Stop Using Crimp Covers! 3 Elegant Ways to Finish a Necklace

Most beaders automatically reach for wire guards and crimp covers, because that's what they've always been taught, but there are cleaner, more elegant ways to finish a necklace. Today I'm going to show you three professional alternatives, while creating three unique necklaces. You're not going to want to miss out. Hey everyone, welcome to Mr. Moon Designs. My name's Louisa. Today's tutorial is all about alternatives to crimp covers and wire guards, because as you know, I'm not a fan of either one. I'm sure many of you feel the same way. I'll be using the beads from the latest edition of Didi's Deluxe Bead Box, Desert Meets the Sea. But don't worry if you didn't get the box, you can easily recreate today's necklaces using beads from your own collection. But more importantly, you'll learn three different finishing techniques, that'll give your jewelry a cleaner, more professional look. Now if you're not familiar with Didi's Deluxe Bead Box, I'll leave some information down below, in the description section of this video, along with a link to the website, and a coupon code for 15% discount on your first order. And don't forget that I always model my jewelry at the end of my tutorials, so please stick around for that. As you can see, we're going to create three beautiful necklaces, in different lengths. So whether you like dainty, or something more substantial, you're going to learn how to make all three. They feature beautiful bronzeite and turquoise composite gemstones, and some howlite and riverstone beads as well. But more importantly, you're going to learn three different finishing techniques, that you can use on your own jewelry. And the best part is, you won't need crimp covers or wire guards. And I can't wait to show you the three different finishing techniques, so let's go ahead and get started. I want to start by showing you how many beads I had left over. As you can see, I don't really have that much. It may look like a lot, but it really isn't. Let me show you the beads for the three necklaces. And of course, I have a lot of beads here. I also have this gorgeous pendant, and these three triangular shaped beads, that I'm going to use as dangles. Now if you didn't get the box, because these boxes actually sell very quickly, I will leave the details of all the beads, down below in the description section of this video. A little bit about Didi's Deluxe Bead Box, they're based out of Canada, and they sell for $49.99 in Canadian dollars. In US dollars, it depends on the exchange rate, at the time that it goes on sale. And for this box, it was $35.98. I did do an unboxing video, and if you didn't get to see it, I will link it down below. But anyway, I made this gorgeous wire wrapped bracelet, that should coordinate beautifully with the necklaces we're going to make today. Because of course, I'm using beads from the same box. That tutorial is actually at the end of the unboxing video, and you can check the timestamps on that video, if you want to skip to that portion. So anyway, my goal for today's video, is to use up as many beads as I can from this box. And as you can see, I think I've achieved that. But I'm also going to show you three different ways, to finish your necklaces. And by the way, if you're wondering what these rods are, they're called magic rods, I carry them in my Etsy store. They're made out of steel. I use them for arranging bead patterns, because sometimes you don't know if you have enough beads, unless you string them. And what's so cool about these rods, is that they hold beads of all shapes and sizes. As you can see, it holds the chips pretty nicely, as well as the tiny seed beads. But the best thing about them, is that it helps you measure out the lengths that you need. I sell them in sets of five. And if you're interested, I will leave a link to my Etsy store down below. But one thing I do want to mention, because this has come up before in the past, some of my customers have reached out. When you're working with heavy beads, you have to use more than one stopper at each end. Let me show you. As you can see, the stopper holds the beads in place. But if your beads are really heavy, if they're natural gemstones, you're going to need two and sometimes three stoppers. But anyway, I do want to show you this. This is one side of the longan necklace. As you can see, I'm using the bronzite chips. I'm also using these hematite beads, and these light colored riverstone beads. And at this end, we have a couple of Czech beads, and some composite bronzite and turquoise beads. This is one side. This is the other side. And then I'm going to finish it off with these crystals, all the way to the clasp. Of course, I'm also going to be attaching this pendant. So let me show you. It'll look kind of like this. This is the bottom of the