Griffin silk thread

[evinz]

Hi everyone! What size Griffin silk would I need for pearls with a 1 mm drill hole?

I've tried to string these Tahitians 4-5 times on Serafil, using the method where 4 threads go through the pearl. Using Serafil 20, I just cannot get the needle through the first three pearls. With Serafil 30, after the first few pearls, the knots slip into the drill holes.

So I was thinking I would switch to Griffin silk with the attached needle and only have 2 threads going through the pearl since the thread would not be doubled? I think that's correct. But I don't know what size to get since the threads will compress a little bit.

Maybe I just need a decent bead reamer?

Thanks for your help, pretty new at this. I managed to string a different strand of Tahitian circles, but I fear that was beginner's luck.

 

[Pearl Dreams]

Pattye has a method whereby she runs one thickness of Serafil through the necklace and knots the doubled thread, pearl by pearl, around that. You could do that, begininng the running thread after the end pearls.

If you would prefer to widen the holes on the last few pearls, I have been using this (copying and pasting from my stringing tutorial):

I bought this pin vise and successfully used it to drill out a stuck knot:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B098CF3VMM?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title&th=1
This is a manual tool (not powered) so the process was slow; about 5 minutes. I have also used this tool to slightly widen a drill hole. Don't expect to be able to drill a hole in a pearl that didn't already have a hole, however.

The only downside of reaming out end pearls is that if you ever, in the future, want to rearrange the pearls / use other pearls as the end pearls they will have widened holes.

I can't advise you about Griffin silk, as I gave up on it after discovering the synthetic threads.