Glue-in Beaded Rope Caps ~
We are super excited about these Joy Beaded Rope Caps! This innovative glue-in cap is designed specifically to provide an efficient and beautiful finish for beaded ropes and tubes. Alan and Kierston were inspired by the smaller Glue-in Caps and Bails that Alan developed long ago for use with lampwork beads. We knew there was more potential with this concept!
Early on in the development we sent some prototypes to a couple of designers with beaded rope experience to see what kinds of techniques and beads work well with the 7mm cap ID and 3mm peg.
First we sent prototypes to Cynthia Kimura of Artbeads. Cynthia has a wealth of experience in all the beading and stringing techniques we can think of as Chief Jewelry Designer at Artbeads, so we knew she would have fun testing these out. She sent us back a lovely selection of samples!
Next we sent some to Danielle Wickes of Danielle Wickes Jewelry and Desert Garden Jewelry. Danielle had used our bead caps to finish beaded ropes in the past so we knew she was a good choice for product testing. She sent us back beautiful finished jewelry samples and a detailed report of her experiments! Read on for her report.
Netted Rope Designs ~ The creations below were made using a netted rope stitch technique. I used Fireline 6lb (earrings) and 8lb (bracelet) with size 11/0 round seed beads. There are lots of variations of this stitch out there but I’ve used a simple start of 9 seeds tied into a ring and fitted around the 3mm peg. I stitched the first three rows on the peg to achieve a good, tight fit. One really cool thing you can do with this stitch is attach charms by inserting a jump ring into any of the net points (shown).
Glue—This has a tight fit which is ideal for glue. I used E6000 and I let it cure for 24 hours after positioning with a clamp (see below for example of clamp).
Herringbone Stitch Technique ~ This piece was created using 3 column, herringbone rope stitch with size 8/0, round seed beads. I used 8lb fireline here as well. I used the 3mm peg to build the first rows, including joining and tightening the beginning ladder stitches on the peg. I did the same in closing this design and found that it’s especially helpful to weave in my tails on the pegs. (Stitches like this do tend to tighten a lot when you weave in.)
I used E6000 glue positioned with clamps throughout the duration of cure time. Pictured here are what I used for clamps. These are Clover Wonder Clips—they are perfect for this!
Russian Spiral Stitch ~ This bracelet was created using 11/0 round seed beads and 3mm Czech Glass Fire Polish Beads. The shape and size of 3mm fire polish worked best with the 3mm pegs. For use with the 3mm pegs, I found it was really helpful getting the cylindrical shape to form by using the peg to form it. This also gets the tension perfect.
I glued the spiral to the pegs with E6000 applied to the pegs and then I used the clover clamps to hold position while curing.
Peyote Stitch Tubes ~ These earrings were created by making a peyote stitch tube with Size 10 Miyuki Delica Seeds. Shown below is my bead before sewing it closed. These dimensions are a perfect, snug, seemingly made-for-it fit with the 3mm glue in caps.
I glued these with E6000. What I love about this design is the ability to drop charms on the bottom and have a cute, lantern look in any colors.
Size 11 Delicas ~ Next I tried the same stich with 11/0 delicas.I struggled to get a perfect fit with the 11/0. In this case, the smallest tube circumference I could get to join around the end tube was slightly too big for the end caps' tube, but I did like the way the seeds fit all the way under the cap. Possibly a thick epoxy glue would work well here.
Circular Peyote Stitch ~ Next I tried out circular peyote with 8/0 seeds, four beads around, and I got a pretty good result here, too. I found that it helped get a tighter fit if I replaced every other 8/0 bead with an 11/0 bead to cinch up the ending.
Tubular Peyote Stitch ~ Next I tried tubular peyote with 8/0 round seeds. Again this was a perfect fit stitching 12 rows together (which is 6 seeds in a circle). These will glue well.
Thank you Danielle for your amazing and detailed research!
Bio: Danielle Wickes is an artist and Jewelry Designer based in the Pacific Northwest. She is drawn to all things creative and loves working with seed beads, creating bead weaving patterns, and working with fibers, threads, glass beads, earth stones, wire, and leather. Danielle writes for ABeadedLife.net, where you can find many of her patterns and tutorials as well as articles on jewelry design. She also designs for the Beadshop.com Design Team and teaches jewelry making classes for Workshop Issaquah and Ben Franklin Crafts!
Other Options ~ Did you know we have other components that also make great endings for beaded tubes and ropes? Danielle also worked with the Glue-in Caps and Bails ~
We also discovered from Miyuki that our BeadAligners make great caps for peyote stitch tubes!
We are incredibly grateful for the enthusiastic help Cynthia and Danielle gave us in our research for these Beaded Rope Caps. As you can see, there is a wealth of possibility. Experiment with your favorite beads and stitches!
Check out our demo video for more good info ~
Yours in jewelry making adventure,
PROJECTS
Click below for all the info and downloadable instruction sheets.
Enjoy!
Danielle's Netted Rope Earrings
Danielle's Herringbone Bracelet