necklace. And then this pendant is going to sit at the bottom like this. I kind of like the idea of using an organic bead like this one, paired with the sparkling crystals. I think it's a nice contrast. Plus, it makes the necklace look a little bit more dressy. So that's this one. And I think it's going to be about 24 inches in length, give or take. This will be the second necklace. This is the bottom of the necklace. And I'm going to finish it off with size 8O seed beads, which I'll bring out later on. So it'll look like this, kind of. And as you can see, I have gold-colored size 8O seed beads in between these round beads. But at the top of the necklace, I'm going to have brown-colored size 8O seed beads. And the reason I'm doing that is because I want these little gold beads to highlight the six millimeter round beads. I hope that makes sense. But anyway, all of these beads are composite, bronzite, and turquoise beads. And in between the round beads, I have eight of these little rondelles, which I think is so cute. I'll be attaching dangles with these beads at the bottom. And I'll show you how to do that later. And then this one here is pretty cool as well. I have some Howlite diagonally drilled beads. And as you can see, I also have the hematite beads in between. And I have a crystal here and a crystal there, just to add a little touch of sparkle. So this is the bottom of the necklace. And then this will be the rest of the necklace. I'll be using half the beads on one side and the other half on the other side. And this necklace will be about 16 inches in length, something like that. So we have three different necklaces. And I'll be showing you the three different ways to finish each one. So let's go ahead and get started. We'll start with this one first. And I'll show you the stringing material I chose. By the way, the other nice thing about these rods is that you can transport your beads very easily, just like this. So anyway, let me go ahead and string all three necklaces and I'll be right back. Before I string on my beads, I want to show you how to prepare this pendant. I'm going to use 20 gauge wire in a gold color, as you can see. Here I have a four inch piece. It's probably a little bit more than what I need, but I'd rather work with more than with less. I'm going to slide it through the hole like this, not quite to the middle, something like this. And now I'm going to bend my wire up pretty close to the bead or the pendant. And this one this way in front, like this. And I'm going to shape my wire around the top of that pendant because I want it really close to the pendant, just like this. And now I'm going to take this piece and bend it this way, so straight this way. And now I'm going to take this one and wrap it around the best way I can, just like this. And now let me snip off the excess. I'm going to tuck this little end in. You definitely don't want anything sharp sticking out. And now let me straighten out my wire a little bit. I think that looks pretty good. And now we're going to bend this back. I'm going to use my nylon pliers. Now this is the back of the pendant and this is the front. So I'm going to create a simple loop this way. I'm going to grab the wire, bend it, cut off the excess, leaving about three-eighths of an inch or so. Grab the end with my round nose pliers and form a loop. I definitely want the loop closed. You don't want any gap at all because you don't want the beading wire sliding out of it. And that's all there is to it. Pretty simple. It's an easy way to create your own bail. Let me just straighten it a little bit. I like to flatten it as well. To make sure it's closed. And that's all there is to it. It doesn't get any easier than that. And I'm going to slide the pendant directly onto the beading wire through that loop. So let me go ahead and string on the beads and this pendant and I'll be right back. Okay, I've strung on all my beads for this necklace. Like I said earlier, each strand measures about 12 inches. I have 20 crystals at the top of each one and I think the crystal segment measures six and a quarter and this segment measures five and three quarters. But you know, it's personal preference guys. It's whatever you want to do. You could even have alternating segments of chips and crystals. So in other words, one and three quarter inches worth of chips and then the next one can be crystals. Chips, crystals, chips, crystals. But one of the reasons I did this is because I had limited amounts of the small riverstone beads which I'm using on a shorter necklace of the three. So you also have to take into account the materials you have on hand. And for this necklace, I'm using this beading wire. This is by Softflex and it's the metallics line. It's medium weight as you can see and the diameter is 0.019 of an inch or 0.48 millimeters and the color is antique brass. I really