In this video tutorial, I’ll show you how to use a crimping tool and crimp covers to finish off your beaded designs nicely. Not only does this give a professional look to your beaded jewelry, but it makes it more comfortable to wear as there are no flattened crimp tube corners to scratch against your skin.

If you are on a mobile device or are unable to see the embedded video, you can watch How to Use a Crimping Tool To Finish Beaded Jewelry on YouTube. 

 

It’s important to note that different size crimp tubes will need different size crimping tools for this process to work correctly – if you’re using the wrong sizes it won’t work! The Standard Beadalon Crimping Tool is the one I use and it is good for most mid-range sized crimp beads and crimp tubes (Beadalon #1 and #2 Crimp Beads or #2 Crimp Tubes). The Micro Crimping Tool works with the tiniest crimp beads (Beadalon #1 Crimp Tubes and size #0 Crimp Beads), and the Mighty Crimper works with the largest crimp beads and tubes (Beadalon #3 Crimp Beads or #3, #4 Crimp Tubes).

How to Use a Crimping Tool

VIDEO TRANSCRIPT:

Hey everyone! This is Jessica from JewelryTutorialHQ.com and Bespangled Beads. Today I’m going to show you how to use a crimping tool to finish your beaded jewelry.

First, I’m going to show you why you would want to use a crimping tool. This is a traditional method for crimping a crimp tube, using chain nosed pliers and just squeezing the crimp tube flat. And that works well, but one thing I don’t like about it is that it leaves sharp edges. These corners can scratch you on your neck or on your arm and it can be really uncomfortable.

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Using a crimping tool can help you get a nicer finished look so we can make a nice round crimped crimp on the end and cover that with a crimp cover, which will also make it a lot more comfortable.

Starting with a beaded strand, pass the stringing material through the loop, or chain, or clasp or whatever it is you want to attach it to…and then pass it back through the crimp tube that you strung on the end of the strand.

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Now pull the short end tight – we want it pretty tight up against the ring. I usually use my chain nosed pliers to get a better grip and pull it pretty tight.

Now using the crimping tool – the back part of the jaws where you see that little bump – place it around the crimp tube and squeeze it one time.

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You should end up with something that looks like this, with a little crease in one side.

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Now using the front part of the jaws this time, take the crease you made on the crimp tube and face it toward the back of the plier jaws so it’s facing the hand that’s holding the pliers. And you’re going to squeeze and fold that crimp in half. And then turn it and squeeze again, and turn it and squeeze again. Now you should have a nicely rounded crimp tube.

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Simply trim off the excess stringing material using your flush cutters, slide down the beads, and we’re going to repeat the process on the other end. You want to make sure your beads are tight so there won’t be any spaces between them but it should still be able to move.

Slide on a crimp tube – I’m using 2 millimeter by 2 millimeter crimp tubes. There are lots of different sizes, and it’s important to note that different sized crimp tubes will use a different size crimping tool. I’ll have more information about that in the notes so please be sure, before you buy a tool if you don’t have one already that you’re getting the right one or you get the right crimp tubes for the tool that you have.

So this time since we’ve already strung the other end I’m holding this a bit differently. I’m holding the crimp tube against the beads because I don’t want that to move and I’m pulling the end tight.

I’m going to check my tension again, here. It’s a little bit tight, so I’m just going to loosen it up before I crimp it If it’s too tight – if there’s too much tension – your strand can break.

Again, using the back part of the crimp tool I’m going to make that little crease by squeezing it one time. Face that crease toward the back of the plier jaws or toward the hand that’s holding the pliers and using the end part of the tool this time squeeze to fold that crimp over and then release and turn and squeeze, release and turn and keep doing that all the way around until you have a nicely rounded crimp tube.

So now we’ve got a finished strand, and this is actually going to be part of a multistrand necklace so that’s why it looks a little funny that there’s only one strand on this big ring!

This is a crimp cover – these are 3 millimeter crimp covers – and you just slide it over the crimp tube and using the crimping tool again for this – just gently squeeze it around the crimp. And this leaves us with a really nicely finished end on the strand, which I think looks a whole lot better than just a flat squished crimp tube.

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Thanks so much for joining me today! I hope you found this tutorial helpful and I hope that you’ll check out my website at JewelryTutorialHQ.com and that you’ll subscribe to my channel so you don’t miss any new videos!

See ya next time!