Stringing chunkier sizes of pearls

[LGK]

OK, so I''m a moderately experienced pearl stringer, I''ve probably strung about a couple dozen strands or a bit less. I am fine with smaller and medium size strands, like say 10mm is no problem, they stay tight and nice. But my larger Tahitian baroques are just hell to string.

They look fine for about a week, then the silk stretches too much, and the knots are not large enough and they start slipping and the center pearls are touching each other with no knots between anymore.

The thing is, the pearls vary in size as do their holes- I think from like 12mm to 16mm or something- and the smaller ones towards the back are limiting the thread size. So I know the thread is a bit small for the center pearls, but it just barely fits in the smaller ones so I can''t go bigger

. The knots are not staying between the pearls in the center at all, they touch, which sucks. This will be the third time I''ve strung it! Any tips??? Should I try something other than silk this time?

I use two strands, no tweezers- usually a single knot but with this strand I double knot, and it''s still kinda too small of a knot. Should I triple knot in the center maybe? I wax and stretch the silk of course, but it is still stretching way more than any other necklace I''ve made. I use the good kind of silk, can''t remember the name brand but it''s the spooled silk, not the carded stuff with the needle woven into it.

Maybe I should give up and have it professionally strung, but that is just... irksome. At least it doesn''t take that long to string with the big pearls.

 

[HHPmom]

Date: 5/2/2010 6:04:45 PM
Author:LittleGreyKitten
OK, so I'm a moderately experienced pearl stringer, I've probably strung about a couple dozen strands or a bit less. I am fine with smaller and medium size strands, like say 10mm is no problem, they stay tight and nice. But my larger Tahitian baroques are just hell to string.

They look fine for about a week, then the silk stretches too much, and the knots are not large enough and they start slipping and the center pearls are touching each other with no knots between anymore.


The thing is, the pearls vary in size as do their holes- I think from like 12mm to 16mm or something- and the smaller ones towards the back are limiting the thread size. So I know the thread is a bit small for the center pearls, but it just barely fits in the smaller ones so I can't go bigger

. The knots are not staying between the pearls in the center at all, they touch, which sucks. This will be the third time I've strung it! Any tips??? Should I try something other than silk this time?


I use two strands, no tweezers- usually a single knot but with this strand I double knot, and it's still kinda too small of a knot. Should I triple knot in the center maybe? I wax and stretch the silk of course, but it is still stretching way more than any other necklace I've made. I use the good kind of silk, can't remember the name brand but it's the spooled silk, not the carded stuff with the needle woven into it.


Maybe I should give up and have it professionally strung, but that is just... irksome. At least it doesn't take that long to string with the big pearls.

All the things I was going to suggest you've done already such as double knotting, waxing and stretching silk. I think the problem is the variance in hole sizes. I don't know if you can do anymore to stop that. I use a darning needle to get my knots as close to the holes as I can. After that, I separate the thread and pull in both direction to make the knots sit right on top of the hole. Triple knotting won't help unless you are really good at getting the knots to sit right at the hole. When I triple knot, separating the thread won't move the knots anywhere, it's stuck. My last suggestion would be to use Power Pro fishing line. It's nylon and doesn't stretch as much as silk. I've been knotting most of my strands with Power Pro: white for FW and SS, green for tahitian. I use 50 lb for my tahitians because the hole size is .7mm or larger.

Power Pro is a breeze to work with. The only caveat is it's rough on your fingers.

 

[collectingmore]

I second the recommendation of Powerpro or wildfire (like pp but in black and green). I only use Powerpro or the like and don't use silk anymore.

For a graduated strand like you have, I have used PowerPro 20 lb in 2 strands (doubled-over through the needle). I cheat and dont use tweezers and instead pull the strands apart to get the knots right next to the pearl. Using the two strands makes the knots big enough that the pearls wont slip. I used to only use one strand but the knots would be too small for the larger pearls. I tried double-knotting, but it is hard to get the perfect knot right next to the pearl.

It is tough on the hands, but I try to use a good lotion before and after so my hands aren't cut up.

 

[LGK]

Thanks so much for the info, HHPmom & collectingmore. So I just bought some green medium weight Powerpro from some beading website; hopefully it will do the trick! I get the knots nice and snug to begin with; for me the two-string-no-tweezers method works great for that, and they hold great on my other necklaces, even ones I wear a lot- but not on this one

. I hope this will be the last time I have to string it... I've never used Powerpro before, it should be a fun experiment. I got some white too, just for fun. Do you have to stretch at wax it or is it not possible/necessary? I'm guessing no on the stretching, but wax I don't know.

ETA: HHPmom, where'd you get the 50lb kind? I realize I got a much smaller size, 20lb; the 50lb so far I've seen has only been on fishing supply website in gigantor sizes, and thus fairly pricey.

 

[HHPmom]

Date: 5/3/2010 1:34:12 AM
Author: LittleGreyKitten

ETA: HHPmom, where''d you get the 50lb kind? I realize I got a much smaller size, 20lb; the 50lb so far I''ve seen has only been on fishing supply website in gigantor sizes, and thus fairly pricey.