like this one. But another reason I wanted to use this one is because for this one, I'm not going to use wire guards or crimp covers. And from what I understand, you don't need wire guards for this particular brand. Now some people still use wire guards for aesthetics reason but honestly, I don't even like the look of wire guards. I just don't find them attractive at all. But anyway, like I said in the intro, I'm going to show you three different ways to finish off necklaces. And for this one, we're not going to use wire guards or crimp covers. And I'll get to that in just a second. By the way, if you're working with chips like these which are pretty irregular, I do recommend that you use beading wire that's kind of the same color so that if it's exposed a little bit because sometimes it does get exposed because of the irregularity of the chips, you won't notice it as much. Another thing you want to do when working with chips is you want to spin them around like this. It's best to hold it upright and then just spin them around so that they settle into each other. And I've already done that. I did that ahead of time. So let's go ahead and get started. I'm using Belon size 2 crimp tubes. Let me put down one. And you're going to need some kind of closed loop. You can either make one with fireline. I like to use these floss threaders. Let me show you what they look like if you've never seen one. Here's one of them. As you can see, it's a closed loop. I'll show you how to use that in just a second. Let's go ahead and do this side. Oops. I'm going to slide on the crimp tube. And now this loop, this floss threader. And I'm going to go ahead and go through the crimp tube again. And this beading wire is pretty thick. So you may have trouble, but I made it through. So that's good. And now let's see if I can go through some of these beads. Let me go through one more. Bring it down. Use my pliers. Shorten the loop a little bit more. I just want it barely sticking out of the crimp tube. Like that. Let me hold on to the beading wire this way. Hopefully it's separated inside that crimp tube. And now using my crimping pliers, I'm going to place it in the first notch, the one that's nearest the handle. Make sure it's in there properly. And now I'm going to squeeze. Turn it sideways. Place it in the second notch from the tip. I always look at it from this angle just to make sure. And I'm going to go ahead and squeeze. And tighten it up with the tip. So that part's done. With my flush cutters, I'm going to cut off the excess beading wire. And now I'm going to do the same. I'm going to do the same thing. Let me make sure there are no spaces. Here's another crimp tube. Let me pick it up. Slide on my floss threader. Go through the tube. And through the beads. Just a couple. There we go. Let me pull the tail. Take out any slack. And I'm going to go ahead and place it inside my crimping pliers. And I'm going to squeeze. Turn it sideways. Squeeze again. And tighten it up. And now let me cut off the excess beading wire. So now as you can see, I have two little loops at each end. Actually, let me cut this off. So that I can show you a different option in case you don't have floss threaders. Hopefully that loop isn't going to go anywhere. I'm going to use a piece of wire that's very thin. I think this one's 32 gauge. It's very thin. I'm going to cut myself a little piece. And I'm going to go ahead and insert it through that loop. So if you don't have floss threaders, you want to definitely do this. I'm going to use these four millimeter metal beads with large holes. I think the hole measures about two millimeters. It's very big. I'll use one on one side and one on the other. Here's a lobster clasp. And here's an extended chain. Here's another four millimeter round bead for this side. So let me show you how to do this. It's very easy. I'm going to slide this metal bead on onto both pieces of wire. And then bring it all the way down to where the crimp is. And that's my crimp cover right there. A very attractive crimp cover. And of course, the reason I like it is because it doesn't have a seam. Unlike crimp covers. So now let me get a jump ring. This one measures five millimeters in size. I'm going to slide it through the loop. The beading wire loop. And now my extended chain. Close up my jump ring. Remove my wire. This 32 gauge wire. And there we go. A very attractive finished end. And by the way, these extended chains came like this with a little dangle at the end. So now let me do this side. Slide on this bead. Just like that. Here's another jump ring. I've already opened it. Here's the clasp. And close it up. And now let me snip this floss threader off. Now this lobster clasp did come with a jump ring as you can see. But I wanted to add a second one so that it matches this end. Plus it's always good to have a little extra space here