A hello, a BIG thanks, and my first pearl strand!

[s3rndpt]

Hello all! I've been lurking and learning on the forum for some time now, and thanks to all the great info I've learned from you all, I finally completed my first knotted strand of pearls! Pearls are from Kong's Pearl on etsy, the thread is Pattye's Beader's Secret, and the clasp is 14k gold (but I think I may need to redo because it looks kind of overpowered by the necklace). So again, thank you so much for all the great info here!

-Cherye

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Great first knotting job, wow!

 

[BWeaves]

Great knotting job. I agree, you need a more substantial clasp.

 

[s3rndpt]

Thank you

I won't lie, the first couple tries were not so great---I was determined to use silk, and I just couldn't get the knots to sit right no matter what. But since everyone here was raving about Beaders Secret, I tried that and voila! They slid right into place! And then the end pearls didn't want to cooperate when I threaded back through them, so I had to carefully thread it through one strand of thread at a time. And I literally read and re-read the tutorials here like 20 times before I got it right. I'm really happy with it though (aside from the clasp size)--I just loved these pearls from the moment I saw them. I have a *small* obsession with anything purple/lavender, lol.

 

[JerseyPearl]

Lovely! I like it as is...and we need a neck shot.

 

[Sanippy]

You did a great job, well done!

 

[BWeaves]

s3rndpt I've restrung my necklaces lots of times, and I've had the same experiences you have. Silk drove me nuts. Beader's Secret is amazing. Getting thread back through the last few beads is frustrating. I find using a hemostat to be be very helpful for grabbing things and pulling them through. And it always takes me three tries before I'm satisfied with my stringing for a particular necklace, even with lots of experience doing it.

When I'm cutting the original strand apart, or just laying the pearls out, I try to look for the pearls that have the biggest holes and put those where I know I'm going to be threading the last ends through. Sometimes the size of the pearls, if they are graduated, means I can't always do that.

 

[Katbran]

Well done ! That looks great ... far far better than my pathetic first attempt ! ( but then Beaders Secret wasn't around !!) It does help if you can drill out the last three pearls just a bit..like a 1mm increase will help enormously. But looks like you made it !

 

[GemGeek]

Nice work! It appears that you were meant to acquire more pearls.... Ha Ha!

 

[Abi]

Your pearls and knotting look amazing!

 

[JerseyPearl]

Well done ! That looks great ... far far better than my pathetic first attempt ! ( but then Beaders Secret wasn't around !!) It does help if you can drill out the last three pearls just a bit..like a 1mm increase will help enormously. But looks like you made it !

Kat, I think maybe you meant a 0.1mm increase...a 1mm increase would really enlarge a hole for a cord or a piece of leather.

 

[pattye]

s3rndpt,

Congratulations on your lovely purple pearls and excellent knotting! (Delighted the Beader's Secret thread worked well for you, as it has for many of us!)

 

[s3rndpt]

Nice work! It appears that you were meant to acquire more pearls.... Ha Ha!

Already in progress, LOL! I have several more strands from Kongs arriving in the next week

Here it is on yesterday! This is about the closest to the true colors as I can get with pictures.

 

[s3rndpt]

Well done ! That looks great ... far far better than my pathetic first attempt ! ( but then Beaders Secret wasn't around !!) It does help if you can drill out the last three pearls just a bit..like a 1mm increase will help enormously. But looks like you made it !

I learned ALLLLLL about the usefulness of bead reamers when the very first thing I did was get a knot from the original stringing material stuck in one of the pearls. That was a nightmare to get out. I now have a cordless reamer on order (again, thanks to info on the forum here) so I don't have to spend 2 hours trying to tease out cotton thread (or whatever it was that it was strung on) again.

 

[amti]

Great job on the stringing. BS is a great product, isn't it! It makes all the difference in the world to me!

 

[KaySD]

What a lovely first necklace! The color looks great on you. I still need to get brave enough to learn to re-string my own pearls.

 

[kalmen22]

Well done you. It looks amazing

 

[Marianne]

Those purple beauties look wonderful on you! Great job

 

[Katbran]

Kat, I think maybe you meant a 0.1mm increase...a 1mm increase would really enlarge a hole for a cord or a piece of leather.

Oops yes I did forget my decimal point .... thanks for picking that up ! I'm not at my best until I've had my coffee !!! It's a .1 increase .... JP is right...a 1.0 increase and you'd be stringing on leather lol

 

[Sanippy]

They look gorgeous on you!