Here’s a question we hear often. Frankly I am guilty of using the wrong size often and then wondering why the wire slipped out of my piece, so it’s also good for us to review the sizing. We made this little chart to help explain why it is important. If you use a crimp tube which is too large it will not hold the wire tightly and ultimately the crimp could slip and your jewelry break. Using too small crimps will result in an inadequate alignment of the wire and again the necklace or bracelet will break. Crimp Tubes are available both in Gold Fill and Sterling Silver.
- Why use a crimp? Well you need a way to secure beading wire such as our SoftFlex or Beadalon.
- What about the sizes of wire?
- What Crimp for each size of wire?
Beadalon and SoftFlex recommend the following, note that each one uses slighty different diameters of wire. But it’s easy to see they are not significantly different in size.
| Beadalon Wire Size (Inches) | Softflex (Inches) | Wire in MM | Crimp Tube Size MM |
| 0.010 | 0.010 | .25mm | 1×1 |
| 0.012 | .30mm | 1×1 | |
| 0.013 | .33mm | 1×1 or 2×2 | |
| 0.014 | .356mm | 2×2 | |
| 0.015 | .38mm | 2×2 | |
| 0.018 | .46mm | 2×2 | |
| 0.019 | .483mm | 2×2 | |
| 0.020 | .51mm | 2×2 | |
| 0.021 | .53mm | 2×2 | |
| 0.024 | 0.024 | .61mm | 2×2 or 2×3 |
Our authentic Murano Glass beads have a nominal hole size of 1mm, so for our smaller 6, 8 and 10mm beads we would use the .014 up to the .019 depending on how heavy the necklace is. For our larger beads 12mm and above, we prefer the .021 and the .024 to hold our chunky Venetian Beads as the glass gets heavy.
Crimping is an easy way to finish off your beading wire. Done properly, it also look professional. I prefer to use a wire protector along with the crimp. Be sure you thread the crimp on before you thread the wire through the wire protector and then back through the crimp. I also like to carry the wire through the first bead.
You can find our selection of Crimp Tubes, Crimp Covers, Wire Protectors and the tools you need on our website: Shop Now
My goal is to always have the jewelry I make look like it came from Tiffany’s!