tried yet. I’ve seen these, but didn’t know what they were. After some emailing, this is the message I got from Leslie:

There 2 items you might look for. The first is a tiny coiled wire called “French Wire.” The beading wire or thread is threaded through a small piece (about 1/4″ or less) and looped through the jump ring or connecting hole on a part of the clasp. Firemountaingems.com has a good selection and they send out free catalogs that are to drool over. They also call it bullion. I found mine at Michael’s and it’s by Beadalon. A.C. Moore also carries it. Fusionbeads.com has a selection, too, but not as many. The second thing I found, but can’t remember what it is called, is also by Beadalon (A.C. Moore, again.) It is a bead-like (possibly a crimp) section with an oval loop at the top that is grooved, like a tube cut in half lengthwise. You thread the wire up through the bead-like part and over the grooved part and back down through the bead-like part, so the wire rests in the groove. I didn’t buy any, because I think the French wire looks more finished, but I think these would give a stronger finished product, especially if the beaded piece was heavy. I am going to A,C. Moore tonight and will look up the name while I am there. I hope this helps. ~~ Leslie Anderson

Thanks so much for the great info, Leslie! I’m definitely going to get some of these!

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