Are you in the US? I bought mine at Sports Authority for $15 in the spool of 150 yards. It said 50 lb test and 12 lb diameter. This is much cheaper than major sites such as Cabelas and no shipping fee. I haven''t checked Academy or Bass Pro shop though. I bought 40 and 50lb and took them home to test passing the thread through my pearls. There are a few inches of the thread/fishing line tied to the outside of the box/spool as sample or test purposes. I threaded my needle to it to pass through my pearls and returned the small sized spool, without having to cut and use the thread. I wouldn''t feel right doing that either.

No need to wax at all. It''s hard to snip/cut but there is a cutting mechanism on the square plastic thing that holds the spool. You can use those snipping scissors or small embroidery scissors to cut it as close as possible to get extra thread off when you work the beginning and ending pearls (regular scissors won''t do, it would fray the material). Then cauterize the thread using Thread Zapper. It seals the thread really well. I don''t think gluing the ends at the beginning and ending knots work, like for silk.

Don''t buy colors other than white and green. I have read on the other forum red and yellow bleed. Someone on the other forum suggested (I think FF''s stringer) coloring with permanent Sharpie to get your custom colors. I haven''t knotted any strands after making my own thread color. However, I tested her method and I think it would work. I took several inches of Power Pro, colored with dark brown Sharpie, let it dry, waxed it to seal in color, repeated process 2 more times, then soaked in a bowl of water. The water in the bowl barely looked yellowish afterward but no noticeable bleeding at all.

For the pearls with larger holes than the rest, use double knotting, then single knot the rest of the strands. Power Pro is so compact, the knots will be small, not large compared to silk. Check out another forum''s "My experience with Power Pro". I had posted a pic comparing silk knots and power pro knots but can''t find where I posted that. You can also see Elana''s strands posted here. FF''s stringer uses Power Pro, I am 90% sure, not silk.

Enjoy Power Pro.

 

[HHPmom]

I posted a pic comparing power pro knots vs. silk knots in the other forum, "Pearl sizes and Power Pro", post # 16. I think it''s a matter of preference as far as knots size go. I prefer them to be small. To me, large knots take the attention away from the pearls. I think Paspaley''s knotters have a special technique that you don''t even see the knots at first glance.

 

[LGK]

Thank you SO much for the tips HHPmom! I believe the local hardware store, McDaniels, carries Powerpro. I will try to make it down there in the next couple of days... I bet the size I have on the way to me will be fine for smaller strands but probably not for this one. And thanks for letting me know about the Thread Zapper thing, too. Great info!

 

[pearlie]

power pro can easily be cut with fiskar scissors.

one thing to take note of, because it''s made for fishing, power pro will break down in uv light. WildFire does not. Both are spectra-fibers.


julie.

 

[that_someone_special]

I am really excited to see how this turns out!!! Good luck LGK!

 

[LGK]

So I got them strung on some Power Pro. I used 6 strands of the 20lb stuff. Same as before, it was perfect for the outer pearls and the knots have disappeared from between the bigger ones- I double knotted between the big ones and single knotted between the smalls. Sigh. I guess I''ll have to make a concerted effort to hunt down the larger size stuff, or triple knot between the big ones. The knots are very tidy and seem smaller proportionally to what silk knots like- which was nice. It hasn''t stretched at least, which is an improvement. So it looks a lot better in that respect, which is nice. The knots finished nicely- I used the end of a cigarette to burn them, which worked fine, although it was a bit white trash of me to do

. It does go fast stringing big pearls at least!

 

[Kaori Oku]

Why not ask someone that can do drilling to make all the holes the same? Then the knots aren''t going to go in the hole on the pearls sometimes and sometimes don''t.

 

[LGK]

I finally got them strung to my satisfaction! It took two tries with the PowerPro, and I had to finish it a bit funkily, but it looks just right. I used eight total strands of the skinny power pro, knotted once between the smaller pearls and three times between the bigger ones. I couldn''t get it doubled back through the last pearl to finish it normally, so I had to knot it right at the clasp, but PP lets you finish off the last knot so tidily it looks fine to me- melting the last knot really just makes it look like a regular knot and not the final one.

PP is definitely the way to go for bigger pearls. It just stays tighter. I just had to get the knots big enough- the first time I tried, the thread(s) weren''t thick enough, so the knots were subsequently too small... but it stayed nice and tight. It seems like PowerPro knots are smaller than silk knots.

(Kaori, not a chance I could part with them long enough to have them re-drilled

)

Oh, I also had one pearl have the center bead separate from the nacre. One thing is for sure- the nacre is super thick! The pearl still looks fine, but I can''t thread it since the bead (and thus the drill hole) shifted- it rattles like a nut or something, very odd. Luckily I had an extra baroque left over from the necklace when I strung it the first time a bit shorter.

 

[cushioncutnut]

would like to see pictures of them! I bet they look great!

 

[LGK]

I actually finally, finally have a good camera! (DH lost *both* good cameras when we moved about 8 months ago, ooops. I kept thinking they''d turn up but they just aren''t, so I caved & bought a used version of one of them.) So, when I finally get the memory chip in the mail I will finally be able to post pics of them- and one I''ve been holding out on y''all, the AAA 10.3mm round strand I got from FF about a month ago too