where the clasp is. So this necklace is finished. I hope you like it. I think it's absolutely gorgeous. Like I said before, I like the contrast between the chips. The organic look of them. And the sparkly crystals in the neutral shade. I like color blocking. We have the turquoise at the bottom. The brown right above it. And then the crystals on the top. And I added these little riverstone beads because I wanted this necklace to coordinate with the other one that I'm going to make later. But even if you don't make a coordinating necklace, it's always nice to have a little touch of something that's different. Now the last time I made a necklace without crimp covers or wire guards, somebody left a comment that they didn't understand why I used these floss threaders. But as you saw, I needed this floss threader in order to pull the beading wire loop through that four millimeter bead. I'm sure most of you understand that. But one person actually didn't. So I thought I'd explain it again. So anyway, we're going to go ahead and move on to the second necklace. And again, I'm not going to be using a wire guard or crimp cover. I've already strung it. So let me go ahead and get it. And here it is. And this necklace is going to end up being about 20 inches, I think. Maybe 19. But anyway, as you can see, I strung on the little rondelles. And the six millimeter composite beads. I also have golden size 80 seed beads on either side of the six millimeter beads. And I have my dangles down below. I just slid them on directly onto the beading wire. And then I finished the necklace with size 80 seed beads in this color. And the color is matte medium bronze metallic, in case you're wondering. I want to show you how to create these dangles. And somebody once said to me, does it bother you that gemstones are so irregular? Because as you can see, this one's got a lot of turquoise and these two don't. Not really. It really doesn't bother me. I kind of like it. I like the variation. And I'm not sure if this one has more turquoise on the other side. It doesn't look like it. Maybe a little bit more. But I do like the variation. I really do. But anyway, let me show you. I'm going to use a ball head pin. I'm going to slide it through the bead this way. You could have your dangles that way if you wanted to. But I want mine this way for this necklace. Using my round nose pliers, I'm going to grab the pin right above the bead like this. Bend it. Reposition my pliers. Wrap the pin around the nose of the pliers. Flip the pliers around. Wrap it to the back. I'm going to grab the loop with these pliers. I like these pliers because they have a chain nose tip. And they grab really well, even though they're crimping pliers. And now I'm going to grab the end and do my wraps. And of course, I need to cut off the excess using my flush cutters. And always tuck your ends in. So this one's done. And I'm going to do the same thing with these two. So when I strung the beads on, I knew I had to attach these dangles down below. So I made sure that the rondelle segments had even numbers. So each segment actually has eight. And then down here, I was able to split them, four on one side, four on the other, so that I could add the dangles in the middle. And let me tell you guys, using the magic rods made it so simple because you don't even have to count seed beads. I simply loaded one rod with seed beads to the length that I wanted. And then I loaded a second rod and placed it down by the first rod to make sure that I had the same amount of seed beads. So that's another benefit of using rods for stringing projects. And then the other benefit, of course, is that I can pick up seed beads very fast using rods and then offload them in multiples. So that entire process is actually a lot faster than trying to pick them up with just the beading wire, especially this beading wire because it's thinner. Let me show you what I used. I used the Beadalon brand 49 strand. And don't you love it when they put the label upside down? But anyway, this one measures 0.018 of an inch in diameter or 0.46 millimeters. And the color is satin gold. And of course, if you don't have rods, you could always just use a scrap piece of beading wire. But anyway, like I said in the beginning, we're not going to use a wire guard or a print cover. For this one, I'm going to use clamshell covers. This is what they look like. And I have two of them here in a bronze color. I like this kind with a hook because I think it's a little bit more secure. There's another type that has two loops and that one's OK, but I don't like it as much because the loops are really skinny. And sometimes if you don't close your jump rings really well, they'll slide out of the gap of the jump ring. And that's never any good. I'm going to do some crimping and I'm going to use some round crimp beads. Here are two of