Falling Apart

Okaaaay . . . I hesitate to post this here, but what the hey.

Alright, so some of my earlier stuff has fallen apart. Before I knew about various widths and strengths of beading wire, and about making sure the two strands were separate when doing the first part of the crimp, and such.

Early stuff, although one is right on the border of when I realized, oops I had bought the thinnest wire, and of course the crimps I had were too large for it.

Everyone makes mistakes, but these are SO discouraging! Embarrassing. Two family pieces and four that I sent to the wholesaler guy. The most recent being from last March/April.

Which is after I started this blog . . .

The crop circles one fell apart after two wearings (I wore it once, to test it). I gave it to my sister, and it fell apart her first wearing.

I am SO embarrassed! I recently did a post on various crimps and methods, as you know. We'll see, but I think after I send this most recent, more learned batch of jewelry to the wholesaler guy, that I may be seriously testing more pieces on family and friends. Plus, making more pieces with chain, too.

I know, experience is good. But I am really, really embarrassed. Going to fix everything, of course (the wholesaler restrung and fixed the four that came apart on him).

It does make me wonder if any of my earlier stuff fell apart after people bought it.

I was NEW, though! I didn't know beading wire came in different widths and sometimes needs different crimps and crimpers, depending. I also didn't know that you make sure the two strands are separate when crimping, until last spring.

I'm also going to add a bead AFTER the crimp, to help reduce stress. I've also seen and read that many pass the beading wire back through some beads, for extra strength, but the manufacturer of the beading wire says that that is not necessary, that you can cut off the wire right next to the crimped crimp. Well, I do like following manufacturer instructions, but I'll be sending some back thru some beads, when possible (some beads have TINY holes; I might start reaming some that go near the end of the necklace).

For some, that last probably sounds like I should have been doing it all along, but the manufacturer stated over and over in their FAQ's and ask/answer questions section on the Beadalon site, or a related manufacturer sponsered site, that IT WAS NOT NECESSARY. Still, I'm gonna do it now, as it can't hurt; will just add a bit more time, but it'll be worth it.

I'll also be using the new Wire Guardians, when possible (some designs will preclude it, but I'm glade this product has come out). These are designed to reduce stress on the crimp.

I'll pass on the scrimps. They are hardwareish-looking pieces of crap, in my opinion. Even the manufacturer recommends using a dot of jeweler's cement/adhesive, to secure it, when they also tout the fact that you can unscrew the thing and change out your design; screw it on and off at will. But then they recommend glue inside . . . so much for security.

I'm really in a MOOD right now, but I'll say that that is CRAP. Lol.

So, I guess some painful honesty, here today. A learning experience all around. All items made in this batch I'm sending to the wholesaler were after learning about some of my errors, especially of using too thin a beading wire accidentally, so I hope and think they'll be okay.

I'm discouraged, though. It's disheartening and embarrassing. The things I'm talking about were made from my second month of beading, to stuff up through the 7th month or so (eek!). Anyway.