Here’s a quick tip that we found at the excellent Starving Jewelry Artists discussion forum:
“I shared this with a friend awhile back and she thought it was a great idea. I came up with it out of frustration.
“I use wire guards (or what ever name you may call them) as extra protection and finishing when using watch faces.
“I never liked the look of the beading wire going through the hole but more than that I was concerned about the durability. I always used two strands of high quality beading wire but never felt extremely confident. Now I have no worries and although it is obvious I still think it looks a little better or more finished.”
– Sophisticated Hippie
Know another great tip for using findings? Share it here in a comment!
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5 Comments
It would be nice if they made some styles of fully enclosed thimbles (without the cut out part on top)…that would give it an even more finished look. Now I’m wondering if there’s a workaround…
Thanks for using my tip 😉 I don’t know how I survived before wire protectors came along.
And thanks for the tip, Lisa!
That’s a clever tip. 🙂
Dawno: I feel the same. I guess one reason is that it might be hard to get the wire around the bead if the guard was enclosed. Perhaps one could use a straight piece of thin metal tube, push the wire through and then bend it.
On other jewelry I’ve used so called “cover spirals”, which are a bit like pre-cut french wire, but much much thicker and sturdier and it comes in different finishes. No idea about the durability if used on watches, but it’s an alternative to wire guard that FULLY cover the wire.
Thanks, Maneki, for these additional ideas!