them. They're in a gold color, but it really doesn't matter what color because they're going to be inside the clamshell and you won't see them. Now, some people are very nervous about this method that I'm going to use because they feel it's not secure enough. But I've never had any trouble with lightweight necklaces like this one. I am a little hesitant using them with heavier beads. But for this project, they're perfectly fine. They're very secure. So let's go ahead and do this end. So now let me grab one of these clamshells and I'm going in from the bottom. Like so. And now one of these crimp beads. Using chain nose pliers, I'm going to grab that crimp bead and squash it. And I like to do both sides. Snip off the excess, slide my clamshell up and close it up. That's all there is to it. Let me bend this piece of metal back just a little bit. Grab it with my round nose pliers and form a loop. See how easy that was? It doesn't get any easier. So now let me slide my beads down and I'll do this end. Now for this end, it's best if you open up this clamshell a little bit. Now let me slide it onto my beading wire from the bottom. Like that. And now the crimp bead, bring it down. As you can see, it's right inside there. Make sure there aren't any spaces, but you do want your necklace to be fluid. You don't want it too stiff. And now I'm going to reach in here and grab that crimp bead while holding onto the beading wire like this. And I'm going to squeeze. Let me do the other side. It is a good idea to test it to make sure it's on there good. And I forgot to do it on that end, but as you can see, my fingers are turning red. I'm pulling really hard. It's not going anywhere. Let me snip off the excess beading wire. I guess I didn't do it because I'm very confident that they're not going to fail. As long as you crimp really well, you shouldn't have any problems. Now let me bend this piece of metal back. Grab it with my round nose pliers and form a loop. So this one's done. Now for this one, I'm going to use a bronze colored clasp and an extender chain. Use my extender chain. And I do want to embellish it. I'm going to use two of the tiny rondelles and I have them on a ball head pin. I'm going to grab the pin with my round nose pliers like that. Bend, reposition my pliers, wrap the pin around the nose of the pliers. Flip the pliers around and wrap to the back. Let me open it up. Now let me grab a chain, slide it in, grab a loop with these pliers, and grab the tail and do some wraps. I think I'll do three. It really doesn't matter how many you do. With my flush cutters, I'm going to snip off the excess. Here's a clasp. I have a couple of jump rings. These are four millimeters in size. You could use five or six millimeter jump rings if you want to. I just thought since this necklace is kind of petite, I'll use smaller ones. But it really doesn't matter, guys. Don't get too hung up on that. I've seen jump rings that are really small on necklaces. Let me go ahead and open one up. Attach the clasp. Now let me open up this one, slide my extender chain into it, and attach it to this end. There we go. Isn't this adorable? I love it. I really do. I think I'd prefer to wear this one than the longer one. I prefer daintier necklaces these days. But anyways, you can see it was a very quick and easy project. You could certainly make it in less than 30 minutes. But of course, the design work does take longer. And to figure out how many segments to use, how many beads within each one. I mean, the design itself is pretty basic, very simple. But all of it takes time. So anyway, let me go ahead and get the third necklace. I've already strung it. And here it is. Now this one's going to be considerably shorter. I want to say maybe 15 and 3 quarter inches in length. Something like that. And that includes the jump rings and the clasp. But I am going to add an extender chain to this one as well. So that I have the option to wear it longer if I want to. But anyways, you can see I used the riverstone beads. With size 80 seed beads in between each one. And at the bottom, I used the halite beads. As well as the hematite beads. And then these two crystals. Just to give it a touch of sparkle. Plus it'll coordinate better with a longer necklace. Now what I had to do with the halite beads. Is to add seed beads inside. Because the holes were too big. And you don't want to use thin beading wire. With beads that have large holes. It just doesn't work out very well. So I used size 150 seed beads. And I strung on about 10. And then slid them directly inside the halite beads. Let me see if I can show you. I don't want to lose my beads. So there they are. And they fit perfectly inside. But I will tell you not all size 150 seed beads actually fit. I tried different kinds. The ones that I used are toho rounds. And the color really doesn't matter. Because obviously they're hidden inside the beads. So now we're going to do some crimping. And don't come after me for this. But I'm not going to do a traditional crimp technique. I'm actually going to squash the crimp. And I'll try to do it nicely. Because I'm not going to add a crimp cover. So I want it to have a nice finished look. And yes it can be done guys. I've seen it in the industry. A lot of jewelry out there is crimped off. And they don't always cover up the crimp. You do have to use high quality crimps though. So I'm going to be using 18 carat gold plated crimp beads. And these are the round crimp beads. They're not the tubes. But the base metal on these is 316 stainless steel. Which is actually premium grade stainless steel. And very resistant to rust and tarnish. So that's what I recommend you use. And instead of wire guardians or wire guards. I'm going to use a double hole linking circle. That's what it's called. As you can see it has two holes. And it's just a closed ring. The beading wire is going to go through one hole. And then down through the other. And then you can attach your clasp. Or your jump rings directly onto the loop. I've used these before. And I really love the finished look. Here's another one. So let me show you. I think I'll move my beads down. A little bit. Here's a crimp bead. I'm going to bring it down. And now my ring. I'm going in one end. And then down the other end. Just like that. And you can barely see the beading wire inside. That's what's so cool about these. And now the crimp bead. I'm going to slide it up. Bring it down. And I want it pretty close to that ring. Let me separate my beading wire. And now we're using my chain nose pliers. I'm going to come in here. Grab it. Slide it up a little bit. And squash it. Let me turn it around and do this side. Slide my beads onto the tail. Just a couple of them. Let me cut off the excess. Slide my beads down. I just realized I didn't give you a close-up of the finished end. So I thought I'd insert this clip. As you can see, it really does look very nice. It's a nice finished look. It doesn't look bad at all. And in my opinion, you really don't need to cover it up with a crimp bead cover. Now I'm not going to lie to you. It wasn't easy. 18 karat gold plated on top of steel is not easy to crimp. So if you don't have a lot of hand strength, you might want to get a different type of crimp bead. Another thing to keep in mind. I don't recommend that you use the soft flex beading wire with these two hole rings. Because it is very challenging to go in one hole and then down the other hole. And then through the beads. But anyway, I thought I'd show you the finished end. And let me go ahead and do this end. Here's another crimp bead. And now the ring. Going in one end. I'm going to bring it all the way down. And now I need to go down the other end. Let me slide it down a little bit. And now the crimp bead. And a couple of these other beads. Check for spaces. Make sure the necklace is fluid. And now using my pliers, I'm going to go ahead and squash that crimp bead. And I think I'm going to use these pliers because this is a very tight space. So that's done. And now let me snip off the tail. So that's it. Very simple. Here's a clasp. And here's an extended chain. Here are two 4mm jump rings. Let me open up one of them. Slide my clasp into it. And the sand. Close that up. Make sure it's closed well. You definitely don't want any gaps. Sometimes I like to flatten them to make sure they're closed. Let me go ahead and open up this one. Slide my chain into it. And the sand. I think I need to open it just a little bit more. There we go. So here's another lovely little necklace. Relatively quick to make once you've figured out your bead configuration. So now let me get the other two necklaces. And I'll arrange them all on my table. We're here at all three. And I know you can't see the whole thing. I apologize about that. But I think you get the idea. You can see how well they coordinate with each other. And of course I'm going to show you what they look like. I'm going to actually put all three on. I'm going to start by putting on this first one. And then I'll layer it with this one here. The 20 inch one. And then I'll put this one on and show you all three together. And of course if you watch the unboxing tutorial where I showed you how to make the bracelet. It looks beautiful with this set. I would definitely wear the bracelet with one of these necklaces. And if you have some time guys. I'd love to hear what your opinion is. I'd love to know which one you would wear. And whether or not you like the long one or the shorter ones. And I hope you enjoyed today's tutorial. And I hope I've given you some tips. Thank you so much for watching. I'm looking forward to seeing you again. Stay creative. Stay inspired. Have a great day. And I'll see you next time. Bye.